Arthur Bunting : 16th September 1885 to 13th December 1918

Arthur Bunting was born on this day to parent Emma and Charles Bunting.

Arthur was baptised by John Kitcat at St Benedict church in Ardwick, Lancashire.

Daughter Marjory Bunting born in Chorlton, Lancashire, England

Arthur married Effie Young at the Church of St . Stephen in the Parish of Chorlton-on Medlock in Manchester, England.

Daughter Mary A Bunting born.

22nd Service Battalion of the Manchester Regiment (7th City 'Manchester Pals') was formed.

Pals, or 'Friends'^#1 battalions were effectively volunteer recruits of friends, collegues and neighbours that were enlisted together. The idea was to entice as many people as possible to enlist, encouraging groups of friends to be allowed to serve alongside each other in the same battalions without fear of being split up. Battalions were sometimes made up solely of groups of workers from a particulr business, or from old school friends etc.

Arthur's batallion was formed by the Lord Mayor and the major cotton producers of the city.

Athur Bunting was enlisted into the 22nd (Service) Battalion of the Manchester Regiment (7th City 'Manchester Pals') which had been formed the previous month.

Arthur's regiment were relocated and billeted to Morecambe. It was at that point they effectively became part of the 21st Battalion.

Arthur's regiment were relocated to Grantham as part of the 91st Brigade, 30th Division.

Arthur's son, James Arthur Bunting was born (never to be seen by his father).

Arthur's battalion were taken over by the War Office.

Regiment moved to Larkhill^#1 on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire.

In November of 1915, Arthur's battalion embarked from Folkestone in Kent heading for Boulogne, France. By this time, the battalion was now part of the 91st Brigade, 7 Division.

In December 1915, Arthur's battalion were transferred to the 91st Brigade (7th Division), where they had their first experience of trench training in participation with the Royal Irish Fusiliers.

The 22nd Manchesters arrived at the Somme and were positioned opposite the German held position at Mametz; a fortified village east of the commune of Fricourt.

Following several weeks of rehearsals, a company of men from the division positioned on the Somme performed a successful, albeit problematic, raid^#1 on German listening post. Problems occurred due to the nature of uncut wire in the field, which was also to contribute to so many casualties (on both sides) later in the Battle of the Somme.

Charles Campbell May was not only Arthur's regimental captain; he was also his friend. Arthur was serving with him as his 'batman'^#1 and would therefore be close at hand, most of the time.

Charlie had previously been a journalist and as a prolific writer, rigously kept diaries of the day-to day activities he encountered on the front-line (alhough, officially, this was not permitted). His last diary entry on July 1st at 5.45am reads as follows :

"It is a glorious morning and is now broad daylight. We go over in two hours’ time. It seems a long time to wait and I think whatever happens, we shall all feel relieved once the line is launched. No Man’s Land is a tangled desert... Unless one could see it one cannot imagine what a terrible state of disorder it is in. Our gunnery has wrecked that and his front-line trenches all right. But we do not yet seemed to have stopped the machine guns. These are pooping off all along our parapet as I write. I trust they will not claim too many of our lads before the day is over. Now I close this old diary down for the next few days since I may not take it into the line. I will keep a record of how things go and enter it up later."

At around 7:30am on the morning of July 1st on the first day of the Battle of The Somme, Arthur followed his captain (and friend), Charles May^{#2 / #3} over the trenches and into no-mans-land with B-Company, entering a barrage of enemy machine-gun fire. WIth them, 50,000 men entered the fray that day, advancing 18 miles directly into enemy fire.

As they reached the German lines, Captain May was hit by a shell.

Arthur stayed with his friend for some three hours, trying to help and bandage his wounds. Arthur eventually managed to get his friend back to the British line for treatment. Charlies May later died from his injuries.

Arthur later wrote to his own wife, explaining in detail what had occurred that day. He wrote,

"I had just turned the corner of the trench when I heard the shell burst, and Captain called to me. I nursed him best I could, and tied his limbs together with my puttees^#4, poor fellow, and while I was with him Dear I said my prayers over and over again, for it looked a thousand to one on us both being blown to pieces, and no cover to get under. It was just a case of awaiting your turn next please, but it didn't come and here we are. . ."

Further battles ensued that day.

Following a heavy bombardment on German positions, The 22nd Battalion had orders to attack Fricourt in a pincer movement, involving several objectives. The first; to take 'Bucket Trench' was a success. As they moved down the line to the next objective of 'Danzig Alley', they were caught by surprise with Germans emerging pretty much unscathed from underground bunkers. The 22nd were forced to take on reinforcements, after which the objective was successful. Later that day, the area of Mametz^#5 was seized due to the efforts of the entire Brigade.

It is unclear if Arthur Bunting was involved in all of the objectives that day, but by the end of it, his friend and a great many others had died. In total, approximately, 120,000 British soldiers were sent into action that day, with 19,000 killed and around 35,000 injured. Casualties ultimately amounted to just under half of those that started that day, many later dying of their injuries in the area of no-mans land.

Of the 800 or so men in the 22nd Battalion that started that day, 472 were either killed, wounded or reported as missing. Almost every officer had died or had been mortally wounded.

Captain Charles Campbell May was just 27 years of age when he was killed. His memorial is located where he fell, in the Dantzig Alley British Cemetery in Mametz.

The 22nd Battalion were relieved from their positions.

Arthur Bunting is recorded in several places as being captured at Croisilles by a German raiding party in March.

However, most official war documents just state 'missing' on 2nd April 2017, which also matches the information contained within the associated German PoW documents.

Following capture, it appears that Arthur was moved five or six times and held at different camps or transition centres mainly close to the French Belgium border, before finally ending up in the area now known as Klaipeda, Lithuania.

Arthur died^#1 in the city of Memel (then part of the so called Free State of Prussia^#2; now Klaipeda in Lithuania) approximately one month following the end of The Great War.

The cause of death was recorded as lung complications following a bout of influenza: This was possibly pneumonia.

During his stay in hostpital, a close friend stayed by Arthur's side and wrote to his wife back in England. In the letter, he told Arthur's wife that he was being looked after and she should not worry. A copy of the letter exists in a history museum located in the old town area of Klaipeda.

Unfortunately, Arthur died soon after the letter was written and approximately one month following the end of the War. He was buried in an area of Klaipeda that is now known as 'Old Vites Cemetery'.