208570 Pte. William Hunt British Army 25th Btn, D Company Northumberland Fusiliers from:Pitt Street, Consett (d.1st July 1916) Billy Hunt was born March 31st, 1888 at Pelton Co. Durham. He married aged 21 an Elizabeth Ann Hurst aged 16 at Benfieldside Parish Church on July 23rd 1910. In November 1914 Billy joined the 2nd Tyneside Irish (25th Northumberland Fusiliers). Prior to this date he was a miner. Whilst Billy was in training his second daughter, named Elizabeth Ann after her mother, died from bronchitis. Eight months later in December 1915, Billy's third daughter Florence dies from diahorrea and meningitis.
On January 11th 1916 Billy left army camp in Sutton Veny for Southampton where he crossed the channel with the battalion. In February 1916 he was on the Bois Grenier line. By May he was in the Somme region and specifically in Albert. On the eve of the big push he was in the reserve trenches of the Tara-Usna line and his battalion were behind the Tyneside Scottish battalions. He left the trenches at 7.45am on July 1st, 1916 and was most likely killed before he even reached the British front line. He was most likely killed by shell fire or a hail of machine guns as he traversed the open slopes of Mash Valley. Billy's body was not recovered. There is no grave. His name is on Thiepval War Memorial, France, close to where he died. Two months after his death his widow gave birth to their fourth daughter Theresa in Consett. Billy's widow remarried and became Elizabeth Ann Redshaw. She died in 1982. Billy's first daughter Margaret born in 1910, out of wedlock, was always sad that she had lost her father at so young an age.
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