Rifleman Augustus Tennyson Bruton, C/1611, 16th Battalion King's Royal Rifle Corps, died at the Lord Derby War Hospital, Warrington, Lancs, on April 10th, 1916, from wounds accidentally sustained during bomb-throwing training in France. He was aged 21.

He joined the Forces in November 1915 and was sent for training. On February 1st, without having had any leave, he went to France. Parents Alfred John and Sarah Jane Bruton, of East Hyde Mill Cottages, New Mill End, never saw their son in uniform.

He was one of a party receiving bombing instruction on March 2nd. A bomb exploded while the instructor was holding it, and Rifleman Bruton's left foot was badly injured in the accident. He was in hospital in France until March 7th, when he was brought back to England to the hospital at Winwick, Warrington, where he died from his wounds.

Rifleman Bruton was a native of East Hyde and was attached to East Hyde Church both as a scholar and chorister there. Before enlisting, he was gardener to Mr Brown, of Highfield, Luton, and previously worked in the Luton Hoo gardens for four years.

His father had been parish clerk at East Hyde for about 20 years. He was carrying our his duties at the village church when he received an urgent telegram on March 9th. On the initiative of the vicar, Lady Wernher at Luton Hoo provided a car to take Rifleman Bruton's parents to Bedford to catch an early train to Warrington in time to spend a last few hours with their son, who died at 8pm on Monday, April 10th.

His body was brought to Luton the following Thursday and a funeral with full military honours was held at East Hyde Churchyard two days later. The Rev J. E. Westerman officiated after the coffin had been borne there draped in a Union Jack on a gun carriage. A team from the R.F.A. Training Camp at the Biscot Huts and a firing party provided by the 2/4th Leicestershire Regiment were present. Full military honours had been accorded at Warrington from the hospital to the railway station.

More tragedy befell the Bruton family when their eldest son, Alfred John Stanley Bruton, C/1669, 17th Battalion King's Royal Rifles, was killed in action in France on October 21st, 1916. The 24-year-old was buried at Schwaben Redoubt, near Thiepval, and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial. The gravestone of his brother and parents at East Hyde also includes his name.