Date of birth: 18/10/1892

Place of birth: Binchester, Durham, England, United Kingdom

Last known residence: Craghead, Durham, England, United Kingdom

Profession: Coal miner

Country: England, United Kingdom

Force: British Expeditionary Force

Rank: Private

Service number: 19023

Enlistment date: 05/09/1914

Enlistment place: Ferryhill, Durham, England, United Kingdom

Units:  —  Durham Light Infantry, 13th Bn.  (Last known unit)

Date of death: 12/10/1917

Place of death: Reutel, Beselare, Belgium

Cause of death: Killed in action (K.I.A.)

Age: 24

1914-15 Star Medal — 26/11/1919

British War Medal Medal — 15/04/1920

Victory Medal Medal — 15/04/1920

Joseph Robert Armstrong Wharton, a former coal miner, was born on the 18th of October 1892 in Binchester, Durham, England. He was the son of Joseph Robert and Jane Ann Armstrong. On September 5th, 1914, Joseph Wharton enlisted In Ferryhill, Durham, England. He served as a private in the 13th Battalion Durham Light Infantry, part of the 68th Brigade, of the 23rd Division.

On the 10th of October 1917 the 13th Battalion Durham Light Infantry relieved the front line troops at the Reutel Crossroads, facing the village of Beselare. The relief was complete on the morning of the 11th, establishing the headquarters at the Butte in Polygon Wood. During the 11th and the night of the 12th the enemy shelled the front and support lines, prompting the headquarters to move south to the edge of Polygon Wood. The Battalion was relieved on the night between the 12th and 13th of October 1917 and moved to Railway dugouts at Zillebeke.

Joseph Robert Armstrong Wharton, aged 24, was killed in action on October 12th, 1917. Between the 11th and the 12th of October forty men were wounded and five men were killed. Private Joseph Wharton was one of the men killed that day. He has no known grave and is remembered on panel 131A of the Tyne Cot Memorial.

13 Battalion Durham Light Infantry (The National Archives, KEW (TNA), WO 95/2182/2). https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14303 Sources used

British Army World War I Medal Rolls Index Cards, 1914-1920 (The National Archives, KEW (TNA), WO 372). https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ Sources used

Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911 (The National Archives, KEW (TNA), RG14). https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ Sources used

War Office: Soldiers’ Documents, First World War (The National Archives, KEW (TNA), WO 363). https://www.ancestry.com/ Sources used

Wilfrid Miles, The Durham Forces in the Field, 1914-18, (London, Cassell and Company, 1920), p 195. Sources used

Namenlijst (In Flanders Fields Museum) https://namenlijst.org/publicsearch/#/person/_id=47c3ecac-a7cd-421d-8d9e-2c9e4e6a28a9

Commonwealth War Graves Commission Database https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/876658

Lives of the First World War (Imperial War Museum) https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/lifestory/4708773