Private Arthur Wheadon (McNulty)
68523 Royal Field Artillery
Died 30th July 1917
Lived at 11 Lomas Street
Buried in Vlamertinghe New Military Cemetery VII.A.12
Burnley Express 1st September 1917

There is some doubt as to whether Arthur was killed or the Burnley Express report is erroneous, as there is no trace of him on Soldiers Died or at the Commonwealth War Graves. A Gunner named Arthur McNulty from Blackburn was killed on the same day and had the same regimental number.

"Hi Andrew, further to our conversation last night. We have been looking for Arthur McNulty because he is commemorated on the Stained Glass Memorial at Billington Chapel along with 10 other soldiers but he is not listed on Billington War Memorial, so we wanted to find out why.

We found him on CWGC but there was no address given. Using his Service Number, we searched the Pension Ledger Cards and his next of kin was his mother, Mrs E. E. Wheadon of 11 Lomas Street, Burnley. So, we checked the 1911 Census for E. E. Wheadon and the address found was 11 Lomas Street, Burnley and everyone on the return was called Wheadon, including an Arthur Wheadon. Both his mother, E. E. Wheadon, and her son Arthur Wheadon were born in Billington. E. E. (Elizabeth Ellen) Wheadon had been married to John Wheadon for 10 years. So the next search was conducted in the 1901 Census and we found John and Elizabeth Wheadon living in Billington but there were no children listed, just the two adults. We then searched for Arthur McNulty living in Billington and found him living with his Grandmother in Billington. His Grandmother, Sarah Coates nee McNulty, had an illegitimate daughter before she got married. This daughter was called Elizabeth Ellen McNulty who also then had an illegitimate child before she got married and this child was Arthur McNulty.

Arthur was known to people in Burnley as Arthur Wheadon and he was listed as that in the 1911 Census but shortly after this, he enlisted with the Royal Field Artillery as a Gunner and he enlisted with his birth name of Arthur McNulty. Therefore on your Gunner Arthur Wheadon link on the Burnley in the Great War page, you mention you cannot find details for a Gunner Wheadon but on CWGC using the date of death and service number from the newspaper report, the only name showing was Arthur McNulty. Well, Gunner Arthur Wheadon and Gunner Arthur McNulty are the same person and he is not listed on Billington War Memorial because he was living in Burnley prior to the war"

(Courtesy of Peter McQuade and ShirleyPenman)