Jean Longstaff has submitted this story:-

The fifth child of ship’s master Captain Matthew Ross Dunning and his wife Annie Morrison Crisp, Arnold was born on 14th December 1894; his older siblings were Annie, George, Nora and Norman and after his birth came Amy Winifred, Elsie Marion and Harry. By 1901 the family were living in Ashbrooke Mount, Sunderland and at the time of the census father Matthew was away at sea, the captain of a ship owned by Arthur Gladstone & Co.

Arnold obviously had no inclination to follow his father and become a mariner as having terminated his membership of Ashbrooke Cricket Club, on 30th March 1911 he arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia sailing from Liverpool on board the SS Corsican, bound for Milton, Ontario and work as a farm labourer. Arnold did return home once to visit his mother after the death of his father in hospital in Antwerp n 1913. When he enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force on 4th January 1916 in Brampton he gave his address as Georgetown, his occupation as farmer and his next of kin as his mother still living at Ashbrooke. This 21-year-old auburn haired man with no distinctive marks became Private 775477 of the 126th (Peel) Battalion commanded by Lieut-Col. F. J. Hamilton.

The Battalion embarked from Halifax on 14th August 1916 on the SS Empress of Britain arriving in Liverpool ten days later, and they then travelled by train to Liphook, Hampshire and marched a mile to the camp at Bramshott Common. In October the 126th was absorbed into other battalions, and Private 775477 now found himself part of the 116th which provided reinforcements for the Canadian Corps in the field. Sent to join the 60th Battalion in France early in December 1916 he would have joined them in a rest camp near Roclincourt. The end of March 1917 saw Arnold attached to the 9th Canadian Machine Gun Company, an attachment which ended on his admission to #3 Canadian General Hospital with inflammation of his right foot. Fit again he was transferred to the 87th Battalion, and then spent ten days being treated for boils at #12 Canadian Field Ambulance station.

The 87th were in the front line in the Battle for Hill 70 starting on 15th August 1917 and the war diary says “the enemy were found to be in much greater strength and more determined to dispute the ground than was anticipated. Our role was to lead him to believe that the main attack would be on our front, and to engage as many of his troops as possible so as to divert them from the counter attacking on the 1st and 2nd Division fronts and in this we were very successful”.

One who was not successful was Private 775477 Arnold Dunning who was reported missing from base after the attack and was finally reported through German sources as being dead.

Arnold Dunning is remembered at Sunderland on S140.005, S140.048 part 9 page 200 , S140.082 and S140.141

He is also remembered in Canada on the Virtual War Memorial and in their Book of Remembrance.

Canadian Book of Remembrance
Canadian Virtual War Memorial
The CWGC entry for Private Dunning