Photo: James Pasby

In St. Nicholas Churchyard is a family headstone for Hunter which includes:

In loving memory of William Hunter
Born 18th March 1861
Died 9th May 1899

also of Ernest Cecil Hunter
who fell in the second battle of Ypres
on the 23rd of April 1915 aged 22 years.
Pro Deo, Rege et Patria.

Jean Longstaff has submitted the following:-

Born in Gateshead on 9th April 1893, Ernest Cecil Hunter was baptised at Christ Church, Gateshead in June 1894 along with his older brother Geoffrey. His parents were William, a railway store superintendent, and Mary Hunter, who also had another five children, although William died in 1899 and would never have seen his only daughter, Elsie May. The 1901 census shows that the family had moved to live in Gosforth. By 1911 Mary owned some tea rooms in Battle, Sussex and it would appear that at some time Cecil also lived on the south coast as he had been part of the Royal Sussex Regiment Training Corps.

Aged 16, on 21st April 1910 Cecil boarded the SS Dominion and sailed for Montreal in Canada and became a farmer. In September 1914 he headed to the newly created army camp at Valcartier and enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, becoming Private 18204 of the 9th Battalion. Within weeks of its formation, the battalion embarked on 4th October bound for England. On 7th February 1915 Cecil was transferred to the 4th Battalion and found himself in France four days later with his new battalion which was billeted at Hazenbruck.

Mid March found them experiencing their first duty in the trenches near Bois Grenier, but they returned to camp at Estaires in time for Easter church parades, after which they moved to billets at Steenvoorde. On 22nd April the battalion received orders to stand by as the town of Ypres was being heavily shelled. They crossed the Yser canal and found themselves just yards away from the enemy; they lost two company commanders and many men were reported killed, wounded or missing. One of these was Cecil Hunter who was reported wounded and missing but later presumed to have died in the attack on St. Julien.

The CWGC records him as "Cecil Hunter"

Acknowledgements: Michael Hunter

Ernest Cecil Hunter is not remembered on a North East War Memorial.

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

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