Wilfred Eustace Brufton was born in 1899 in Forest Gate to Ship Broker Harry and his wife, Katie. In 1911 the Brufton family lived at ‘Croftdown’, 7 Hermon Hill, Wanstead, with one servant. Wilfred was the youngest of four children. In 1911, he and his brother, Howard, were still in school. Wilfred’s oldest brother, Leslie, was a Shipping Clerk and his oldest sibling, Nora, still lived at home.
The three brothers enlisted in the army during the course of the war. The eldest brother, Leslie, joined the 5th City of London Rifles Foreign Service. He survived the war but died ten years later aged 31 years old.
Wilfred Brufton enrolled with the Royal Horse Artillery and Royal Field Artillery and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant. Wilfred died of severe shell wounds at the casualty clearing station at Colincamps on the Somme on 5th September 1918, aged 19 years old. Wilfred is buried at the Euston Road Cemetery, in Colincamps, France.
Wilfred’s father, Harry Downing Brufton, outlived his wife and all his sons, dying in 1937, leaving his estate to his remaining child, Nora, and her husband.
Research by Redbridge Museum
Sources:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Ancestry.com