Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

01/07/1915

Place of Enlistment

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

19/05/1896

Place of Birth

Newtown NSW

Address (at enlistment)

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

School(s) Attended

Wollongong Public School

Occupation

Soldier

Next of Kin

Lilian Hatton (mother), Bower Street, Manly NSW

Burial Place

Belgian Battery Corner Cemetery, Belgium (plot 2, row c)

Final Rank

Major

Final Unit

5 Field Artillery Brigade AIF

Died (killed in action) on 9 November 1917, Belgium aged 21 years

AWM Roll of Honour Memorial Panel 14, Canberra ACT
Large stone tablet on outside of northern wall of St. John's Church, Reid ACT

Mention in Despatches

Hatton entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon on 10 March 1913 and was graduated early, along with the rest of his class, on 28 June 1915. After arriving in Egypt in late December 1915, Hatton was appointed as Orderly Officer, 5th Field Artillery Brigade. He arrived in France in March 1916 and was promoted to Captain in July 1916 serving as the Commanding Officer in several batteries of the 5th Field Artillery Brigade. After a stint at 2nd Division Artillery Headquarters, he was promoted to Major and given command of the 10th Battery of the 4th Field Artillery Brigade then operating in Belgium. He was wounded in a gas attack in September 1917 and spent the next month recovering after which Hatton was posted to the 15th Battery of the 5th Field Artillery Brigade. During operations near Ypres, Belgium on 9 November 1917, Hatton was killed instantly by German artillery fire. He was buried in Belgian Battery Corner Cemetery at Kruisstraat, about one mile west south west of Ypres. His mother was later advised that his actual grave within the cemetery was unknown and that a Special Memorial Cross was erected in his memory.

Description - height 5 feet 6 inches, weight 143 pounds, chest 34 inches, Church of England.

AWM Roll of Honour Database
AWM Roll of Honour Circular
AWM First World War Unit Embarkation Rolls
AWM Collections Record : H06620
Colonel J.E. Lee, 'Duntroon: The Royal Military College of Australia 1911-1946', 1952
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)