Brother to Private John Walker Iceton, reg. no. 769481 who survived the war.
Source: Private Memories: The Iceton Brothers, compiled and edited by Vanessa Dal Bello.
Wounded at Vimy Ridge during the attack.
Pte. J.H.V. Iceton, whose parents live at 208 Bellwoods avenue, is reported having died of wounds in not 3 [30] Casualty Clearing Station April 19. His parents had a letter from him the day after they received word of his death. Pte. Iceton joined an infantry battalion on the same day as is brother, John Walker, left for overseas last August, and had been serving in France since October. He was 32 [33] years of age, unmarried, and formally worked in Morgan and Holden’s shell factory. He came from Darlington, Durham County. A great-grandfather of Pte. Iceton was at the famous ball at Brussels and also served at Waterloo.
Source: Toronto Star – May 1st, 1917 via CVWM.
Darlington man went from making shells to firing them with the Canadian Army
James Walker Iceton was a plumber from Shildon who married Theresa Mary Robinson of Darlington in 1880. Their first child Dorothy Catherine was born in 1882, followed by James Harold on 24th January 1884, Eveline Margaret in 1886, Herbert Paul in 1888 and in 1890 John William; when the census was taken the following year they were living in St. John’s parish at 12 Albert Street, Darlington. Ten years later on census day in 1901 parents James and Theresa were at his widowed mother’s house at 8B Chancery Lane, Darlington with their 1 year old daughter Theresa; Dorothy and Eveline were both in service in Lancashire and James, Paul and John were listed as visitors at 10 Union Place, Darlington with their paternal Uncle Thomas, his wife and son.
In April 1912, James and Theresa, Paul, James, John and young Theresa sailed from Liverpool to Halifax, Nova Scotia on the Victorian heading for Toronto and a new life in Canada. One year later, James Harold is listed as crossing the US border at Niagara Falls on his way to his cousin Mary Galloway in Ohio to seek employment. Whether he found any work or not is unknown but in 1915 he was back in Canada and enlisting in the Canadian Expeditionary Force at Toronto on 31st December giving as his next of kin his mother Theresa and their shared address as 208 Bellwoods Avenue, Toronto, and his occupation that of a machine foreman at the Massey Harris shell factory. His brother John William enlisted the following year.
Private 769402 Iceton was posted to the 18th Battalion, which sailed for England in August 1916 and then onwards to France in October where the Battalion fought as part of the 4th Infantry Brigade, 2nd Canadian Division. On 19th April 1917, “taking part in the attack at Vimy he was wounded in the head and left side by enemy machine gun bullets. After receiving first aid and attention he was taken to No.30 Casualty Clearing Station where he died from the effects of his wounds” (description taken from the War Graves Register). According to his obituary in the Toronto Star his parents received a letter from him the day after his death.
James Harold Vincent Iceton is buried in Aubigny Communal Cemetery , nine miles north west of Arras.
Civil Parish: Darlington
Birth date: 24-Jan-1884
Death date: 19-Apr-1917
Armed force/civilian: Army
Residence: 12 Albert Street, Darlington (1891 census)
8B Chancery Lane, Darlington (1901 census)
208 Bellwoods Avenue, Toronto, Canada (1915, Candian Service Record)
Military service:
31 Dec 1915 enlisted
Private 769402
18th Battalion, 4th Infantry Brigade, 2nd Canadian Division
Memorial(s): Aubigny Communal Cemetery, France
Gender: Male
Contributed by Jayell, Durham
History of the 18th Battalion CEF, "The Fighting Eighteenth" 
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