Notes
The compiler of this original Roll of Honour opted to include an ANZAC soldier, listing him simply as under the surname 'Hunter' (with no initials or rank), and recording of him that he is "Buried at Peterborough Cemetery', and that there is a memorial tablet to him in Peterborough Cathedral. It listed no further details for him, as virtually every inhabitant of Peterborough was fully aware of who that soldier was, due to the circumstances of his death in the City. (The compiler of the 1994 version of the Roll of Honour opted to omit him, apparently on the basis that the man was not a Peterborough resident).
The entry for him on this original Roll is known to relate to George Thomas Hunter, who became widely known locally during and since the War as "The Lonely ANZAC", following his death in Peterborough Infirmary in 1916.
Though born in Durham District as "George Hunter" in 1880 (the son of Mary and George Burton Hunter), he was always known as "Thomas". In 1881 Thomas and his parents were living in Medomsley, Durham; on the 1901 and 1911 census he was lodging with John and Hannah Dawson in Winlaton, Durham; he subsequently moved to Australia.
Having enlisted in Adelaide on 24/8/1914 as "Thomas Hunter ", he became a Private in the 10th Infantry Battalion of the Australian Infantry Force, regimental number 505; he rose to Sergeant on 1/3/1916.
Having been shot in the back on 25/7/1916 during the Battle of Pozieres, he was brought to England for treatment. While travelling by Red Cross train to Halifax, his condition deteriorated, so he was transferred from the train to Peterborough Infirmary, where he died on 31/7/1916.
In August 1916 the Peterborough Advertiser launched an appeal to raise funds to erect a headstone for "The Lonely ANZAC", who had died so far from home, and who the City figuratively 'adopted'. (The appeal was so successful that sufficient money was raised to also commission a bronze memorial tablet, which was unveiled in Peterborough Cathedral on 15/12/1917; a facsimile of that tablet is in Peterborough Museum). Thomas' funeral was attended by the the Infirmary's staff, the Mayor and other dignitaries, as well as by most of Peterborough residents, who lined the funeral route. (For many of them, who had lost sons/husbands/brothers/friends/colleagues in the War, but had been unable to be present for their burial, Thomas Hunter was a surrogate casualty, whose death they could mourn, and whose funeral they could attend; i.e. equating to the focal point for mourning that was later created by 'Grave of the Unknown Soldier').
CWGC records that Sergeant Thomas Hunter, regimental number 505, is buried in grave 7.3.2249 in Broadway Cemetery, Peterborough. JK