| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Private John Twiddle died in hospital at Cannock Chase, Rugeley, Staffordshire on 4 Jan 1918 of “sickness”, specifically dropsy and cirrhosis of the liver. He was buried on 10 Jan 1918 at St Martin’s Cemetery, Beverley. John joined the army at Beverley on 17 Apr 1917 and was assigned to 25th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry, part of 34th Brigade and 11th (Northern) Division. He found training too demanding and was reassigned to the 488th Company of the Labour Corps (attached to the DLI) on 23 Jun 1917. He was readied for a discharge from the army on the grounds that he was “no longer physically fit for war service” but was officially discharged 12 days after his death. He was awarded a Silver Badge but no other medals as he had not undertaken overseas service. A letter from Lt G Brown to his mother was printed in the Beverley Guardian of 19 Jan 1918 and said that,
“He had served under me for very nearly a year and during that time has done very good work for the MC. He was hard working and conscientious and will be very difficult to replace….”
John was born in Beverley in 1877, the son of William Twiddle and Charlotte (nee Gibson), who married at Beverley Minster in 1874. They lived at 55 Keldgate. William was a tanner’s labourer. Following William’s death in 1890, John’s mother married William’s brother, James Twiddle, and they had one child in 1895. John became a tanner’s labourer, but in 1911 he was recorded as working away in a job connected with radiators. The family was living at 30 Cherry Tree Lane.
John is remembered on the Hengate War Memorial in Beverley, on the East Riding Memorial in Beverley Minster and on the Grovehill Street Shrine in Chantry Lane. His mother and step father are buried at St Martin’s Cemetery.
Includes information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |