| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
John Robert Wilson enlisted in the 5th Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment as a Private but later transferred to the 1st/4th (Hallamshire) Battalion of the York and Lancaster Regiment where he served as Private. The dates of his enlistment and of his arrival on the Western Front are not known. He was awarded the Military Medal for bravery in Oct 1917. His Military Medal was probably earned on 9 Oct 1917 during the Third Battle of Ypres. In a letter home, reported in the Beverley Guardian of 1 Dec 1917, he wrote:
"The medal I have got was for taking messages under machine gun and rifle fire; taking rum out to a Sergeant who was laid wounded in "No Man's Land" and fetching the same Sergeant in at night." The paper also said he received, whilst on leave, a note from his Captain saying, " Dear Wilson-This is just a note to inform you that you've been awarded the Military Medal and my best congratulations…hope this will get to you before you leave home."
The Battalion War Diary confirms that on 9 Oct that there were "a large number of casualties, particularly among runners and Stretcher Bearers." The Military Medal Ribbons were presented at Dickebusch on 16 Nov 1917 by Divisional Commander, Major-General Cameron. John was also awarded the War and Victory Medals and left the army in Mar 1919.
John was born in Beverley the 18 Jan 1897 and baptised at St Nicholas the 12 Feb 1897, the son of Herbert Wilson, of Beverley working in an oil seed mill and later in the shipyard as a labourer, and Mary Jane (nee Hulland) of Chatham, Kent. Harry attended St Nicholas school, they family living on Beckside and late at 39 Holme Church Lane. By 1911 John was working as a glue works labourer.
In 1939 John was working as a blacksmith striker. On 18 Sep 1926 he married Mabel Addy of Hengate, Beverley at St Nicholas' Church. They later moved to Hull. They had a son, Francis, born in 1928. John died in Hull in 1953.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |