| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Private John English was killed in action 23 Oct 1918 in France, aged 19. He initially served in the East Yorkshire Regiment, in 1918 he was transferred to the 20th Battalion of the Manchester Regiment who until Sep 1918 served in Italy; they moved to France. John was killed in a night time attack in wooded terrain near Pommereuil, near Le Cateau, which caused, according to the Battalion War Diary, “severe casualties”, many of which were taken “in orchards”, “the enemy being very strong in the hedges facing west” delivering heavy machine gun and rifle fire. The actual circumstances of his death are unknown. John is buried at the Pommereuil British Cemetery and he was awarded the War and Victory Medals.
John was born in Beverley 30 Aug 1899 and baptised at St Nicholas’ Church the 1 October. One of seven children, his parents were Richard Charles English of Beverley and Ada Burks Aylett, of Etton. Richard was a tanner’s labourer. The family lived at 8 Beckside North (near Blucher Lane). John was still at school at the time of the 1911 census. John was unmarried.
John is remembered today on the Hengate Memorial and on the East Riding Memorial in Beverley Minster. John’s older brother, Richard born in 1897, also served in the army in the war and later worked as a police constable. John’s younger brother, Robert, born in 1901, served in the Royal Navy from 1925 to 1941 and later worked as a hospital boilerman in Bridlington. John’s four other siblings all married locally and remained in the Beverley area.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |