| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information
John Fox was born in Beverley the 10 Mar 1899 and was baptised at St Nicholas’ Church the 16 Apr 1899. His father Edward Fox worked in a local tannery as a glue maker and then as a foreman in the glue and gelatine works, a role that John himself would later assume. John’s mother, Ellen Fox (nee Ashton) was originally from Arnold. John was brought up on Cherry Tree Lane and later Chantry Lane, became the family home and later John and his family’s home.
John enlisted in the army in April 1917 shortly after his 18th birthday. He served as a private in the 22nd Battalion (3rd Tyneside Scottish) of the Northumberland Fusiliers, largely in France. The Beverley Guardian of 14 Apr 1918 noted that John had suffered an arm fracture in the fierce spring fighting and had been repatriated to hospital in Liverpool. On his return to frontline service it appears he was wounded again in Aug 1918. This time it was a more serious affair and John was eventually invalided out of the army in May 1919, considered unfit for further service and awarded the Silver Badge. He was also awarded the War and Victory Medals.
After the war John worked at a local tannery. In the 1939 Register he is recorded as being “a glue and gelatine works foreman”. He married Doris Mary Stobbart, born in 1906, and they had one son, John Leonard who was born on 19 Apr 1927. The marriage was held at St John’s Newland in Hull. Doris was the daughter of a railway man from Cottingham. John died in Hull at the age of 46 in March 1945.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |