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John (“Jack”) Sample was killed in action on 13 Nov 1916. He was the first of three brothers to be killed, Edmund of the RFA and Fred of the 8th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment were killed on 9 Apr and 15 Nov 1917 respectively. Brothers, Arthur and Sidney, also served in the military.
Lance-Corporal John Sample enlisted on 13 Jan 1915, he joined the 13th Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment, the last of the Hull Pals Battalions to be raised in the city. After training the 13th were sent to Egypt between Dec 1915 and Mar 1916 to guard the Suez Canal against Turkish attack, then to France, where they took part in the actions at Albert in the early days of the Battle of the Somme. On 13 Nov the thirteenth were involved in an attack in the Ancre river valley on the heavily fortified German defensive positions at Serre. John is buried at Euston Road Cemetery, Colincamps, France and is remembered on the Beverley Hengate Memorial and on the East Riding Memorial in Beverley Minster. He was awarded the 1915 Star and the War and Victory Medals.
John was born in Little Cressingham, Norfolk, on 7 Aug 1886 and baptised in the local church on 9 Sep 1886. He was one of 14 children of Henry and Elizabeth Sample. He became a farm labourer and later a horseman. On 8 Oct 1910, at St Mary’s Church, Watton, Norfolk, he married Rosanna May Howes, born 1889. They had three children, Leah Elizabeth, Doris May and John. John moved to Hull before the war and was living in Victor Street, working as a general labourer. His older brothers, Edmund and Fred had already moved to the city whilst many of his sisters were working in the Beverley area as domestic servants and at the Broadgate Asylum. Early in the war John’s parents, Henry and Elizabeth moved to Beverley and living at 16 Sloe Lane. For a while John lived at Holmechurch Lane, Beverley and he is remembered on the local street shrine. After his death, his widow lived in Walkington whilst working as a clerk at Broadgate Hospital; she later moved to the Durham area.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |