| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
John (“Jack”) Welburn was born in Beverley in 1895, one of five children born to Wray Welburn and his wife Sarah Jane. The family lived on Bogle Lane (now Beaver Road) in the town. John probably attended St Nicholas’ school and later worked alongside his older brother, Harold, at Constitution Hill farm in Molescroft as a farm hand. However, by WWI he had joined the North Eastern Railway in Hull as a labourer, living in Londesborough Street’s railway houses in the city He was unmarried.
John became a territorial in May 1914 and attended the annual camp in Deganwy, Wales, immediately before the war started on 4 Aug 1914. He gave his consent to serve abroad and arrived in France on 17 Apr 1915. He was a member of the Army Service Corps who were responsible for bringing supplies (food, ammunition and equipment) to supply camps behind the front line. He served as a driver and was responsible for looking after the horses they used. He was attached to 50th Northumbrian Division and went straight into action at St Julien in Belgium, part of the Second Battle of Ypres. In Sep 1916 John transferred to the ASC as a regular soldier. He was in France, with one period of leave in 1917, until the end of the war.
In Nov 1918, just as the war ended, John was given a period of leave and returned to Beverley. With both parents now dead he stayed with his brother Harold and his wife, Annie, at 4 George Street. However, whilst in Beverley he contracted influenza in the epidemic that was raging across the UK and the world. He was admitted to the Cottage Hospital on Morton Lane which also served as a military hospital. John died, aged 23 there of pneumonia on 13 Nov 1918, two days after the armistice. He is buried at St Martin’s Cemetery on Queensgate. He was awarded the 1915 Star and the War and Victory Medals. He was also given a Good Conduct Medal for TA service. John is remembered on the Hengate War Memorial but not on the East Riding Memorial in the Minster
Includes information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |