Name
John William Engeldow
1888
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
27/03/1920
31
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Corporal
T4/107990
Royal Army Service Corps
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Mentioned in Despatches
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
LUTON CHURCH BURIAL GROUND
Y. M. 19.
United Kingdom
Headstone Inscription
ONE OF THE BRAVEST ONE OF THE BEST MAY GOD GRANT HIM ETERNAL REST
UK & Other Memorials
Not on the Markyate memorials, Not on the Berkhamsted memorials, WW1 Memorial, Luton, Beds
Pre War
John William Engeldow was born in Marylebone in 1888, the son of Frederick Ross Engeldow and Ruth Elizabeth (nee Wright) and was one of four children.
On the 1891 Census the family of parents, Frederick R E (born 1882), John William and George R (born 1890) were living at Homer Street, St Marylebone, where his father was a zinc worker.
By 1901 the family of parents, Frederick Ross, John William, George Robert and Margaret Elizabeth (born 1894) had moved to 38 Gossoms End, Northchurch, nr Berkhamsted, Herts. His father's occupation was then described as whitesmith.
His father died in 1904 and on the 1911 Census John was living with widowed mother and siblings George (now employed as a whitesmith) and Margaret at 38 Gossoms End, Berkhamsted and was working as a Clerk.
He married Ethel Maud Wilder on 20 Sep 1915 at Luton, Beds and he appears on the Absent Voter lists for 1918 and 1919 at 33 Chobham Street, Luton Beds. They had two children, William (born 1916) and Dorothy (born1919).
Wartime Service
John enlisted as Private T4/107990 in the Royal Army Service Corps on 29 May 1915 at Watford, Herts, and was posted to Depot at Aldershot. He went to France on 26 Jun 1915 and served with the No. 1 Railhead Supply Detachment of al Army Service Corps. On 5 Feb 1918 he was promoted to Acting Corporal and later confirmed as Corporal on 27 May 1918. John returned to UK on leave from 28 Oct 1918 to 12 Nov 1918 returning to his Unit on 13 Nov 1918 He was discharged on 16 May 1919 as Class Z, having developed pulmonary tuberculosis while on the Somme, France. Being described as 'very thin and emaciated with prominent ribs and very weak' on military records, he was only just able to get about. The tuberculosis was in an advanced stage, and he was too unwell to attend a Board and was visited at home on 12 Mar 1920.
John died of tuberculosis on 27 March 1920 and is buried in Luton Church Burial Ground, Bedfordshire.
Additional Information
His widow applied for a pension but nothing is shown on the card, although a grant of £7 was paid. His widow remarried to Hiram Tansley in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire in 1923.
N.B. On CWGC records John's father is given as George Ross, however on census and other records his father is listed as Frederick Ross Engeldow.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer, Neil Cooper
Jonty Wild, Anne & Gordon Mead
