Name
John Henry Gare (MM)
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
30/12/1917
27
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lance Serjeant
762402
London Regiment (Artists' Rifles) *1
1st/28th (County of London) Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Military Medal
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
Pier and Face 12 C.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Bushey Town Memorial, Royal Masonic School Memorial, Rickmansworth, Plaque at George Street, Oxford, Plaque at St Edmunds Hall, Oxford, Plaque at Wesley Memorial Church, Oxford
Pre War
Born on 3 Feb 1891 in Oxford, John Henry Gare was the son of Henry Vernon and Kate Alice (née Mumford) Gare. His parents were married in the second quarter of 1888 in the Northampton registration district.
At the 1891 Census, John Henry was living at 7 Abingdon Road, Oxford, with his parents and his one-year old brother, George Vernon. Henry is a farmer.
At the 1901 Census, the family had moved to Gosford Hill Farm, Oxfordshire and John Henry now had two siblings; his older brother George and an 8-year old sister, Katherine. Henry is 41 and a farmer and Kate is 39. Both were born in Northampton. George Vernon is now aged 11, John Henry is 10 and Katherine is aged 8; all three of the children were born in Oxford. Also living with the family were Henry’s sister Elizabeth, aged 39, also born in Northampton, and his mother Mary.
The family was still at Gosford Hill Farm at the 1911 Census and John Henry has two siblings; (George) Vernon, now 21 and Caroline aged 18. John Henry is now 20 and is recorded as a student. Also living with the family are Henry’s sister, Elizabeth Vernon and a cousin named Elanor.
John studied at Oxford Boys’ High School and then St Edmund Hall, Oxford where he was considered one of its best oarsmen, and graduated with a BA in Modern History in 1913. In September 1913 joined the staff at Royal Masonic School for Boys, Bushey as Geography Master. He succeeded Mr. Wetherill and became Housemaster of "B" House in September 1915. He took an active part in all the games of his House and of the School.
Wartime Service
John attested on 12 December 1915 for a short service (duration of the war) as Private 762402 with the London Regiment (Artist’s Rifles) but was not actually gazetted and continued teaching until 20 September 1916. He was still kept in reserve before going to France on 4 November 1916 where he was for some time attached to G.H.Q. and rapidly advanced to lance serjeant.
His brother, Sergeant George Vernon Gare, was killed in action on 24 May 1917 and, as a result, John renounced his claim to a commission for which he had been waiting and was due to return to England to train for it about the time of his death. George was awarded the Military Medal.
John was stationed at Passchendaele in November 1917 and moved to Cambrai during the following month. He was killed in action at Welsh Ridge, a short stretch of higher ground forming a salient bulging out towards Marcoing. It had been captured during the Battle of Cambrai and the Germans were determined to re take the ground. John was at Marcoing on 30 December when the Germans counter-attacked and, within minutes, 68 of his company of 80 men were killed or wounded. John is assumed to have died that day at the age of 26, although his body was not found. He was reported missing and his death was later certified by the War Office.
He is remembered on the Thiepval memorial in France and also commemorated on the Bushey memorial.
A plaque commemorating 80 former pupils of Oxford Boy’s High School, including John Gare, who died in the first world war was erected in 1920 in George Street, Oxford.
There is a further plaque in Oxford at St Edmunds Hall, giving the names of the men who fell in the first world war, and another at Wesley Memorial Church, both of which commemorate John Gare.
John’s school and college gave the same tributes as to his quiet and unassuming character, his earnestness in all he undertook, and his popularity with all who came in contact with him. He will long be remembered at Bushey, both in House and School, as a splendid type of real strong British manhood. He endeared himself alike to boys and men, and by his genial and kindly disposition as well as by his strong sense of duty, he was an example which all would do well to follow. But when all is said, to have known him best was to have known him in his home life, where he was a "son in a thousand."
His pension record card gives the address of his parents as The Rectory Farm, Steeple Aston, Oxon.
Additional Information
Information provided with the kind permission of Bushey First World War Commemoration Project – Please visit www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk. Information also drawn from the Our Watford History website - please visit www.ourwatfordhistory.org.uk and from the Wesleys Oxford website - please visit www.wesleysoxford.org.uk.
*1 Believed more correctly, (County of London) Bn. London Regiment (University and Public Schools).
Acknowledgments
Andrew Palmer
Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk Malcolm Lennox, Old Masonians Association, Jonty Wild
