Name
John Gray Woolman
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
02/11/1918
21
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Second Lieutenant
York and Lancaster Regiment
3rd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
AUBERCHICOURT BRITISH CEMETERY
Plot IV, Row A, Grave 4.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Watford Borough Roll of Honour, Watford Grammar School Memorial, Watford, Watford Grammar School Book of Remembrance, Bushey Town Memorial, St Paul's Church Memorial, Bushey, Christ's Hospital School Memorial, West Horsham
Pre War
Born in Bushey on 7 January 1897, John Gray Woolman was the fourth son of John and Agnes (nee Gray) Woolman. His parents were married on 12 April 1887 at the Providence Chapel in Leicester and were at that time living at 37 Denmark Street.
At the 1891 census, John (Snr.) and Agnes were living at 46 Gladstone Road in Watford. They had two children, named Ebenezer and Mary, who were aged 3 years and 9 months respectively. Birthplaces were given as Leicester for John (Snr.) and Agnes and Watford for Ebenezer and Mary.
By the time of the 1901 census, the family had moved to Eythorne in Bushey Grove Road, Bushey. John (Snr.) and Agnes were 37 and 36 years old respectively and John (Snr.) was employed as a librarian. John was four years old and had three siblings. Their names were Ebenezer, Mark and Harry and their ages were 13, 6 and 2 years respectively. Mary was not present and had died in 1896. The birthplace for Mark was given as Watford and that for Harry was Bushey.
John attended Watford Grammar School from September 1904 to May 1909 and then attended Christ’s Hospital Independent School at West Horsham in Sussex between 1909 and 1913. He was recorded as a boarder there at the 1911 census.
At the 1911 census, John’s parents were living at ‘Westerby’, 38 Bushey Grove Road, Bushey with four of their children and a 47-year-old cousin named Ellen Mary Pywell. John (Snr.) was then employed as the Director Librarian and Secretary of the Public Library and School of Science and Art in Watford. The children present were Mark, Agnes Mary, Florence Ruth and Ada, who were 16, 9, 8 and 4 years old respectively. Apart from Mark, who was born in Watford, all the children had been born in Bushey. Harry was not present and had died in 1902. The record indicates that John (Snr.) and Agnes had had nine children, three of whom had died in childhood.
On leaving Christ’s Hospital in 1913, John joined an accounting firm before heading to the Admiralty in December 1914.
Wartime Service
John Gray Woolman sought permission to enlist in 1915 but this was not granted until December 1916 when he joined the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps. He went to Berkhamsted for training in January 1917 and was gazetted 2nd Lieutenant in the 3rd Battalion of the York and Lancaster Regiment in September 1917.
He went to France in April 1918 and was engaged during the German thrust for Ypres. He injured his thumb on barbed wire which then became badly infected, and he was evacuated to hospital in Etaples. The hospital was bombed during his stay there and, although John was unscathed, he had to be evacuated back to England for further treatment and was not able to re-join his Battalion until September 1918. John returned to France in October 1918 and was killed in action just south of Valenciennes when he was shot through the neck at close range and died almost immediately. This happened on 2 November 1918, just nine days before cessation of hostilities. [Source: Christ Hospital Museum and Heritage website www.chwarmemorial.org.uk]
John was originally buried with a cross to mark the grave and was later exhumed and reburied at Auberchicourt British Cemetery (grave reference IV.A. 4) concentration cemetery, where he is remembered with honour.
He is commemorated on the Bushey Town Memorial and at St Paul’s Church, Bushey. He is also included in the Watford Borough Roll of Honour, and on the memorial at Watford Grammar School and his name is included on the First World War Memorial Tablets at Christ’s Hospital School and on the memorial plaque for Maine A House.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission database states: “Son of John and Agnes Woolman, of 1, Acacia Villas, High Rd., Wormley, Broxbourne, Herts. Born at Bushey, Herts.” and his gravestone includes a personal inscription which reads; “IN HOPE OF ETERNAL LIFE THROUGH JESUS CHRIST”. It also records
The Registers of Soldiers’ Effects named his father as the sole legate and showed pay owing of £88 16s 8d issued on 21 May 1919 and a further payment of £6 on 20 December 1919.
There was an article about, and a Death announcement for, John in the West Herts and Watford Observer dated 16 November 1918. The Observer article gave similar information and also included the following details; His captain, writing to the deceased’s parents, says, “He was in my company and was greatly beloved by both officers and men of this battalion”. In 1913 he passed the Second Division of the Civil Service and entered the Admiralty. He was involved in the severe engagement at Kemmel Hill.
John (Snr.) died on 1 June 1923 at the Royal Western Infirmary in Glasgow, which occurred whilst he was attending a librarian conference. He left effects of £2429 12s. 8d. to Agnes.
Agnes died 13 February 1933 in Watford aged 68, and was buried 16 February in Vicarage Road Cemetery, Watford. There is an entry in the National Probate Calendar for 1933 which gave her address as 18 Wellington Road in Watford and left effects of £1494 10s. to Agnes Mary and Ada Woolman spinsters.
Additional Information
The published Watford Grammar School Book of Remembrance entry reads:
“WOOLMAN, JOHN GRAY. School period: September, 1904, to May, 1909. Second Lieutenant, 3rd York and Lancs. Regiment. Joined Inns of Court O.T.C. in December, 1916; gazetted to 3rd York and Lancs. in September, 1917; April, 1918, went to France with 1i4th York and Lancs; killed in action near Valenciennes, 2nd November, 1918.”
Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, Jonty Wild, Sue Carter (Research) and Watford Museum (ROH on line via www.ourwatfordhistory.org.uk)
Acknowledgments
Andrew Palmer
Sue Carter (Research) and Watford Museum (ROH on line via www.ourwatfordhistory.org.uk), Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, Jonty Wild
