Name
John C Payne
1896
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
26/05/1916
20
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
3401
Hertfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
LE TOURET MILITARY CEMETERY, RICHEBOURG-L'AVOUE
III. F. 31.
France
Headstone Inscription
No Report
UK & Other Memorials
Church of St Nicholas Memorial, Norton, Letchworth Town Memorial, Hertfordshire Regimental Memorial, All Saints Church, Hertford
Pre War
John Cyril Payne was born in 1896 in Forest Gate, London to Joseph Payne, carpenter, and Mary (nee Butler).
On the 1901 Census the family of parents, Mary (born 1893), Joseph Alfred(born 1894), John C , Cyril (born 1900) together with Annie Butler (sister of Mary, born 1877, kitchen maid) were living at 23, St Georges Avenue, West Ham, Middx.
On the 1911 Census the family of parents, Alfred (compositor), John (print machine minder), Cyril, Maurice (born 1902), Leo (born 1906), Hugh (born 1908) and Bernard (born 1910) were living at 24, Glebe Road, Letchworth.
Both Alfred and John were employed at Arden Press.
Wartime Service
John enlisted in the Hertfordshire Regiment at Hertford around Sep/Oct 1914 as Private 3401 and following training was posted to 1st/1st Battalion of the Regiment and joined them on 16 Feb 1915. The Battalion had gone to France on 6 Nov 1914 to join 4th(Guards) Brigade in 2 Division at Ypres taking their turn in Trench Duties.
In 1915 the Battalion took part in the Battle of Festubert (15-25 May) where they were in support of the Guards (Irish and Grenadiers) in their attack on 18 May. Brother Alfred was killed in this action.
In 1916 the Battalion were in the Bethune area having been transferred to 118 Brigade, 39 Division on 29 Feb 1916. The Battalion spent most of May 1916 rotating in and out of the front line in the Cuinchy-Festubert area.
Extract from Jack Alfred Wilmott biography by Paul Johnson :
On the 26th May 1916 they were located at C.2 Subsection at Festubert, having relieved the 13th Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment the night before. At 6.00am a group of six German soldiers crawled through the long grass which had grown in front of the British positions. They leapt up and surprised the men who were located in the post named Island 30, killing three of them and wounding Private Harold King, who was evacuated to the Field Ambulance at Bethune. He died the following day from his injuries. Among the killed was John Payne, who was interred in Le Touret Military Cemetery, Richebourg-L'avoue where his Brother Alfred is commerated.
Died 500 yds from his brother, but one year later
Additional Information
War Gratuity of £7 and arrears of £1 12s 8d was paid to his mother Mary. His brother Joseph Alfred Payne also served as 3405 Herts Regt and was killed in action on 18 May 1915.
John is mentioned in a very thorough biography for Jack Alfred Willmott by Paul Johnson, which appears in the website’s Archive section at: HERE
Acknowledgments
Neil Cooper
Dan Hill, Ellen Barnes, Jonty Wild. Paul Johnson,
