Name
John Alexander Quarman
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
27/07/1916
28
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
13985
Bedfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
Pier and Face 2 C.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Abbots Langley Village Memorial, St. Lawrence Church Memorial, Abbots Langley,
Biography
John Quarman was killed in action on 27th July 1916, serving with the 1st Bedfordshire’s whilst capturing the village of Longueval on the Somme battlefield. He had joined up early in the Great War and was listed in the Abbots Langley Parish Magazine Roll of Honour serving with Kitchener’s Army in November 1914. By December of that year he had been drafted into the 4th Bedfordshire’s and was transferred to the 2nd Battalion in June 1915 before eventually moving to the 1st Bedfordshire’s in December 1915. Throughout this time he took part in the fighting at La Bassee, First and Second Ypres, Hill 60,and Loos.
On the morning of 27th July 1916 the 1st Bedfordshire’s were in the reserve trenches in front of the village of Longueval on the Somme. At 9am the battalion was ordered to support the 1st Norfolk’s, attacking the enemy lines. The War Diary of the 1st Bedfordshire’s recorded that “the first attack was repulsed. The enemy then mounted a counter-attack but were pushed back. A bayonet charge finally cleared the village, but the battalion was then subjected to a hail of machine gun fire and a hurricane bombardment, and was relieved later that evening having suffered 164 casualties”. John was listed as “missing in action” on 27th July, and was subsequently recorded killed in action on the same day.
The Abbots Langley Parish Magazine reported news of John Quarman three times. In September 1916 he was reported missing as of 27th July. In November 1916 the Magazine noted that “No further news has been heard”, and in December 1916 the following citation was included
“John Alexander Quarman, who was reported missing on July 27th, is now officially reported ‘Killed in Action’. He is one of four brothers who volunteered right at the very outbreak of War, and he was for a very long time at the Front. He leaves a wife and two little children”
John was born in 1889, one of six sons and two daughters of William and Louisa Quarman. The family lived at 5 Garden Road. William had served in the Army and at the Asylum, and by 1911 had retired. Three of John’s brothers, Charles, Thomas and Lewis were all serving from early in the War. Charles, a full time soldier at the outbreak of War, serving with the Highland Light Infantry, was severely wounded at the siege of Kut in the Middle East, and died of his wounds on 28 January 1917. The other two brothers survived the War.
In the 1911 Census, John was shown employed as a Postman, and was still living in the family home in Garden Road. He subsequently married, Rosa, and in the National Roll of Honour record was listed living at 62 Breakspear Road, Abbots Langley. The couple had two children.
John Quarman was commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing on the Somme, and on the Abbots Langley War Memorial. On 6th December 1916 a Memorial Service was held for his family and the family of several other Abbots Langley men at St Lawrence Church.
Acknowledgments
Roger Yapp - www.backtothefront.org
