Name
John Mayo Biggs
1878
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
25/03/1918
40
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
G/48639
Royal Fusiliers *1
23rd (County of London) Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
ARRAS MEMORIAL
Bay 3.
France
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial, St Mary's Church Memorial, Hemel Hempstead, Catholic Church of Holy Trinity Memorial, Dorchester. Dorset
Pre War
John Mayo Biggs was born in 1878 in Dorchester, Dorset, the son of Thomas and Annie Biggs and baptised there on 22 November 1878. He had one sister called Marian.
On the 1881 Census the family were living at 3 High West Street, Dorchester where his father was a Wine Merchant and Importer and they employed three servants. They had moved to Cornwall Road, Dorchester by the 1891 Census when his father continued as a wine merchant and John was a 12 year old scholar.
In 1901 John was listed as a visitor, living at 137 Blenheim Crescent in Kensington, Notting Hill, London, at the home of Thomas Chatwin and his family, and gave his occupation as "Brewer".
His father died in 1905 and his sister married Herbert Creech in 1910, but John stayed with his widowed mother and on the 1911 Census they were living at 4 Cornwall Road, Dorchester, They had one servant and he gave his occupation as Brewer. On the Electoral Register for Dorchester Saint Peter in 1915, he was said to be living at 4 Cornwall Road, with his mother.
He acquired the ownership of the Star Brewery at 23 to 25 Bury Road, Hemel Hempstead and placed advertisements in the Hemel Hempstead Gazette for "Biggs Brewery". At the outbreak of war, brewing was a 'starred' or 'scheduled' occupation which gave some exemption to enlistment, but later in the war this was changed and many jobs were 'un-starred' and the enlistment age raised to 41. John then decided to volunteer and put the brewery up for sale. It was bought by Edgar Needham, the owner and publisher of the Hemel Hempstead Gazette.
(Probate details after his death record him as the owner of the Star Brewery, Hemel Hempstead and his address as Bury Road. His mother died in Dorchester in 1929. )
Wartime Service
He enlisted in Hemel Hempstead and served as a Private with the Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment). After training he was sent to France on 2 May 1917 and joined the 32nd Battalion.
He saw action at the Battles of Messines, Picklem Ridge and the Menin Road, but then his unit was sent to Italy in November 1917 by train to Mantua. They were on the front line near the River Piave, north west of Treviso, however in February 1918 they were summoned back to France. On 18 March the battalion was disbanded and John was transferred to the 23rd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers and joined them in time to fight in the Battle of St Quentin and the Battle of Baupame.
John was killed in action in France at some time during these actions and he was deemed to have died on 25 March 1918, age 40. He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Arras Memorial. He is one of 35 men from the 23rd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers who died on that day and are named on the Arras Memorial.
Additional Information
Probate of his estate was granted to Herbert Ivor Creech, bank official and Edwin John Stevens, secretary, with effects of £6735 8s 9d. They also received a war gratuity of £6 and pay owing of £7 15s 1d as his executors.
*1 Believed more correctly, (County of London) Bn. London Regiment.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.hemelatwar.org., www.dacorumheritage.org.uk, www.roll-of-honour.com, www.hemelheroes.com
