Name
John Henry Boothby
1/06/1893
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
23/07/1916
23
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lieutenant
Royal Horse Artillery
U Bty. (8th (Lucknow) Cavalry Brigade)
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star, British War and Victory Medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
DARTMOOR CEMETERY, BECORDEL-BECOURT
I. F. 57
France
Headstone Inscription
TELL ENGLAND YE WHO PASS THIS MONUMENT WE DIED FOR HER AND HERE WE REST CONTENT
UK & Other Memorials
Broxbourne Town Memorial, St Augustine’s Church Memorial, Broxbourne, Lewisham War Memorial, St Stephens Church Lewisham High Street
Pre War
John Henry Boothby was born in Keele, Staffordshire, on 1st June 1893, son of Henry Vernon Boothby, a Land Agent at Keele Estate and Augusta Louisa Boothby (nee Boothby). The youngest of four children although one died in infancy.
Baptised on 4th July 1893, in the Parish of Keele, Staffs.
1901 Census records the family as “BOOTHLY” John aged 7, is living with his parents, brother Ernest (19), a Potter, and sister Gwendolin (15), at The Hawthorne’s, Keele, Staffs. The family had four Domestic Servants, a Parlour Maid, Housemaid, Kitchen Maid and Cook.
1911 Census records John (17) as “BOOTHLY” a boarder at Cheltendale Collage, Cheltenham, Glos. His parents and sister Gwendolin (25) are now living at 21 Belmont Park, Lewisham, London. They had two Domestic Servants.
Wartime Service
At the outbreak of war, it is believed John was serving as a 2nd Lieutenant with the with the Royal Field Artillery and later a Lieutenant with the Royal Horse Artillery. He landed in France on 26th August 1914. Seeing action on the Western Front, he was Killed in Action on 23rd July 1916, aged 23, at the Battle of The Somme. (Battle of The Somme 1st July – 18th November 1916). He is buried in Dartmoor Cemetery, Becordel-Becourt, France. Grave Ref: I. F. 57.
Additional Information
His effects of £9-14-11, pay owing and his war gratuity of £52, went to his father Henry.
His brother 2nd Lieutenant Ernest Brooke Boothby of the 13th Battalion, Rifle Brigade, was Killed in Action on 10th July 1916, aged 35, He is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial in Belgium to the missing, Panel 46, and on the Lewisham War Memorial with his brother John.
Acknowledgments
Stuart Osborne
Richard Barber, Jonty Wild
