Name
Joseph Cannon (Cannone)
1897
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
09/05/1918
21
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Serjeant
31545
Bedfordshire Regiment
2nd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
TYNE COT MEMORIAL
Panel 48 to 50 and 162A.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial,
St Mary's Church Memorial, Hemel Hempstead,
St Mary & St Joseph Roman Catholic Church Memorial, Boxmoor
Pre War
Joseph Cannon (registered as Josephus Canoni) was born on 18 August 1897 in Clerkenwell, London, the son and eldest child of Rosario and Teresa Cannon(e) (nee Grillo) who were both born in Italy, He was one of 7, possibly 8, children (see additional information below).
On the 1911 Census the family were living at 11 Bridge Street, Hemel Hempstead, where his father was an Itinerant Musician and Joseph was working as an Ice Cream Vendor. The family had moved to various locations because of his father's work and the children were born in varying locations.
It is believed the family attended the Roman Catholic Church of St Mary and St Joseph, Boxmoor, although the memorial has now been lost.
His parents later later lived at 80 Jamaica Street, Bermondsey, London., where his father ran a greengrocery business.
Wartime Service
He enlisted at Bedford soon after he reached the age of 18 in 1915, and served with the 2nd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment. He used the surname of Cannon, rather than the Italian family name of Cannone. Joseph must have impressed his superiors as he had been promoted to the rank of Sergeant by March 1918 prior to the Battle of St Quentin. He would probably have seen action on many major battles including Loos, Somme and Passchendaele.
He was killed in action whilst on the front line at Vierstraat, near Ypres when the Battalion was subjected to very heavy barrage with trench mortars lasting 4 hours from 3.00 a.m., followed by flamethrowers, There was intense bombardment throughout the day causing very heavy casualties. The war diary states that total casualties were 7 officers and 170 other ranks.
Death was presumed on 9 May 1918 when he was aged 21. He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium, along with 13 of his comrades from the 2nd Battalion, who died 8/9 May.
Additional Information
His father received a war gratuity of £20 and pay owing of £32 0s 6d. His mother received a pension of 6s 2d a week.
N.B. The surname of Cannon has been anglicised and is spelled as Canoni and Cannone on the children's birth registrations. The same is true of their given names: Joseph - Josephus, Arthur - Angelo Michele, Mary - Vergilia Catarina, Louise - Luisella, Vellia - Vera, all born between 1897 and 1907. Florence (1914) and Harold (1917) were registered with anglicised names. There was possibly another child Jerado born in 1908 in Leighton Buzzard, the same as Vera in 1906, but no trace can be found of him on death registration or census.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, parish.rcdow.org.uk/St-Mary-and-St-Joseph-WW1, www.hemelheroes.com.
