Name
John Henry Coker
1897
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
25/09/1916
19
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
24087
Grenadier Guards
2nd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
Pier and Face 8 D.
France
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial,
St Mary's Church Memorial, Hemel Hempstead,
Marlowes Baptist Church, Marlowes,
St John the Evangelist Church Memorial, Boxmoor
Pre War
John Henry Coker was born in Hemel Hempstead in 1897, the son of Walter and Mary Coker and one of 7 children.
On the 1901 Census the family were living at 80 Cotterells Road, Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead, where his father was working as an Engineer (Turner) in the engineering department of Apsley MIills. They remained at the same address on the 1911 Census at which time John was working as a Butchers Errand Boy.
Wartime Service
John Coker enlisted in June 1915 at Caterham, Surrey a few months after his 18th birthday and served with the 2nd Battalion, Grenadier Guards . The Grenadiers were based in Caterham in the Guards Barracks.
He completed his basic training and was eligible to serve overseas in May 1916 when the battalion were close to Ypres in Belgium. They moved to France in late August and John saw action in the Battle of Flers-Courcelette where the Grenadiers suffered heavy casualties.
He was killed in action on 25 September 1916 during the attack and capture of Lesboeufs, part of the Battle of Morval.
He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, France.
Additional Information
His father received a war gratuity of £5 and pay owing of £2 15s 1d and his mother received a pension of 5 shillings a week from 8 May 1917.
A memorial service was held at Marlowes Baptist Church on 29 October 1916 for John Coker and seven other members of the congregation who had been killed.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.dacorumheritage.org.uk, www.hemelatwar.org, www.hemelheroes.com
