Name
John James England
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
895225
Royal Field Artillery
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Biography
John England was born in the spring of 1896 at Abbots Langley. He lived with his father John James (senior), mother, Caroline, and sister, Helen at 6 Adrian Road, Abbots Langley. In the 1911 Census John (senior) worked as a Labourer, and John (junior) worked as an Apprentice Upholsterer.
John (junior) was recorded in The National Roll of the Great War, and also has a surviving Service Record at the National Archives. There are some discrepancies between the two sources.
The Service Record recorded that John attested and was medically examined at Hertford on 25th May 1915, and was embodied as a Gunner, and posted to the Divisional Ammunition Column of the 54th East Anglian Division, Royal Field Artillery (RFA). On 27th July 1915 John was appointed to the rank of Saddler, and in the same month the Abbots Langley Parish Magazine Roll of Honour first recorded him serving with the Hertfordshire RFA.
The National Roll of The Great War indicated that John volunteered in 1915, and in the same year was drafted to France, and was gassed in July 1915. This cannot be correct as John’s Service Record noted that on 17th November 1915 he embarked at Southampton, and the next day disembarked at Le Harve. On 18th May 1916 he was posted to the 55th Divisional Ammunition Column. The National Roll noted that he fought at the Somme, Arras, Cambrai and the battles that followed until the cessation of hostilities.
More detail can be found in the Service Record. On 7th August 1917 John was granted ten days leave in the Field, and on 14th April 1918 he was admitted to No 22 Casualty Clearing Station suffering with Venereal Disease Gonorrhoea (VDG). On 18th April he was admitted to No 39 General Hospital at Le Harve, and remained there until 16th July 1918. The National Roll noted that after the Armistice he proceeded to Germany with the Army of Occupation. He was granted leave to the UK between 20th January and 8th February 1919, and was recorded in the Absent Voter Records for Autumn 1918 and Spring 1919, giving his address as 6 Adrian Road, Abbots Langley.
On 18th May 1919 he embarked for England from Antwerp, and went to dispersal on 25th May. John was demobilised to 6 Adrian Road, Abbots Langley, from Charlton, south London on 21st June 1919.
John England survived the War, as did his cousin Ernest England.
Acknowledgments
Roger Yapp - www.backtothefront.org
