The 1/4th Bn (Hallamshire) York and Lancaster Regiment was formed
in Sheffield in August 1914.
It was attached to the 148th Brigade of the 49th Division.
At the time of John's death the Division was fighting in the Battle of
Poelcapelle, the sixth phase of the Third Battle of Ypres.
An offensive was mounted by Commonwealth forces to divert German
attention from a weakened French front further south.
The initial attempt in June to dislodge the Germans from the Messines
Ridge was a complete success, but the main assault north-eastward,
which began at the end of July, quickly became a dogged struggle
against determined
opposition and the rapidly deteriorating weather.
The campaign finally came to a close in November with the capture of
Passchendaele.
John's body was never recovered and he is remembered on the Tyne Cot
Memorial.
This lists 35,000 men who have no known grave and stands at the
furthest point of the Western advance in Flanders
before the armistice was signed.
All around the graves of the largest Commonwealth cemetery in the World.
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