223704 Pte. John Edward Simons British Army 2/6th Btn. North Staffordshire Regiment from:Newton-by-Toft (d.21st Mar 1918) The Roll of Honour in St Martin’s Church lists a John E. Simons as having died in 1917. Research suggests that the listed man was quite probably John Edward Simons, who was born at Stickney in Lincolnshire. It appears there may be a family connection to South Willingham with John’s aunt and uncle living in the village; certainly John Simons gives his ‘place of residence’ as ‘South Willingham Lincoln’ on his Attestation Form.
John signed his Attestation Form at Louth on 16th of February 1916. His occupation was given as ‘farm horseman’ and his age as 18 years and 124 days on the day of his enlistment; the following day he was placed on the Army Reserve List. Physically, he was described as being 5ft 6ins tall, weighing 136 lbs, with a chest measurement of 36ins. A little over a year later, on 26th of April 1917, he was mobilised and the following day transferred to The Depot, Lincolnshire Regiment as Private 38120 John Edward Simons.
He was posted to the 3rd Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment on 12th May 1917 at Grimsby. On 4th August 1917 he was posted to the 10th (Service) Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment. The ‘Army Form B.103 Casualty Form – Active Service’ is a somewhat misleading document as it is not, as its title suggests, purely for the purpose of recording injury or death. With dates recorded under the ‘casualty’ columns on the form this may explain why the Roll of Honour in St Martin’s Church records his date of death as 1917?
But John Simons had yet to meet his end and was transferred to the 2/6th Battalion of the North Staffordshire Regiment (No. 40892) on 23 August 1917. Unfortunately, those records that do remain are not entirely legible but it seems that he became a casualty during 1917 as he was admitted to a Field Ambulance Station in France on 23rd of October as a ‘casualty in the field’.
Not yet having attained his Majority, the young man who had given his place of residence as ‘South Willingham, Lincoln’ during his Attestation just over two years earlier, became another soldier with no known grave when he was reported missing in the field on 21 March 1918. His name is recorded on the Arras Memorial (as well as on a hand-written scroll in St Martin’s Church South Willingham, a memorial tablet situated in the church at Holton-cum-Beckering and a wooden plaque inside the same church) and his father took receipt of John’s Victory Medal and British War Medal at the family home in Holton cum Beckering. Before he was called up, John Simons is recorded in the 1911 Census as being a farm labourer (aged 13 years), the family living at the time at Top Barn Hatton, near Wragby. It may be that five years later, upon enlistment, he was working on a farm at South Willingham, or simply living with relations as stated by current relatives, which is why he gave his place of residence as South Willingham.
|