WW1 Kingsbury Episcopi
This publication contains some background information on each of the men who were killed in the First World War. Their names are recorded on the War Memorials within the Civil Parish of Kingsbury Episcopi and it is this name that appears at the top of each man’s pages of information. There is also information about the men’s families. Four years of research by the Kingsbury Time Travellers, the local area History Group, have unearthed a wealth of photographs, documents, maps and memories. Through the Kingsbury Time Travellers’ Facebook page, we have been able to link up with people and families connected to these men, and so uncover more material.
This publication contains some background information on each of the men who were killed in the First World War. Their names are recorded on the War Memorials within the Civil Parish of Kingsbury Episcopi and it is this name that appears at the top of each man’s pages of information. There is also information about the men’s families. Four years of research by the
Kingsbury Time Travellers, the local area History Group, have unearthed a wealth of photographs, documents, maps and memories. Through the Kingsbury Time Travellers’ Facebook page, we have been able to link up with people and families connected to these men, and so uncover more material.
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JOHN FRENCH<br />
16<br />
Rank, service number<br />
and regiment<br />
Private 23/2185 2nd Battalion, Otago Regiment, New Zealand<br />
Expeditionary Force<br />
Enlisted Enlisted in New Zealand on 14 December 1915.<br />
Embarked to France via Suez, Egypt on 1 April 1916.<br />
Home Address<br />
No.23 on Plaque<br />
Lower Burrow, K.E.. This was probably the house opposite<br />
Palmer’s End Drove, plot 474 on Tithe Map, occupied by Henry<br />
French and family and William Elliott and family, then two<br />
cottages.<br />
Date of death 1 October 1916<br />
Age at death<br />
Circumstances of death<br />
Where buried<br />
Date of birth & full<br />
name<br />
Occupation<br />
24 years<br />
The Otago Regiment was engaged in the Battle of Transloy,<br />
within the overall context of the Battle of the Somme which ran<br />
from 1 July 1916 to 18 November 1916. There were many casualties<br />
in the Otago Regiment mainly through intense German<br />
machine-gun fire. The bodies of many of those lost were never<br />
recovered due to the ferocity of the fighting.<br />
John’s body was not found in the intense fighting on the battlefield.<br />
He is commemorated on the Caterpillar Valley (New<br />
Zealand) Memorial to the Missing on the Somme, France.<br />
22 March 1891. JOHN FRENCH was known as JACK in the<br />
parish.<br />
Farm labourer on 1911 census; and labourer on his NZ attestation<br />
form.<br />
Parents<br />
Spouse and children<br />
Henry French, general labourer born 1869 and Rhoda French<br />
(nee Elliott) born 1858, kid glove maker. They married 20 July<br />
1882. They had four children: Bessie, William, George and<br />
John.<br />
John was unmarried
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