Pte 57418 John Henderson

He enlisted in Glasgow and originally served as 15259, Army Cyclist Corps, at some point he was transferred to the King’s (Liverpool) Regiment, initially in the 11th Bn, was then transferred to the 20th Bn K.L.R. and was serving with ‘D’ Company, 15th Platoon of the 19th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 57418 when he was killed in action on the 22^nd March 1918 during the German Spring Offensive.

John was declared Missing on 22nd March 1918.  His brother, Mr. A. Henderson, at 29 Inglefield Street, Govanhill, Glasgow, wrote to the International Red Cross but was informed on 31st May that they held no information.  A further enquiry from his sister, Miss A. Henderson, at the same address, also received a negative response, dated 9th October 1918.  His death was later officially accepted as having occurred on 22nd March 1918.

The Battalion diary gives an overview of the events of the 22nd March 1918 as follows:

22^nd  GERMAINE – HAM- MOYENCOURT

The battalion moved up accordingly being in position at 6:30 a.m. About 3pm the enemy attacked the left of our position and advanced on our left flank towards FLUQUIERES. At 4:30 pm an attack was launched on our front and the enemy forced his way through on our right. The remainder of the Battalion was forced to retire to south of FLUQUIERES. During this engagement the Battalion lost 11 Officers and About 21 O.R. The order was given to retire to the defences at HAM. The Battalion by this time was very weak, and passing through the 20^th Division took up positions in HAM, as ordered, getting into position at 2am.

It was nearly a year later that his family was informed of John’s fate.  The Scotsman published John’s name as Now Reported Killed on 7th March 1919. 

John's body was not recovered or was subsequently lost as he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial in France.

The POZIERES MEMORIAL relates to the period of crisis in March and April 1918 when the Allied Fifth Army was driven back by overwhelming numbers across the former Somme battlefields, and the months that followed before the Advance to Victory, which began on 8 August 1918. The Memorial commemorates over 14,000 casualties of the United Kingdom and 300 of the South African Forces who have no known grave and who died on the Somme from 21 March to 7 August 1918.

The cemetery and memorial were designed by W.H. Cowlishaw, with sculpture by Laurence A. Turner. The memorial was unveiled by Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien on 4 August 1930.