Pte 27364 John George Kerr

His parents and sisters are living at 54 Gloucester Road, Tuebrook.  His father is 48, a bricklayer/contractor, his mother is 43, Henrietta is 19, working in a tobacco factory, and Doris is 10. 

 

Not long after the census, in May 1911, John went to sea, his first voyage as a steward on the Haverford, an American Line passenger liner on the Liverpool-Philadelphia run.  He is found on the Haverford in May 1912, age 22, then switched to the Cunard Line, serving on the Laconia in 1912, and the Franconia in 1913 on transatlantic routes.  His address on all the crew lists is 54 Gloucester Road.

 

He married Elizabeth Jones in the Sept Qtr of 1914. Their daughter Doris was born on 7th October 1915 and baptised on the 11th Nov 1914 at Holy Trinity, Walton Breck, parents address 4 Sedley St, Anfield. 

 

John enlisted in Liverpool joining the 17th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment as Private 27364. 

He will have been involved in the successful capture of Montauban on 1st July 1916 before the Pals turned their attention to their next objective: Trones Wood.

The murderous fighting that went on inside Trones Wood rendered it impossible to put specific dates on some of the casualties which is why many of the 17^th Battalion losses have been bracketed as killed in action between 10^th – 12th July 1916. The conditions are best described in the following passage from Everard Wyrall’s book The History of The King’s Regiment (Liverpool) Volume II. 

The remembrance of Trones Wood in July 1916 to those who passed through it is of a noisome, horrible place, of a tangled mass of trees and undergrowth which had been tossed and flung about in frightful confusion by the shells of both sides. Of the ghastly dead which lay about in all directions, and of DEATH, lurking in every hole and corner with greedy hands ready to snatch the lives of the unwary. The place was a Death trap, and although the attacks were made with great determination,   the presence of snipers who could not be detected and often fired into the backs of our men made the clearing of the wood impossible.

Jack Kerr was one of those killed in the action to clear the wood. He was 26 years of age.

His family placed notices in the Liverpool Echo, on 31^st July 1916: 

“Private John G. Kerr (Jack), (of the “Pals”), dearly-beloved husband of Elizabeth Kerr, 9, Dawber Street.  -  Sadly missed by his sorrowing Wife. (One of the best.)”

“Private John G. Kerr (Jack), (of the “Pals”), only son of Mr. and Mrs. of 72 Cherry Lane.  -  Never for one moment will be forgotten by his sorrowing Father, Mother, and Sister.”

“Private John G. Kerr (Jack), (of the “Pals”), the dearly-beloved only brother of Mrs. Ellis.  (Loved by all.)  -  Ciss and Will.”

Further details appeared in the Liverpool Evening Express 02/8/16:

Private John G. Kerr, of the Pals, who resided at 9, Dawber-street. He was formerly employed as a first class waiter on the Mauretania.  

Jack's body was not found or his grave was subsequently lost as his name is recorded on the Thiepval Memorial. 

The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916. 

On 01st August 1932 the Prince of Wales and the President of France inaugurated the Thiepval Memorial in Picardy. The inscription reads: “Here are recorded the names of officers and men of the British Armies who fell on the Somme battlefields between July 1915 and March 1918 but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death.”

His daughter was nine months old when John was killed. Elizabeth received John’s Army effects, including a War Gratuity of £4 and a weekly pension for herself and child. 

His widow Elizabeth placed an In Memoriam notice on the first anniversary of John’s death:

“In loving memory of my dear husband, Private Jack Kerr (Pals), killed in action July 12, 1916.  (Too dearly loved ever to be forgotten by his Wife and little Girl Doris.) - 9, Dawber Street.”

 

His family also placed a notice in the Liverpool Evening Express on 11th July 1917: 

ROLL OF HONOUR. 

KERR - In loving memory of our dear son John, 17th K.L.R. (Pals), killed in action, July 10th, 1916. Fondly remembered by father, mother and sisters, Ciss and Doris, 72 Cherry Lane.  

Further notices were placed in the years that followed:

Liverpool Evening Express on 10th July 1921 :

ROLL OF HONOUR. 

KERR - In loving memory of our dear son JOHN, killed in action, July 10th, 1916 (Liverpool Pals). (Never forgotten by father and mother, 72 Cherry Lane, Walton. 

KERR -  

In loving memory of our dear brother JOHN, killed in action, July 10th, 1916 (Liverpool Pals (Fondly remembered by Ciss, Doris, and Will, 70 Cherry Lane, Walton.) 

On the 1921 Census Elizabeth and Doris are still living with her parents Charles and Francis Jones at 9 Dawber St, Edge Hill. 

Liverpool Evening Express on 10th July 1926: 

KERR - In loving memory of our dear son John, killed in action with the Liverpool Pals, July 10th, 1916. - Never forgotten by father, mother and sister Doris, 72 Cherry Lane. Also fondly remembered by sister Ciss and Will, 70 Cherry Lane, Walton. 

Elizabeth, dob 5th Dec 1890, appears on the 1939 Register at 8 Breck Road with her surname crossed out to Lawrence. She married George Lawrence in 1942 in Chester and died aged 75 in 1965. 

 

In 1939 his parents are living at 72 Cherry Lane, Anfield.  His father is 76, a retired bricklayer, his mother is 72.   His mother died in June 1940, aged 72, and his father in September that year, aged 77.