L/Cpl 33193 John Kirby

• Age: 21
• From: Bickerstaffe, Lancs
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 17th Btn
• K.I.A Monday 3rd July 1916
• Commemorated at: Thiepval Memorial
  Panel Ref: P&F1D8B &8 C.

It is likely that John is the son of George Kirby and his wife Jane (nee Bradley). He was born in Bickerstaffe, his birth registered in the September quarter of 1895. His parents were married at the Church of the Holy Trinity, Bickerstaffe, on 08^th June 1893, when George gave his age as 25 years, occupation as “pensioner”, the son of John Kirby, fireman, while Jane was was born 1867 in Kirkby, she gave her age as 26 years, the daughter of Richard Bradley, a labourer, of Aughton and his wife Ann Bradley.

Their first child, Jane was born in 1894 but sadly died in infancy, John was born 1895 and their second, Richard, in 1900.

The 1901 Census shows the family are living at 90 Liverpool Road, Bickerstaffe. John is 5 years of age and lives with his parents and younger brother Richard. His father, George is shown as a 33 year old colliery labourer, (above ground) born in Lancashire, whilst his mother, Jane, is also 33 years of age and was born in Bickerstaffe. His younger brother Richard is 1 year old and was born in Walton, Lancashire.

In 1911 they live in Rock Lane, Melling. Both parents are 43 years old, his father George is now a farm labourer. His parents state that they have been married for 17 years and have had three children, one of whom has died. The surviving children are listed as; John now 15 years old and a part-time student and Richard now 11 years old and a scholar. 

Although John Kirby’s service record has not survived, that of his father, George, has done so! George served with 2^nd Battalion KLR from 13^th February 1886 until transferred to the Army Reserve on 13^th February 1893 and was finally discharged on 12.02.1898. He served in India between 17.12.1889 and 14.11.1892, reaching the rank of Corporal but reduced to the ranks on 08.05.1891 for failing to appear on parade and then escaping from custody! At the time of his marriage to Jane, he was presumably unemployed but in receipt of an Army Pension.

His father died in the June quarter of 1912, aged 44.

John enlisted in Liverpool and was serving as Lance Corporal 33193 with the 17th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment when he was killed in action on 03rd July 1916, aged 21.

John’s Medal Card shows that he was awarded two medals, which shows that he did not see active service overseas until 1916. These medals were sent with his gratuity and arrears of pay to his mother, Jane, who was by this time a widow, her husband having died in 1912 aged 44 years.

John's body was not found or was subsequently lost as he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme.

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 death was reported in the Ormskirk Advertiser on  03rd August 1916:

"L.CORP. J.KIRBY of Rock Lane, Melling who met his death in action in France on July 3rd. He belonged to the King's Liverpool Regiment and only crossed to France in April last. He had just completed his 21st Birthday and was the eldest son of Mr and Mrs John (sic) Kirby" 

We currently have no further information on John Kirby. If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.