Pte 49205 John Losh

John was born in Read, Lancashire, in the June quarter of 1887, the son of Watson Losh and his wife Esther (née Dean).  His father, from Carlisle, Cumberland, and his mother, from Padiham, Lancashire, married in 1883 and had five children. John had older sisters Mary and Isabella, and younger siblings Eveline and James.He was named after his paternal grandfather, and baptised on 10th July 1887 in St. John the Evangelist, Read in Whalley, Lancashire, his father’s occupation given as weaver.

 

In 1891 the family is living at 22 Church Street, Read. His father is a cotton weaver, they have four children, John is 3 years old.

 

By 1901 they have moved a few miles to Great Harwood and are at 23 Oak Street, with five children. His father is a club clerk/steward, John is 13, a cotton weaver.

 

The 1911 census finds them at 14 Hesketh Street, Great Harwood.  His father is 46, a cotton weaver, his mother is 47, John is 23, a jobbing overlooker in cotton weaving, Evelyn, 22, and James, 16, also work in the mill. Also in the household is his married sister Mary and her husband, both cotton weavers, and their baby daughter. 

 

John married Hilda Birtwistle, 21, a weaver, on 08th June 1916, giving his age as 28, his residence as 14 Hesketh Street, and his occupation as overlooker.  There are no records of any children born to the marriage.

 

Based on the amount of the War Gratuity, John enlisted, or was conscripted, shortly after his marriage.

 

John was serving in the 20th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment as Private 49205 when died of pneumonia contracted on active service on 06th February 1917, aged 29. SDGW show his date of death as 03rd February 1917 though his CWGC headstone shows the correct date.

He now rests at Mont Huon Military Cemetery, Le Treport, France where his headstone bears the epitaph:

"TO HIS OWN HIS WELL BELOVED THE FATHER GIVES REST". 

During the First World War, Le Treport was an important hospital centre and by July 1916, the town contained three general hospitals (the 3rd, 16th and 2nd Canadian), No.3 Convalescent Depot and Lady Murray's B.R.C.S. Hospital. The 7th Canadian, 47th and 16th USA General Hospitals arrived later, but all of the hospitals had closed by March 1919. As the original military cemetery at Le Treport filled, it became necessary to use the new site at Mont Huon. There are now 2,128 Commonwealth burials of the First World War in the cemetery and seven from the Second World War. The cemetery also contains more than 200 German war graves. The cemetery was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield.

 

His wife, Hilda was notified two days later.

 

Hilda, resident at 38 Regent Street, Morecambe, received John’s Army effects and a War Gratuity of £3. The pension card shows that Hilda was awarded a pension of £1-16s-1d a week from October 1918, which is considerably higher than the typical widow’s pension with no minor children.  She later lived at Dover House, Queen Street, Great Harwood, when she provided information to the CWGC.

Hilda appears to have married a Roland Birtwistle in 1925.  
 

His mother died in 1925, aged 61, and his father in early 1945, aged 80.

 

John’s name does not appear on the Great Harwood Memorial, nor on any IWM memorial.

The following information concerning John was gratefully recieved and is shared by Barbara Caple, who is John's great niece. 

My grandma was Evelyn, she was John's younger sister. Her daughter, my mother, didn't know John as she wasn't born until 1921, but was told by her father, that he passed John's regiment in the dark on the way up to/or back from the front in the dark.  Apparently he shouted out something like "is John Losh from Gt Harwood out there" & he shouted back that he was. Sadly he never saw him again. My Grandad was in the 3rd then 7th Battalion of the East Lancs Regiment and he was invalided out of the army. I have tried to piece together where the 2 regiments passed but haven't managed.

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