Pte 49086 John James McCool

• Age: 20
• From: Liverpool
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 20th Btn
• K.I.A Tuesday 10th April 1917
• Commemorated at: Arras Memorial
  Panel Ref: Bay 3

John James was born in Liverpool in early 1897 and baptised on 12^th April 1897, the son of James McCool and his wife Phoebe (nee Hughes) who married in All Saints Church, Liverpool, on 1^st June 1896. Both parents were born in Liverpool. They had seven children, five of whom survived. John was the first born; his siblings were William, George, Alfred, and Ann.

In 1901 the family are living at 40 Edinburgh Street, Liverpool. Father James is a railway carter. John is 4. Widowed paternal grandmother Catherine McCool is in the household.

In 1911 John is a patient in the Liverpool Workhouse Infirmary.  He is listed as an errand boy, 14 years old. His parents and four younger siblings are at Taliesin Street, Liverpool.     

John enlisted in Liverpool, joining the 20th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment as Private 49086.

His father died in early January 1916, age 41 and tragically just days later his brother William died, age 17. 

John James was killed in action on 10th April 1917 aged 20.

His body was not recovered or was subsequently lost as his name is recorded on the Arras Memorial in France. 

The ARRAS MEMORIAL commemorates almost 35,000 servicemen from the United Kingdom, South Africa and New Zealand who died in the Arras sector between the spring of 1916 and 7 August 1918, the eve of the Advance to Victory, and have no known grave. The most conspicuous events of this period were the Arras offensive of April-May 1917, and the German attack in the spring of 1918. Canadian and Australian servicemen killed in these operations are commemorated by memorials at Vimy and Villers-Bretonneux. A separate memorial remembers those killed in the Battle of Cambrai in 1917. Both cemetery and memorial were designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, with sculpture by Sir William Reid Dick. The memorial was unveiled by Lord Trenchard, Marshal of the Royal Air Force on the 31 July 1932 (originally it had been scheduled for 15 May, but due to the sudden death of French President Doumer, as a mark of respect, the ceremony was postponed until July).

His mother Phoebe died in 1923 age 47.

John is commemorated on Panel 25, Liverpool Town Hall, Hall of Remembrance.

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