Pte 16744 John Redhead

• Age: 27
• From: Crosby
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 18th Btn
• D.O.W Thursday 20th July 1916
• Commemorated at: Boulogne East Cem
  Panel Ref: VIII.A.129

John "Jack" Redhead was born in Crosby on the 28th May 1889 and was baptised on 20th June 1889 in St Peter's Church, Liverpool. He was the son of  George Adlington Redhead and his wife Margaret Hannah (nee Bevin) who were married in 1884 in Whitchurch, Shropshire. 

The 1891 Census shows the family are living at 1 Queens Road, Great Crosby. Jack is just one year old and is living with his parents and elder siblings. His father is shown as a 37 year old agent born in Doncaster, whilst his mother is 36 years of age and was born in Chester. His siblings are shown as; George A aged 5 and  Frederick aged 3. There is also a servant declared in the household; Charlotte Fazakerley aged 18. 

Jack’s father, George, a timber merchant died on 27th June 1899. 

The 1901 Census shows the family minus Jack living at Ryeground Lane, Formby - mother Margaret (widow) with children George 15 an apprentice in the TImber trade, Frederick 13, Frank 9, Margaret 7 and Harry 4. Also present are Harriet Read aged 16 and Rachel Stock aged 17 both described as servants.

Jack now 11 years of age was a pupil at the British Orphans Asylum School in Slough. The school was established "for the maintenance of fatherless children of those once in prosperity". 

The 1911 Census shows that the family have now moved to 3 Sandown Road, Seaforth. Margaret Hannah now aged aged 56 is living with her children; George Adlington aged 25 a clerk for a timber merchant, Frederick aged 23 an electrical engineer at a railway power station, Jack aged 21 and a timber clerk, Frank aged 19 an insurance clerk, Margaret 17 and Harry 14.

Jack enlisted at St George's Hall in Liverpool on 02nd September 1914 joining the 18th Battalion as Private 16744 and showed his ocupation as a clerk. He is described as 5' 3 inches tall, weighing 108lbs with a fresh complexion, brown hair and brown eyes. He gave his religion as Church of England. 

From the 23^rd September 1914 he was billeted at Hooton Park Race Course and remained there until 03^rd December 1914 when they moved into the hutted accommodation at Lord Derby’s estate at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 18th Battalion alongside the other three Pals battalions left Liverpool via Prescot Station for further training at Belton Park, Grantham. They remained here until September 1915 when they reached Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain. He sailed to France with his Battalion on board the SS Invicta on 07/11/1915.

During the attack at Montauban on the 01st July 1916 Jack was struck in the head by enemy fire which resulted in a compound fracture of his skull. He was initially admitted to 96 Field Ambulance and transferred to 45 Casualty Clearing Station on the 02nd July where his condition stabilised. On the 05th July he was moved to 13 Stationary Hospital (Boulogne) where he died from his wounds on 20th July 1916, aged 27.

The 18th Battalion Diary gives an indication as the nature of the attack in which Jack received his wounds:

At 6.30am the artillery commenced an intensive bombardment of the enemy’s trenches. Zero Hour – 7.30 am – the battalion commenced to leave their trenches and the attack commenced. The attack was pressed with great spirit and determination in spite of heavy shelling and machine gun enfilade fire which caused casualties amounting to 2/3rds of the strength of the Battalion in action. The whole system of German trenches including the Glatz Redoubt was captured without any deviation from the scheduled programme. Consolidated positions and made strong points for defence against possible counter attacks.

Graham Maddocks provides more detail concerning the events of the day:

As the first three waves began to move forward towards the German reserve line, known as Alt Trench and then on to the Glatz Redoubt itself, they suddenly came under enfilading fire from the left. This was from a machine gun which the Germans had sited at a strong point in Alt Trench. The gun itself was protected by a party of snipers and bombers, who, hidden in a rough hedge, were dug into a position in Alt Trench, at its junction with a communication trench known as Alt Alley. These bombers and snipers were themselves protected by rifle fire from another communication trench, Train Alley which snaked back up the high ground and into Montauban itself. The machine gun fire was devastating and it is certain that nearly of the Battalion’s casualties that day were caused by that one gun.  

Lieutenant Colonel Edward Henry Trotter  wrote in the conclusion of his account of the days action:

I cannot speak to highly of the gallantry of the Officers and men. The men amply repaid the care and kindness of their Company Officers, who have always tried to lead and not to drive. As laid down in my first lecture to the Battalion when formed, in the words of Prince Kraft:

“Men follow their Officers not from fear, but from love of the Regiment where everything had always and at all times gone well with them”.    

Joe Devereux in his book A Singular Day on the Somme gives the Casualty Breakdown for the 18^th Battalion as Killed in Action 7 Officers and 165 men and of those who died in consequence of the wounds 3 Officers and 19 men a total of 194 out of a total loss for the four Liverpool Pals Battalions of 257. 

His death was reported in the Liverpool Daily Post on 27th July 1916:

REDHEAD - July 20, died from wounds at Boulogne, aged 27 years, John (Jack) ("Pals"), the dearly beloved third son of Margaret H. Redhead, 3 Sandown Road, Seaforth, and the late George A. Redhead, "Kingsleigh", Freshfield. (No callers, by request.)

Letter to Private Redhead's brother from his Company Commander

8th August 1916

Dear Sir,

Your letter of the 30th ult. has been handed to me by the Commanding Officer to reply to. Your brother, who was respected and liked by both officers and men of the Company, was shot with a rifle or machine gun bullet, in the head on the 1st July. His friends made him as comfortable as possible in the German lines (where he was shot), getting blankets from a German dug-out, and bringing him coffee. He suffered very little pain, and was all along very cheerful, refusing to be moved until, what he thought were worse cases had been attended to. He was taken in by the stretcher bearers on the morning of 2nd July, after which we have no trace of him. You must understand that with the vast number of casualties in the big battle, it was not possible to collect all the wounded at once. All through he was patient and cheerful, and his loss to the Company is great. On behalf of the Company and myself, I beg to offer his family through you, my sincerest sympathies.

I am yours truly,

Guy Ravenscroft

Captain, No 3 Company

(Captain Ravenscroft was killed in action on 17th October 1916) 

Letter sent to Private Redhead's mother

No 13 Stationary Hospital, Boulogne

2nd September 1916

Dear Mrs Redhead,

The Chaplain who wrote to you about your son, Pte J Redhead 16744, has gone up to the front, hence the delay. I have looked up the records and find that your son was buried on the 22nd July at 8 am, in the Boulogne Cemetery, in the position reserved for the graves of British Soldiers. The funeral was attended by a guard of honour, and everything possible was done as always, to show honour and respect to the memory of our men. The body was of course buried in a coffin. The grave is marked by a simple white cross, and will be kept in order carefully by the military authorities, who do this work very well. The number of the grave is 3559, the funeral was taken by one of the Church of England Chaplains. Please accept my deepest Sympathy with you in your great trouble. May God comfort and give you his comfort.

Yours very sincerely

H. Balleine C.F. 

Jack now rests at Boulogne Eastern Cemetery, France.

Boulogne, was one of the three base ports most extensively used by the Commonwealth armies on the Western Front throughout the First World War. It was closed and cleared on the 27 August 1914 when the Allies were forced to fall back ahead of the German advance, but was opened again in October and from that month to the end of the war, Boulogne and Wimereux formed one of the chief hospital areas.

Until June 1918, the dead from the hospitals at Boulogne itself were buried in the Cimetiere de L'Est, one of the town cemeteries, the Commonwealth graves forming a long, narrow strip along the right hand edge of the cemetery. In the spring of 1918, it was found that space was running short in the Eastern Cemetery in spite of repeated extensions to the south, and the site of the new cemetery at Terlincthun was chosen.

During the Second World War, hospitals were again posted to Boulogne for a short time in May 1940. The town was taken by the Germans at the end of that month and remained in their hands until recaptured by the Canadians on 22 September 1944.

Boulogne Eastern Cemetery contains 5,577 Commonwealth burials of the First World War and 224 from the Second World War.

The Commonwealth plots were designed by Charles Holden.

Soldiers Effects to his mother Margaret and brother Frederick and pension to Margaret

His mother Margaret Hannah died on 13th December 1916 just months after Jack.  

Jack is also commemorated on the war memorial in St Mary's Church, Waterloo, Liverpool and on the family headstone at St Peter’s Churchyard, Formby.

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