Pte 202266 John Albert Simmons

• Age: 19
• From: Wembley, London
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 20th Btn
• Died Saturday 4th August 1917
• Commemorated at: Bedford House Cem Encl 2
  Panel Ref: II.B.12

John (known as Jack) was baptised on 08th January 1898 at St John the Evangelist, Wembley, London, the son of William James Simmons and his wife Elizabeth Ann (nee Johnson) who were married on 03rd August 1886 at St Judes Church, Westminster. His father was a Commercial Traveller. 

The 1891 census shows the family living at 2 Station Grove, Wembley. Jack's father, William J., is aged 34 and a commercial traveller who was born in Winchcombe, Gloucs., and his mother, Elizabeth A., is aged 37 and was born in Macclesfield. They have one son Frederick W. 3 who was born in Paddington, and also living with the family is his fathers sister Alice 24 who was born in Sudley, Gloucs.

His father died in 1899 

The 1901 Census shows the family now living at 4 Station Grove, Wembley. His mother, Elizabeth, is 46, a boarding house keeper, is a widow with children Frederick W. 13, and John A. aged 8 who was born in Wembley.

By the time of the 1911 Census they have moved to Liverpool and the records find the family at 29 Elm Vale, Fairfield, Liverpool. His mother, Elizabeth, is now aged 56 and had been married for 13 years and had two children. Both of her children are still living at the family address at the time of the Census, Frederick William 23 employed as a general merchants clerk, and John Albert 18 is a drapers shop assistant. They have a boarder Charles E. Higginbotham aged 23 who was born in Tottenham at the address.

His mother re-married in 1916 at St John the Divine Church, Fairfield to James Cozens.

Jack was serving with the 20th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment as Private 202266 when he died on 04th August 1917, aged 19. He now rests at Bedford House Cemetery Enclosure No.2 where his headstone bears the epitaph:

"MIZPAH" 

The meaning of MIZPAH is the deep emotional bond between people, especially those separated by distance or death.

Zillebeke village and most of the commune were in the hands of Commonwealth forces for the greater part of the First World War, but the number of cemeteries in the neighbourhood bears witness to the fierce fighting in the vicinity from 1914 to 1918.

Bedford House, sometimes known as Woodcote House, were the names given by the Army to the Chateau Rosendal, a country house in a small wooded park with moats. Although it never fell into German hands, the house and the trees were gradually destroyed by shell fire. It was used by field ambulances and as the headquarters of brigades and other fighting units, and charcoal pits were dug there from October 1917.

In time, the property became largely covered by small cemeteries; five enclosures existed at the date of the Armistice, but the graves from No.1 were then removed to White House Cemetery, St. Jean, and those from No.5 to Aeroplane Cemetery, Ypres.

ENCLOSURE No.2 was begun in December 1915, and used until October 1918. After the Armistice, 437 graves were added, all but four of which came from the Ecole de Bienfaisance and Asylum British Cemeteries, both at Ypres.

ENCLOSURE No.3, the smallest, was used from February 1915 to December 1916; the burials made in August-October 1915 were largely carried out by the 17th Division.

ENCLOSURE No.4, the largest, was used from June 1916 to February 1918, largely by the 47th (London) Division, and after the Armistice it was enlarged when 3,324 graves were brought in from other burial grounds and from the battlefields of the Ypres Salient. Almost two-thirds of the graves are unidentified.

ENCLOSURE No.6 was made in the 1930s from the graves that were continuing to be found on the battlefield of the Ypres Salient. This enclosure also contains Second World War burials, all of them soldiers of the British Expeditionary Force, who died in the defence of the Ypres-Comines canal and railway at the end of May 1940. The canal lies on high ground on the west side of the cemetery.

Commonwealth casualties buried in the following smaller cemeteries were either concentrated into Bedford House Cemetery after the war or if lost, are now commemorated in Bedford House Cemetery:-

ASYLUM BRITISH CEMETERY, YPRES, was established in the grounds of a psychiatric hospital (the Hospice du Sacre Coeur) a little West of the railway station, between the Poperinghe road and the railway. It was used by Field Ambulances and fighting units from February 1915, to November 1917, and it contained the graves of 265 soldiers from the United Kingdom, nine from Canada, seven from Australia and two of the British West Indies Regiment.

BOESINGHE FRENCH CEMETERY No.2, a little South of Bard Cottage, contained the grave of one soldier from Canada.

DROOGENBROODHOEK GERMAN CEMETERY, MOORSLEDE, contained the graves of two United Kingdom soldiers who fell in October 1914.

ECOLE DE BIENFAISANCE CEMETERY, YPRES, was on the North side of the Poperinghe road, immediately West of the railway, in the grounds of a school (later rebuilt). It was used by Field Ambulances in 1915-1917, and it contained the graves of 133 soldiers from the United Kingdom, three from Canada, three from Australia and one of the British West Indies Regiment.

KERKHOVE CHURCHYARD contained the graves of five United Kingdom soldiers, who fell in October and November 1918, and seven German.

POELCAPELLE GERMAN CEMETERY No.4, between Langemarck and the Poelcapelle-St. Julien road, contained the graves of 52 soldiers from the United Kingdom who fell in 1914 and 1916.

ZONNEBEKE BRITISH CEMETERIES No.1 and No.3 were on the South and North sides respectively of the Broodseinde-Zonnebeke road. Zonnebeke was occupied by the Germans on the 22 October 1914, retaken by the French on the following day, and evacuated at the beginning of May 1915; retaken by British troops on the 26 September 1917; evacuated again in April 1918; and retaken by Belgian troops on the 28th September, 1918. Four British Cemeteries were made by the Germans on the Broodseinde-Zonnebeke road; No.1 contained the graves of 31 United Kingdom soldiers (mainly 2nd East Surrey) who fell in April 1915, and No.3 those of 69 who fell in April, and May 1915.

In all, 5,139 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War are buried or commemorated in the enclosures of Bedford House Cemetery. 3,011 of the burials are unidentified but special memorials commemorate a number of casualties known or believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials name casualties buried in other cemeteries whose graves could not be found on concentration. Second World War burials number 69 (3 of which are unidentified). There are 2 Germans buried here.

The cemetery was designed by W.C. Von Berg.

Jack's death was announced in the Liverpool Echo on 20th August 1917:

“August 4, killed in action, aged 25 years, John Albert (Jack), late of K.L.R., Elm Vale, Fairfield.”

CWGC shows Jack as having died with 5th Bn K.L.R. though SDGW shows service only with 20th Battalion K.L.R.

He earned two medals, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

Soldiers effects gives his mother, Elizabeth Cozens, as next of kin. She lived at 76 Devonfield Road, Orrell Park, Liverpool. She died in 1934 aged 79.

John Albert Simmons is commemorated in the Hall of Remembrance, Liverpool Town Hall, Panel 41 Right.

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