Pte 57973 John Sidney Wren

• Age: 21
• From: London
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 19th Btn
• K.I.A Friday 22nd March 1918
• Commemorated at: Pozieres Memorial
  Panel Ref: P21-23

John Sidney Wren was born in late 1896 in Whitechapel, London, the son of John Wren and his wife Emily (née Wilson).  

 

His parents, both born in Hertfordshire, married in 1890 and by 1893 had moved to the East End of London. They had six children, three of whom died young. Sidney was the only surviving son.  He had an older sister Emily Frances, born in Stepney in 1893, and a younger sister Agnes May, born in Whitechapel in 1904.  

 

In 1901 the family is living at 23 E Block, Goodman’s Fields, Whitechapel.  His father is a railway porter, Emily is 8, Sidney is 4. 

 

By 1911 they are at 21 F Block, Peabody Buildings, Whitechapel.  His father, 44, is a railway porter, his mother is 40, Sidney is 14, an office boy for a tea merchant, Agnes, 6, is at school.

 

The Whitechapel estate in East London was the first of ten estates which Peabody built as part of London's earliest slum clearance programme.  The estate opened in 1881 and provided 286 flats  Weekly rents started at three shillings (15p) for a one room flat and went up to six shillings (30p) for three rooms.

 

His mother appears to have died and his father remarried to  Rosina Petrie, in 1915.

He enlisted in London, and was originally serving with the London Divisional Cyclist Company (No: 577 ). Based on the amount of the War Gratuity, he served for two years, enlisting or being conscripted in about March or April 1916, when he would have been 19 years old. Upon transfer, he was posted to the 18th Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment, subsequently moving to the 20th Battalion KLR, and following the disbandment of the 20th Battalion in February 1918 was serving with ‘D’ Coy, 16th Platoon. of the 19th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 57973.

Sidney was was originally declared Missing on 22nd March 1918. This was subsequently changed after his death was assumed and he is recorded as  killed in action, aged 21. during the German Spring Offensive. SDGW shows his date of death as 28/03/1918 whilst CWGC records his death as 22/03/1918.

The Battalion diary describes the events of the day:

22^nd  GERMAINE – HAM- MOYENCOURT

The battalion moved up accordingly being in position at 6:30 a.m. About 3pm the enemy attacked the left of our position and advanced on our left flank towards FLUQUIERES. At 4:30 pm an attack was launched on our front and the enemy forced his way through on our right. The remainder of the Battalion was forced to retire to south of FLUQUIERES. During this engagement the Battalion lost 11 Officers and About 21 O.R. The order was given to retire to the defences at HAM. The Battalion by this time was very weak, and passing through the 20^th Division took up positions in HAM, as ordered, getting into position at 2am.

Sidney has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial in France.  

The POZIERES MEMORIAL relates to the period of crisis in March and April 1918 when the Allied Fifth Army was driven back by overwhelming numbers across the former Somme battlefields, and the months that followed before the Advance to Victory, which began on 8 August 1918. The Memorial commemorates over 14,000 casualties of the United Kingdom and 300 of the South African Forces who have no known grave and who died on the Somme from 21 March to 7 August 1918.

The cemetery and memorial were designed by W.H. Cowlishaw, with sculpture by Laurence A. Turner. The memorial was unveiled by Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien on 4 August 1930.

He was engaged to be married when he was killed. Miss M. Goodway, fiancée, (the name is crossed out and replaced with M. Whitefoot), 16 K Block, Peabody Buildings, Glasshouse Street, Royal Mint Street, London E.1, contacted the International Red Cross, stating they had last heard from Sidney on 18th March.  A reply was sent on 10th June 1918 that they held no information on Sidney.  (Mary Whitefoot, born in 1896, lived with her family at this address  in 1911.)

 

On 8th September 1940 K Block was destroyed in an air raid and nearly 80 people were killed.

 

His father, living at 21 F Block, Peabody Buildings, received Sidney’s Army effects and a War Gratuity of £11.

 

His father was still living in Peabody buildings in 1930 with his second wife. It is not known when he died.

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