Pte 406581 John Connell

• Age: 23
• From: Leeds
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 18th Btn
• K.I.A Thursday 21st March 1918
• Commemorated at: Pozieres Memorial
  Panel Ref: P21-23

John Connell was born in 1895 in Leeds, Yorkshire. The only John Connell of the right age born in Leeds to mother Mary was born to James Connell and his wife Mary (nee Connell or Allan?) who married in about 1888. They had six children, four of whom survived. John had elder sisters Sabina (also found on records as Selina and various other spellings) and Mary, both born in Keighley, Yorkshire, and a younger brother James, also born in Leeds. 

The 1901 Census finds 6-year old John with his parents and siblings at 17 Back High Street, Leeds. His father James, 38, is a bricklayer born in Leeds, his mother Mary is 40, born in Limerick, Ireland.

By the time of the 1911 Census the family have moved to the Manchester area and are living at 123 Red Bank, Cheetham. (Red Bank has been described as a “classic slum”, originally populated by Eastern European immigrants.) His father is 47, and records his work as general labour, noting “out” (of work?). His mother is 49. Eldest daughter Sebine(?) is 19, Mary is 17, John 15, no occupations listed, and James is 12. 

Sabina died in 1912 at the age of 21.

John enlisted in Manchester, soon after war was declared, and originally served as Private 18441 in the 2nd Battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers. 

He arrived in France on 27th July 1915 and at some point was transferred to the 18th Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 406581. 

John was killed in action on the 21st March 1918, aged 23.

John was initially declared as Missing 21-28 March 1918 and his death was later presumed for official purposes to have occurred on 21st March 1918.

The battalion Dairy gives details of the events of the day which marked the opening day of Operation Michael, the German Spring Offensive.

At 04.50am the order “MAN BATTLE STATIONS” was received. Companies and transport at once fell in on alarm posts and the Battalion with Echelon “A” of transport marched to VAUX, via FORESTE and GERMAINE. The morning was very misty and the Battalion arrived at STEENWOOD,F.7.a without interference from aircraft or shellfire. The Battalion halted in F.7.a. Strength of Battalion Officers 19 O.R. 513.

Battalion H.Q. was established close to Battle HQ of 90^th Infy Brigade and billeting party was sent into VAUX. They reported on their return that the village was clear of troops and they then guided Companies to huts and standings lately occupied by the 17^th Bn. Manchester Regiment. About 11.30 am a message was received from the 90^th Infy Brigade to the effect that the enemy had penetrated the forward zone and that the Redoubt Barrage had been put down by the artillery between Manchester Hill and L’EPINE de DALLON, which positions were still holding out. 

It was decided to move out of VAUX about 11:45 am as the enemy had commenced to shell the village. Companies and transport reoccupied the positions that they had taken up in F.7.a and Battalion HQ moved to F.7.a.8.9. About 2pm it was reported that the enemy had penetrated the BATTLE ZONE about ROUPY and it was decided to dig in and defend the present position. A line of trenches was dug from STEEN WOOD with a defensive flank covering VAUX.

Hostile aeroplanes reconnoitred the position about 7pm. Flying low and firing on the troops. Shortly afterwards VAUX was heavily shelled and some posts of No.2 Coy on the left were withdrawn to the Sunken Road. Close touch was kept with with the situation in the BATTLE ZONE through the HQ of the 90^TH Infy Bde. throughout the night.

The enemy was reported to be in possession of SAVY but had not succeeded in penetrating the defences of ETREILLERES, held by the 2^nd Bn. Royal Scots Fusiliers.

About 10pm all transport was sent back to BEAUVOIS, to orders of G.O.C. 89^TH Infy Brigade who gave further orders there for rearward moves.

Enquiries were made after the Armistice, on 20th November 1918, with the British Red Cross and Order of St. John, who may have held information on prisoners of war. It is not known what information his family received.

John's body was not recovered from the battlefield or was subsequently lost as he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial.

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 Corps and Regiments most largely represented are The Rifle Brigade with over 600 names, The Durham Light Infantry with approximately 600 names, the Machine Gun Corps with over 500, The Manchester Regiment with approximately 500 and The Royal Horse and Royal Field Artillery with over 400 names. The memorial encloses POZIERES BRITISH CEMETERY, Plot II of which contains original burials of 1916, 1917 and 1918, carried out by fighting units and field ambulances. The remaining plots were made after the Armistice when graves were brought in from the battlefields immediately surrounding the cemetery, the majority of them of soldiers who died in the Autumn of 1916 during the latter stages of the Battle of the Somme, but a few represent the fighting in August 1918. There are now 2,758 Commonwealth servicemen buried or commemorated in this cemetery. 1,380 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to 23 casualties known or believed to be buried among them. There is also 1 German soldier buried here. 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.

Soldiers Effects shows that his father James was entitled to his son’s outstanding Army pay and a War Gratuity of £17 but there is no evidence that these were disbursed.

One pension card in the name of his mother Mary at 34 Greengate, Salford, later 35 Dawson Street, gives his number as 406581 Labour Corps, and another his date of death as 28th March 1918.

His father appears to have died in 1922 at the age of 59.

In 1939 his widowed mother is at 35 Dawson Street with William, Mary, and Margaret Mills (all single and born to mother Connell, likely the children of Mary). His mother appears to have died in early 1944, aged 82.

The Ordsall (Salford) Greater Manchester WW1 memorial lists the name of Pte. J. Connell L.F. (Lancashire Fusiliers)

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