John Edward's Story.
John's parents, John & Ann Kelly, came from Stockport and he had been born in the town. He worked as a labourer in a local iron foundry. He was married to Elizabeth and they lived at 55 Ardenfield Road, with their child. The local newspaper, reporting his death, noted that he had "re-joined" his Regiment in January 1915. If this is accurate then it suggests that John was probably a regular soldier in his younger life. However, he must have left the army several years before as, if he was still a reservist, he would have been recalled when War was declared in August 1914. On the day he was killed, John was in trenches between the villages of Bray and Fricourt, some 6 kilometres south east of the town of Albert. The Battalion's War Diary makes no mention of any casualties only recording that it was a "very fine day". John was almost certainly killed by a sniper or enemy shellfire. In the early 1920s, when the War Graves Commission was collating next-of-kin information, Elizabeth had moved to 2 Dunstan's Court, Angel Street, in the Higher Hillgate area of town.