John William's Story.
The Battle of Messines, 1917
7 – 14 June 1917: the Battle of Messines. A brilliantly planned and executed attack that resulted in the capture of the Wytschaete-Messines ridge south of Ypres, a feature that had given the British problems since 1914 and which was important to hold for future offensive operations in Flanders. Commenced with one of the heaviest artillery bombardments of the war and the explosion of nineteen enormous and long-prepared underground mines.
John William Maddock from Bells Smithy in Wimboldsley, near Crewe would lose his life on the opening day of the Battle of Messines, whilst serving with the Machine Gun Corps. He is commemorated on Panel 56 on the Menin Gate in Ypres, tucked away above a large door way on the upper colonnade.
John was the eldest of six children, 4 boys and 2 girls, born to William and Martha Maddock. Theirs was a rural life with William being described in all census returns as a labourer, the 1891 census records that they were forced to take in boarders to help make ends meet. All the children would enter the world or work at a very young age, the boys as farm labourers or general servants and the girls as domestic servants in a variety of establishments in the local area.
John enlisted into the Cheshire Regiment initially and later transferred to the Machine Gun Corps.
Northwich Guardian. 2 August 1918.