Private John Vincent Coxhead   64708

A Company, 16^th Battalion, The Lancashire Fusiliers

Born 13^th May 1895. He lived at Ivy House Farm, Bickerstaffe, son of Rachel and the late Edmund Coxhead.

At the time of enlistment, he worked for his mother on the farm, which was mainly arable but included some livestock.

John was killed on 4^th November 1918, just seven days before the war ended. He was involved in the crossing of the Sambre Canal, 1,000 yards North of Ors, in France in the last days of the German retreat.

In the face of severe enemy machine gun fire from the east bank, his regiment eventually secured a bridge made from cork rafts wired together but losses were high.

Two posthumous VC’s were won in the same action. Second Lieutenant James Kirk and acting Lieutenant Colonel Marshall.

The famous poet Wilfred Owen also fought alongside John Vincent and together with sixty other ranks, are buried in Ors Communal Cemetery, France. John Vincent is buried in Row C, Grave 4.

Footnote

The scene today is just as described in Jon Stollworthys biography of Wilfred Owen: small irregular fields leading down to a deep ditch then fifteen yards beyond is the  Ors canal. The difference being that all is peaceful now!

Ors lies 31 Km. East South East of Cambria down the road marked N43, then 2Km. North on the D160.

Click here to see the Commonwealth War Graves Commission records for Private John Vincent Coxhead.