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Private
John Woods 19763
Royal West Kent Regiment
Born on 23rd July 1898, lived at Walkden Cottages,
Sinacre Lane, Bickerstaffe and worked at Walkden Farm.
Much to the consternation of his parents, he
joined up on Whit Monday, May 1915 into a Pals brigade of the King's Liverpool
Regiment, at the age of sixteen!
After his training at Prescot and Ripon, his
departure for the Western Front was delayed until he was considered old enough
and was then drafted into the formidable Royal West Kent Regiment as number
19763. John was lost during the Third Battle of Ypres, or what infamously became
known as Passchendaele, on 22nd September 1917 aged 19. As seen from the
photograph of the family grave at Bickerstaffe Church, this was ten years to the
day after his younger brother William Edward.
Commemoration is at Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium, in
the Southern Rotunda, 8km N.E. of Ypres off the N303.
