Hull Pals Memorial Post. PRIVATE JOHN WILLIAM BURDON 12/236. Born in January 1893, the fourth of five children to John and Ellen Burdon of 55 Abbey Street, Holderness Road, Hull (War Pension address). One of the original Pals, John enlisted at Hull, in the autumn of 1914 in the then fledgling 12th Battalion, and served in Egypt defending the Suez Canal from the Turks before being posted to France in March 1916. He was a veteran of the campaigns which define the Pals- the Somme, Oppy Wood, the Spring Offensive- and became a member of the 10th Battalion when the 12th merged as part of the consolidation of manpower early in 1918. It was with the 10th that he was killed in action during the attack on Ploegsteert Wood that cost the lives of so many of his comrades. John’s body was never recovered and his name is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial to those who lost their lives in Flanders and who have no known grave; John William Burdon was 25 years old. Around 65% of the total deaths in the battalion were in the final months of the war.
Burdon, John William
First name:
JOHN WILLIAM
Military Number:
12/236
Rank:
Private
Date Died
29/09/1918
Place died:
Tyne Cot Memorial, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium
Age:
25
