BORN HULL 1887. SON OF JOHN MERCER (1863-1928) & HANNAH TADMAN (1871-1945), OF 36, SHAW STREET, HOLDERNESS ROAD, HULL. ONE OF EIGHT CHILDREN. HE HAD FIVE BROTHERS AND TWO SISTERS. FOUR SONS WERE KILLED DURING WW1. THE FAMILY ALSO LIVED AT 29, CHRISTOPHER STREET, AND 12 BARNSLEY STREET, HULL.
JOHN, ALSO KNOWN AS ‘JACK’, WAS ONE OF FOUR SONS KILLED IN THE WAR. HIS PARENTS MARRIED AT HOLY TRINITY CHURCH. HIS MOTHER WAS A ‘HOGAN’, WITH LIMERICK BORN PARENTS. HIS FATHER WAS A LIGHTERMAN, BORN IN BEVERLEY.
JACK MARRIED MARY WATSON, IN ST CHARLES BORROMEO, CATHOLIC CHURCH, HULL. HIS WIFE AND TWO CHILDREN LIVED AT 26 BOURNE STREET, HULL & 15 VICTORIA TERRACE, STUDLEY STREET, HULL (WAR PENSION ADDRESS).
PRIOR TO THE WAR, JACK WORKED FOR THE GREAT NORTHERN STEAM FISHING COMPANY AS A BOILER SCALER ON TRAWLERS AND WAS A WELL KNOWN FIGURE AT HULL FISH DOCK.
JACK HAD RECENTLY BEEN PROMOTED TO LANCE CORPORAL IN THE 1ST EAST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT. HE DIED “ATTACKING THE ENEMY”, ON 09/08/1915, AGED 29. HE LEFT A WIDOW AND TWO CHILDREN AGED NINE & SIX.
HIS DEATH & PHOTOGRAPH WERE REPORTED IN THE HULL DAILY MAIL ON 9TH SEPTEMBER 1915. * HIS ARMY EFFECTS WERE RETURNED TO HIS WIDOW.
JACK’S NAME IS LISTED ON THE ST CHARLES BORROMEO CHURCH MEMORIAL, JARRATT STREET, WHERE HE WAS BAPTISED AND MARRIED.
HE LEFT A WIDOW AND TWO CHILDREN, AGED NINE AND SIX. JACK’S WIFE MARY LOST HER BROTHER PTE, HARRY WATSON WHO DIED OF WOUNDS IN SOUTHAMPTON RECEIVED, AT GALLIPOLI.
HIS DEATH WAS REPORTED IN THE HULL TIMES, ON 11/09/1915, WITH HIS PHOTOGRAPH.
John & Hannah Mercer, at 36 Shaw Street lost four sons. They were:-
L/Cpl, John Mercer, 1st EYR was killed at Ypres on 9th August 1915, aged 20.
L/Cpl, Alfred Shaw Mercer, 1st West Yorkshire Regiment, killed on the 27th May 1916, aged 25.
Pte, George Mercer, 1/5th Bn Northumberland Fusiliers was killed on the 10th April 1918 aged 18. Pte, James Mercer, 10th EYR, died of wounds on 11th September 1918, aged 29.
