BORN KIRTON IN LINDSAY, LINCOLNSHIRE, 24/06/1876. FIRST SON OF ROBERT JOHN FOSTER (1854-1932) AND JANE CLIXBY (1851-1917). HIS ONLY BROTHER WAS GEORGE FOSTER. EMPLOYED AS A DOCKSIDE LABOURER.
JOHN MARRIED MARIA WILKS SHARP (1877-1924), IN HULL, ON 27/10/1900. THEY HAD FIVE CHILDREN AT THIS ADDRESS AND 52, FRANCIS STREET, HULL (WAR PENSION ADDRESS). HIS ARMY RECORDS DESCRIBE HIM AS 5 FOOT 5.5 INCHES TALL, 122 LBS WEIGHT, 36 INCH CHEST, DARK COMPLEXION, BROWN EYES AND DARK BROWN HAIR. A TATTOO OF AN ANCHOR AND HEART ON HIS LEFT FOREARM.
HE ENLISTED IN HULL, ON 03/09/1914, GIVING THE YOUNGER AGE OF 31 YEARS AND NINE MONTHS. ARRIVED IN FRANCE, ON 08/08/1915. POSTED TO THE 7TH EAST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT. DURING A SUCCESSFUL, NIGHT, TRENCH RAID, NORTH OF ROEUX (SEVEN MILITARY MEDALS WERE AWARDED). DIED OF GUN SHOT WOUNDS TO THE SKULL AND CHEST, AT NO: 52 FIELD AMBULANCE, FRANCE, ON 29/07/1917. HE WAS AGED 41. SERVED FOR 1 YEAR AND 330 DAYS. BURIED 3 MILES EAST OF ARRAS. HE IS COMMEMORATED ON THE ARRAS MEMORIAL. HIS ARMY EFFECTS WERE LEFT TO HIS WIDOW. HIS YOUNGEST SON, JOHN THOMAS FOSTER, HAD DIED ON 21/04/1917, AGED TWO.
HIS NAME IS LISTED ON THE BLENHEIM STREET MEMORIAL., HULL.
Note: His pension card, records his surname, as “Forster”, not Foster.
