Hargreaves, John Henry

Hull Pals Memorial Post. PRIVATE JOHN HENRY HARGREAVES 19725. Born 1888 in Leeds, John was husband to Beatrice Hargreaves and had a young daughter Edna May. The family resided at 9 Rhodes Terrace, Strickland Street, Hessle Road, Hull. A Labourer before the war, John enlisted at Hull City Hall in late 1915 thus avoiding the dreaded conscription. He was sent to the 10th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment to help fill gaps in the line left by two years of front line duty in the trenches of France. He was killed in action on 13th April 1918 during the German Spring Offensive as the Pals fought to hold the new line they had fallen back to on the 12th. They were attacked twice in the early morning mist but managed to repel both attempts to break them. Somewhere in the melee John lost his life and his body was never recovered. His name is commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial with 11,000 other men who lost their lives in that sector and who have no known grave. He was 29 years old. WIFE BEATRICE (MURPHY) LIVED ABOVE.