BORN HULL 12/03/1897. SON OF SARAH & THE LATE JOSEPH MADDRA, AT 8 MARSH STREET, OFF SCOTT STREET, WINCOLMLEE, HULL (WAR PENSION ADDRESS). SON OF BOAT LIGHTERMAN, THIRD OF SIX CHILDREN. EDUCATED AT LINCOLN STREET SCHOOL. EMPLOYED AT MESSERS, SHAW’S, MALT WORKS. DESCRIBED AS 5 FOOT, 9 INCHES TALL, 36.5 INCH CHEST, 156 LBS WEIGHT.
HE ENLISTED IN THE HULL PALS, IN JANUARY 1915. SERVED IN EGYPT AND FRANCE WITH THE 10TH AND 11TH EAST YORKSHIRE BATTALIONS. DIED OF WOUNDS, ON 12TH APRIL 1918, AGED 21, AT ARMENTIERES. HE WAS UNMARRIED. HIS ARMY EFFECTS WERE LEFT TO HIS WIDOWED MOTHER. HE LEFT SIBLINGS, JOSEPH, HERBERT, ETHEL, ANNIE AND EDITH MADDRA. HIS GRANDPARENTS LIVED ON HOLDERNESS ROAD, HULL.
HIS COMMANDING OFFICER, WROTE, “WE ALL MISS HIM GREATLY HERE, AS HE WAS ALWAYS VERY CHEERFUL AND WILLING AND BRAVE IN ACTION; WE CANNOT AFFORD TO LOSE MEN LIKE HIM AND I MISS HIM PERSONALLY, AS I ALWAYS RELIED ON HIM WHEN ANY WORK OUT THE ORDINARY HAD TO BE DONE.” HE WAS UNMARRIED. BROTHER TO, ETHEL, JOSEPH, HERBERT, CARRIE AND EDITH MADDRA. HIS NAME WAS LISTED ON THE ON THE SCOTT STREET MEMORIAL. ALSO RECORDED IN THE DE RUVIGNY ROLL OF HONOUR, VOLUME 4.
Hull Memorial Post: PRIVATE JOHN MADDRA 11/1395. Born 1897, the third of six children, to Joseph and Sarah Maddra of 8 Marsh Street, Scott Street, Hull. John was educated at Lincoln Street school and a Labourer before the war, but answered the call of King and Country enlisting on 2nd February 1915 at Hull City Hall. He was originally a member of the 11th Battalion, but was fighting with the 10th when he was fatally wounded on 12th April 1918. By this stage in the war John was a veteran of Egypt, the Somme and Oppy Wood and would be old way beyond his tender years, his eyes having seen more than most of us could bear. Tragically, he was another who lied about his age in order to enlist. His attestation form has his age at 19 years and 11 months in 1915, but we know from Census information that he was two years younger and at that stage in the war, underage. Perhaps he was discovered and sent home. It would perhaps explain his reposting to the 10th upon his coming of age? Perhaps an anxious family reported him to the authorities and he was pulled from the line and shipped home, like a good many boys in their mid-teens. There are no records to prove one way or the other. Suffice to say John Maddra died of wounds on 12th April 1918 and was lost in the confusion of retreat. His name is commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial. He was 21 years old. His Commanding Officer, Lieut. C. Shaw, wrote: “We all miss him greatly here, as he was always very cheerful and willing and brave in action; we cannot afford to lose men like him, and I miss him personally, as I always relied on him when any work out of the ordinary had to be done.”
