The Queens Own Royal West Kent Regiment

Private J Woods

Home     

Private John WOODS, G/19763, 11th Battalion, Queens Own Royal West Kent Regiment, (formerly 26611, Liverpool Regiment), killed in action,  at Passchendale Ridge, Flanders France, 20th September 1917, age 19. Buried where he fell.

23rd July 1898, born Bickersfaffe, Lancashire. son of Robert and Mary Woods,  Sineacre Lane, Bickerstaffe, Ormskirk, Lancashire.

21st August 1898, Bickersfaffe, Lancashire. baptism of John Woods, son of Robert, (labourer), and Mary Woods.

1911 Census - Sineacre Lane, Bickerstaffe, Lancashire. - Robert Woods, head, age 40, married, farm labourer, worker, born Bickerstaffe, Lancashire; Mary Woods, wife, age 44, married 16 years, 6 children, 5 still alive, born Rainford, Lancashire; John Woods, son, age 12, school, born Bickerstaffe, Lancashire; Alice Woods, daughter, age 12, born Bickerstaffe, Lancashire; Ellen Woods, daughter, age 8, born Bickerstaffe, Lancashire; Robert Woods, son, age 1, born Bickerstaffe, Lancashire.

Educated Church School, Bickersfaffe, Lancashire. 

Enlisted  Knowsley, Lancashire. Formerly farm labourer.

24th May 1915, enlisted at the age of 16 in the 21st Battalion, The Kings Liverpool Regiment; subsequently transferred to the 11th Battalion, Royal West Kent Regiment; served with the Expeditionary Force in France & Flanders from 25th August 1917.

Corporal White wrote: "Your son was killed on the morning of the 22nd September, during the execution of the most tedious of duties, namely bringing rations to his comrades in the front line, who had been without food or drink for nearly two days. I was not present at his death, but from information I have received , he was killed by a sniper and killed instantly." 

Commemorated at Tyne Cot Memorial, Panel 106 to 108, Zonnebeke, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium. / Bickersfaffe, Lancashire, War Memorial.