Name
Peter Fitzjohn
13 February 1883
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
05/10/1918
39
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Gunner
800892
Royal Field Artillery
'Y' Section. 74th Trench Mortar Battery
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
PERONNE COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION
V.L.9.
France
Headstone Inscription
REST IN PEACE
UK & Other Memorials
Walkern War Memorial, Not on the Baldock memorials, Not on the Hertford memorials
Pre War
Peter Fitzjohn was born on 13 February 1883 in Walkern, Herts, the son of Peter and Harriett Fitzjohn (nee Turner), and baptised there the same year.
On the 1891 Census the family were living at Lumms Yard, Baldock, where his father was working as a blacksmith. His mother died in March 1900, aged 41, and is buried in Baldock and on the 1901 Census 15 year old Peter was living as a boarder at the home of Frederick and Lizzie Grant in Clark's Lane, Baldock, where he was working as a farm boy. By 1911 he had moved to the Lord Kitchener public house, 7 Baldock Road, Stevenage, Herts where he was a boarder with the Sapsed family and was working as a hay tyer.
He married Minnie Miles on 25 November 1911 at Walkern, Herts and their daughter Dorothy was born on 30 November 1913. She was baptised on 4 January 1914 in Walkern, but sadly died later the same year. His widow later lived at Bransmead Villas, Walkern.
Wartime Service
He enlisted in Hitchin, Herts and joined the Royal Field Artillery, serving as a Gunner. Peter was killed on 5 October 1918 whilst working at an ammunition dump, when a mine exploded, and a piece of shrapnel hit him in the head. He is buried at the Peronne Communal Cemetery Extension, St. Radegonde, France.
Additional Information
His widow received a war gratuity of £12 10s and pay owing of £9 0s 4d. Pension cards exist but give no indication of the amount of pension awarded.
Brother to Alfred Fitzjohn who served with the Bedfordshire Regiment and died of wounds on 14 May 1915. He is buried in Le Touret Military Cemetery, Richebourg-L'Avoue. France.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Adrian Pitts, Paul Johnson, www.stevenageatwar.com
