Name
John Edward Hewitt
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
19/03/1915
25
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
2955
Hertfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
GUARDS CEMETERY, WINDY CORNER, CUINCHY
I. D. 11.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Waterford Village War Memorial, Roll of Honour, St Michael’s & All Angels Church, Waterford, Hertfordshire Regimental Memorial, All Saints Church, Hertford, Diocese - Book of Remembrance, St Albans Cathedral, St Albans (*1), Diocese of St Albans - ROH, St Albans Cathedral, St Albans (*1), Not on the Bengeo memorials (*1)
Pre War
John was born in 1890, in Portsmouth, Hampshire. The son of John Hewitt and Caroline Ann Hewitt.
The 1891 census records John aged 1, living with his mother and sister Annie 3, in Marlins Road, Portsea, Portsmouth, Hampshire. By 1901 John was living in Village Street, Watton at Stone, Herts, with his now widowed mother and, sisters Annie 12, and Nellie 5.
Wartime Service
John enlisted in Hertford. He was posted to the Hertfordshire Regiment, with the service number 2955.
He disembarked in France on the 23rd January 1915. John died on the 19th March 1915; He is buried in the Guards Cemetery, Windy Corner, Cuinchy, France.
Extract from the 1st Battalion, Hertfordshire Regiment War Diary Reads: - “18-3-1915, Heavy Artillery Fire (Comment: Private 2955 John Edward Hewitt died of wounds the following day)”.
Additional Information
CWGC records him as the “Son of Caroline Ann Hewitt, of 137, St. Peter’s St., South Croydon, Surry, and the late John Hewitt”. The Roll of Honour in St Michael’s & All Angels Church, records John as a lance corporal, but was a private according to CWGC records (*1).
*1 The St Albans Cathedral Diocese records suggest a connection to Bengeo (Rural) and also records that he was a Lance Corporal in the Hertfordshire Regiment. There may be some doubt about whether we have correctly attributed the Diocese man, but we have not found any other 'Lance Corporal' candidate, and, as can be seen above he appears to have been recorded as a Lance Corporal on another memorial.
Acknowledgments
Stuart Osborne, Jonty Wild
