Name
John Bangs
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
27/05/1917
39
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
47645
Welsh Regiment
14th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
MENDINGHEM MILITARY CEMETERY
II. C. 24.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
UNTIL THE DAY BREAKS AND THE SHADOWS FLEE AWAY
UK & Other Memorials
Roll of Honour, United Reform Church,, Wheathampstead, War Memorial, Stopsley, Luton, Not on the Wheathampstead memorial,
Pre War
John was born in 1879 in Wheathampstead to John Bangs, a grocer, and Charlotte (nee Field) On the 1881 Census John was living at Wheathampstead Hill, Wheathampstead with his parents, elder brothers Frederick (born 1868), Arthur (born 1871) and Edwin (born 1873), there were also sisters Emily (born 1866) and Amy or Annie (born 1877). On the 1891 Census the family had moved to Neston Road, Wheathampstead and consisted of parents, Annie John and his younger brothers Albert (born1881) and Herbert (born 1884). The 1901 showed John, now a bricklayer, was living with his parents at Marford, Wheathampstead with parents, Annie and brothers Albert, a gravel digger and Herbert, a nursery labourer. John’s mother died in 1902 and his father in 1907.
John married in 1904 to Emma Hunter. On the 1911 Census they were living at 190 Dunstable Road, Stopsley, Luton with their children: Eileen (born 1905), Marion (born 1907) and Jack (John Hunter Bangs, born 1908). There were also 4 male lodgers registered. There would be a fourth child, Edith Mary born in Jul 1912.
Wartime Service
No Service record could be found for John who was presumably enlisted in 1916 and posted as Private 47645 to 14th (Service) Battalion (Swansea) of the Welsh Regiment, part of 38 (Welsh) Division noted for capturing Mametz Wood during the Battle of the Somme.
He probably joined his battalion in France where they were stationed in the Ypres Sector. He died of wounds on 27 May 1917 possibly a victim of the daily attrition of soldiers in trench warfare.
Additional Information
War Gratuity of £3 and arrears of £5 13s 10d was paid to his widow. His widow also received a pension of 30s per wk for herself and the children.
Acknowledgments
Neil Cooper
Jonty Wild
