Name
John Edmund Barnes
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
5987497
Royal Scots Regiment
27th Battalion
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Biography
John Barnes could be one of the youngest soldiers to enlist in the British Army during the Great War. He was born on 19th January 1902, and on his Statement As To Disability Form (22nd July 1919) he stated that he first enlisted on 28th August 1914, when he would have been 12 years and 181 days old. His Service Record does not include this, however it does confirm that he was medically examined at Kings Langley on 29th May 1915, and attested to the Bedfordshire Regiment, giving his age as 19 years and 5 months. His actual age was 13 years and 131 days. On 5th June 1915 he was posted to the 3rd Bedford’s, however on 10th September 1915 his mother wrote to his Commanding Officer claiming his return, and explaining that he was under-age, and this was the second time that she had had to do this. John was discharged on 2th September, but on 4th October he re-enlisted with the 1st Battalion of the Hertfordshire Regiment. He was discharged again on 20th December, when he was found to be under-age, and remained at home until 20th July 1916, when he enlisted again, this time at Watford with the Bedfordshire Regiment. This time he claimed to be 18 years old living at 63 Breakspeare Road, Abbots Langley and his trade was given as a Farm Labourer. On 22nd July 1916 he was posted to the 3rd Bedford’s, and remained with this unit until mid-1917. On 16th January 1917, whilst at Landguard, near Harwich, he was found guilty of having a rusty rifle, and was Confined to Barracks for three days.
John was sent to France on 13th June 1917, embarking at Felixstowe, and arriving at Boulogne. The next day he was posted to the 8th Bedfordshire’s, and on 2nd July was transferred to the 11th Notts & Derby Regiment. On 13th July he was sentenced to 14 days Field Punishment No 2 for hesitating to obey an order, but this was reduced to a period of detention, however on 16th July he was Absent from a Parade and received 7 days Field Punishment No 1. On 2nd August he was discharged yet again for being under age and having given a mis-statement as to his age on enlistment.
On 22nd January 1918 John enlisted once more, at Derby and was posted to the 5th Reserve Battalion of the Sherwood Forresters on 1st February. Between 23rd and 30th March 1918 John was admitted to the County of Middlesex War Hospital near Napsbury, St Albans. After returning to his unit he immediately went Absent Without Leave for seven days and eventually surrendered himself to the Military Police at Endell Street Hospital in London. He was Confined to Barracks for ten days. He went missing again on 12th June for two days and was Confined to Barracks again for seven days.
John was admitted to hospital twice at Louth between 31st October and 3rd December 1918 suffering from influenza, and then overstayed his Christmas Leave from 31st December, until being apprehended by the Civil Police at Abbots Langley on 16th January 1919. He was sentenced to 21 days Field Punishment No 2. Around this time he was transferred to the 4th Battalion of the Royal Scots, but on 22nd February he was transferred to the 53rd Battalion of the Notts & Derby Regiment at Catterick Camp. On 9th March John was sent to Germany, and was subsequently transferred back to the Royal Scots. He continued his period of service being discharged three more times, and adding to his disciplinary record.
John Barnes was one of five children born to James and Hannah Barnes. In the 1901 and 1911 Census the family lived at 63 Breakspeare Road, Abbots Langley, where James worked as a Bricklayer/Labourer. It was to 63 Breakspeare Road that John returned when he was eventually discharged on 14th September 1921 deemed “Not liable to become an effective soldier”.
John Barnes’ Service Record at the National Archives is the longest of any man from Abbots Langley (some 121 pages of microfiche) and his time in the Army during and after the Great War has been difficult to unravel. His record in the National Roll of the Great War is completely at variance to his Service Record, and although he was recorded in the Abbots Langley Parish Magazine Roll of Honour from July 1915, the list of his units cannot be reconciled to his Service Record, and even included the Welsh Fusiliers and Royal Navy !
John may have been one of the youngest men to have enlisted in the Great War. He survived and returned to Abbots Langley, as did his brothers James and Frederick, his uncle Ernest William, and his cousins Ernest John and William Barnes.
Additional Information
Service numbers appear to include: 2617, 31045, 71129, 72068, 71129, 100402 & 5987497 and the regiments: Hertfordshire Yeomanry; 1st Battalion Hertfordshire Regiment; 3rd, 8th Battalions Bedfordshire Regiment; 3rd, 5th, 11th Battalions Nottm & Derby Regim
Acknowledgments
Roger Yapp - www.backtothefront.org
