Pte 13597 John Brown

• Age: 35
• From: Liverpool
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 18th Btn
• K.I.A Monday 2nd April 1917
• Commemorated at: Arras Memorial
  Panel Ref: Bay 3

The 1911 Census finds him with his wife and four children living at 2 Barlow Buildings, Kirkdale. John is aged 30 and a dock labourer, his wife Margaret is aged 31. They advised that they have been married for 10 years, and have had 4 children. Their children are listed as; Harold aged 9, Bonnie Frances aged 5, Isabella aged 2 and new born John Albert. They had two more children after the census, Fanny (1912) and Hilda Margaret (1914). 

Widowed mother Isabella, aged 61, born Londonderry, Donegal is living at 182 Beacon Lane, Anfield. Also present is Henry, aged 22, a porter at a railway goods depot. 

His father died before the next Census, it has not been possible to identify the correct burial. 

His mother died, aged 63, in 1914. 

Her death was reported in the Liverpool Echo on Tuesday 19 May 1914; 

BROWN—May 16, at her daughter Sarah's residence, 209, Breckfield-road North, suddenly, Isabella, widow of the late John Brown. Interment Everton Cemetery, to-morrow (Wednesday), 2.20 p.m. 

Before enlisting he was employed with the Canadian Pacific Railway. 

John enlisted in Liverpool and was serving with the 18th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment as Private 13597. He was killed in action on the 02nd April 1917.

His body was not recovered from the battlefield or was subsequently lost as his name is recorded on the Arras Memorial in France. 

The ARRAS MEMORIAL commemorates almost 35,000 servicemen from the United Kingdom, South Africa and New Zealand who died in the Arras sector between the spring of 1916 and 7 August 1918, the eve of the Advance to Victory, and have no known grave. The most conspicuous events of this period were the Arras offensive of April-May 1917, and the German attack in the spring of 1918. Canadian and Australian servicemen killed in these operations are commemorated by memorials at Vimy and Villers-Bretonneux. A separate memorial remembers those killed in the Battle of Cambrai in 1917. Both cemetery and memorial were designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, with sculpture by Sir William Reid Dick. The memorial was unveiled by Lord Trenchard, Marshal of the Royal Air Force on the 31 July 1932 (originally it had been scheduled for 15 May, but due to the sudden death of French President Doumer, as a mark of respect, the ceremony was postponed until July).

The 18th Battalion diary records that Private J. Brown was attached to 21st Machine Gun Company when he was killed. The diary records him as Wounded on 2nd April; he apparently died that same day from his wounds.

His death was reported in the Liverpool Weekly Courier on Saturday 26 May 1917; 

Private J. Brown K.L.R., killed in action on April 2nd, aged 33 years, leaves a wife and six children. He joined up on the outbreak of war and had been in France over 12 months. He previously worked with the Canadian Pacific Railway and resided at 9 Anglesey Terrace, Torr Street.

John was remembered in the Liverpool Echo 30th July 1917 by his sister Sarah Ann Ward (née Brown)

WARD – In loving memory of my dear husband Private William Ward, drowned in France July 29 1915 also my dear brother Private John Brown killed in action April 2^nd 1917

“Nobly they did their duty, Bravely they fought and fell, But the sorrows of those who mourn them, Only aching hearts can tell.” 

The soldier referred to as Sarah's husband was Private 3086 William Henry Ward of the 8th Battalion K.L.R. He was aged 38. husband of Sarah A. Ward, of 4, Lloyd Street, Everton. William now rests at La Neuville Communal Cemetery, Corbie, France where his headstone bears the epitaph;

GOD BE WITH YOU TILL WE MEET AGAIN 

John's effects, Army pay of £5 19s 5d, £13 War Gratuity to were sent to his widow Margaret and their children whose address was then 9 Anglesea Terrace, Torr Street, Everton.. She also received a pension of 33/9 pw.  

On the 1921 Census at 7 Court, 9 Anglesea Terrace, Margaret, is aged 38 and living with her six children. Family trees state that she died in 1968. 

John is commemorated in the Hall of Remembrance, Liverpool Town Hall, Panel 13 Left.

We currently have no further information on John Brown, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.