Lance Corporal John Allen Washbrook

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Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, 6^th Battalion, Service no. 15997

Born: 26^th June 1887.  Died: 1940

Story

John was baptised in Kippax on 21^st July 1887.  His parents, Thomas Washbrook and Josephine Elizabeth Oakes were from the Midlands, and a year after John was born, they moved to Manchester.  His father was a debt collector, whilst John initially worked as a General Labourer for a textile and ironworks company, before becoming a painter and decorator.  John married Janet Anderson on 12^th December 1906 in Manchester, and the couple had already had two children, Beatrice (1907) and Robert Allen (1909) when John enlisted with the 6^th Battalion of the Loyal North Lancs. Regiment (pictured below) on 7^th August 1914.  He served in France, but fell ill on several occasions, starting on 18^th February 1915, when he was sent home for Garrison Duty until he recovered.  John was admonished for being absent without a pass on 30^th March 1915, and was hospitalised on 7^th September 1915 until 17^th November 1915 with colitis, an inflammation of the colon, likely due to infection.  His younger brother, Frederick Charles Washbrook, who had been born in Leigh, also enlisted, and was killed in action on 14^th October 1916.  He was treated for influenza on 3^rd March 1918 and 26^th March 1918, before being hospitalised again on 2^nd April 1918 for 16 days with influenza.  John was then apprehended by military police in Birkenhead for being absent from active service, for possessing a firearm, and for attempting to bribe military police.  He was confined to Barracks for 6 days, but was then admonished three times for being absent from parade (25.11.1918, 04.12.1918, 08.01.1919).  After the War, John perhaps surprisingly, re-enlisted with the same regiment on 8^th June 1920, and served for 3 more years, becoming a sergeant, before returning to Manchester to work as a painter.  He was 5 ft 7½ inches tall, and had three more children with Janet.  He passed away at the age of 53.

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