John Harper

John was born in 1898 in Wheatley Hill, Co Durham.¹   John's father was Ezekiel Harper and his mother was Mary Knowles.  His paternal grandparents were James Henry Harper and Elizabeth Haywood; his maternal grandparents were Robert Knowles and Jane Pickering. He had four brothers and nine sisters, named James, Robert, William, Joseph, Elizabeth, Barbara, Mary, Margaret, Alice, Sarah, Emma, Annie and Alice.  He was the seventh youngest of the fourteen children.  He died as a war casualty, WWI, killed in action, at the age of 20 on September 10th, 1918 in the region of Épehy, France (click to see modern map).² 

• Biography

  • John Harper was killed in action on the same day as his brother and cousin, just two months before the end of WWI.<br><br>Within the grounds of Vis-en-Artois British Cemetery, which is west of Haucourt on the north side of the main road, will be found the Vis-en-Artois Memorial. This Memorial bears the names of over 9,000 men who fell in the period from 8 August 1918 to the date of the Armistice in the Advance to Victory in Picardy and Artois, between the Somme and Loos, and who have no known grave:<br><br><em>In Memory of JOHN HARPER, Private 51576, 1st Bn., East Yorkshire Regiment, who died on Tuesday, 10th September 1918. Age 20. Son of Ezekiel Harper, of 18, Emily St., Wheatley Hill, Co. Durham and the late Mary Harper.</em><br><br>Extract from War Diary Entry for the 1st Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment on 10th September 1918:<br><br><em>Objective: LOWLAND & CAVALRY TRENCHES from W18b34 to W12a00. Barrage to commence at 4am.<br>Dispositions: B company on the right, C company in the centre, D company on left.<br>Situation: Very heavy rain through the night. Time for barrage altered.<br>5.15am : Barrage. Owing to bad weather company was unable to get into position in time.<br>8.45am : Situation not coherent.<br>9.00am : The company owing to the darkness were unable to get into the exact positions indicated to them and had concentrated more to the left when forming up for the attack this morning. They were also unable to start at zero (5.15am), the right company started 5:30am. From verbal reports received it is evident that the attack went in a northerly direction, rather than a N.E. one. The enemy had apparently anticipated a further attack on his position and was fully prepared to meet it. The right company met with very heavy machine gun fire from its right flank and as they had lost the barrage had to withdraw. From further verbal reports it appears that the left company went too much to its left and the enemy counter attacked and apparently captured about 20 of them.<br>Casualties:<br>KILLED: LT C SPRAGG & 5 other ranks<br>WOUNDED: 2/LT H P SPENCER and 2/LT F MONKMAN and 36 other ranks<br>MISSING: LT K E BLACK, LT H SOOBY, 2/LT RIDEOUT, 2/LT J WALKER and 138 other ranks<br>Situation: Warning received during this afternoon re possible relief in the evening, after cancelled, & message received that there would be no relief but this battalion would withdraw later.</em><br><br>The action took place in an area between Gouzeaucourt to the north, and Épehy to the south. On a Google image of the same location today you can still see the faint trace of where the Cavalry Support Trench (where B company where supposed to have been positioned) came close to the Cavalry Trench (B company's objective, a mere 100 meters away over no man's land.)