- See John Hewitt’s entry on the Board of Trade’s Ancestry public tree.
- This information updates the group’s previous research published on the former DTI website (now archived by the National Archives).
- Do you have any more information about John Hewitt? If so the War Memorial Research Group would love to hear from you
Name recorded on Board of Trade Memorial: J. Hewitt
Born: 1894, Earlston, Berwickshire, Scotland
Date of Death: 9 May 1915
Age at death: 21
Service, Regiment, Corps, etc: London Regiment
Unit, Ship, etc: 1/13th (Princess Louise’s Kensington Battalion)
Enlisted: Kensington
Rank: Private (Service No: 2911)
Decorations: WW1 Service Medals (Victory Medal, British War Medal and 1914-15 Star)
War (and theatre): WW1 (France and Flanders)
Manner of Death: Killed In Action (KIA)
Family Details: Son of Adam and Agnes Hewitt, 11 Rodgers Place, Earlston, Berwickshire, Scotland
Residence: London
Home Department: Board of Trade – Labour Department (Central Office)
Civilian Rank: Second Division Clerk
Cemetery or Memorial: Ploegsteert Memorial, Comines-Warneton, Hainaut (Panel 10); Board of Trade War Memorial; Memorial to Staff of the Ministry of Labour; Berwickshire High School Memorial Tablet; Earlston War Memorial
Biography:
John was born in 1894 in Earlston, Berwickshire, Scotland. His parents were Adam Hewitt (1870-1941) and Agnes Thomson Frater (1871-1956). He was the eldest son and had three brothers – Robert Hewitt (1897-1956), Richard Hewitt (1899-1900) and James Adam Hewitt (1900-1952). John’s father was a Loom Turner (Lineman) at a local tweed factory.
In the 1901 Scottish census, the Hewitt family are living at 11 Rodgers Place, Earlston, Berwickshire.
We also know that John attended Berwickshire High School.
We know that John worked for the Board of Trade. According to a newspaper article published in the Southern Reporter on Thursday 30 May 1912, John initially worked i Dundee but was promoted to be a Second Division Clerk based in London working in the Labour Exchange Department working on the National Insurance Act policy. The newspaper states that “Mr Hewitt’s many friends and acquaintances in Earlston are greatly pleased to hear of his success and heartily congratulate him”.
At the start of WW1, John enlisted in the 1st/13th (Princess Louise’s Kensington Battalion), a Territorial Force battalion which formed part of the London Regiment. Its official title was granted by Her Royal Highness, the Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, (1848-1939) who was the sixth child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
John would have enlisted the battalion’s London headquarters at Iverna Gardens Drill Hall in Kensington, where he had moved for work. The battalion was mobilised immediately on the declaration of war on 4 August 1914 and trained at Abbotts Langley in Hertfordshire.
According to his WW1 medal card, he first served overseas from 3 November 1914 when the battalion departed for Le Havre, France. The battalion joined the 25th Brigade 8th Division on the 13 November. John served in France for just six months. We know that the battalion was based south-west of Armentieres and then fought at Neuve Chapelle in March 1915. However, the defining event for the battalion was at Battle of Aubers Ridge where they suffered heavy casualties (436 men including 13 officers).
John was killed in action during this British military offensive which formed part of the Battle of Artois. The battle was a complete failure for the British forces who suffered 11,000 casualties and no ground gained. The British artillery barrage was feeble with no change to the German trench positions. The Battle is remembered as leading to what is called the “Shells Scandal” in the papers with the Government blamed for the shortage of ammunition.
John died on the same day – 9 May 1915 – as George William Miller and Frederick Marlow, who also served in the 13th Battalion, London Regiment (Princess Louise’s Kensington Battalion). His death was reported in The Scotsman newspaper on Friday 21 May 1915. He was considered to be “a young man of superior ability and attainments. The present writer knew him well when he was a boy and had opportunities of becoming acquainted with his talents which were far above the average and which gave promise of his future distinction had his life been spared”.
John was only 21 when he died. He has no known grave. His name is recorded on Panel 10 of the Ploegsteert Memorial in Hainaut, Belgium. This Commonwealth War Grave Cemetery memorial forms part of Berks Cemetery Extension south of Ypres town centre. and remembers the lives of over 11,000 men from British and South African forces who died in local area and have no known grave.
His life is also remembered by a Memorial Tablet located in the Berwickshire High School in Duns. He is one of 48 local men named on the Earlston War Memorial in his home town (to find out more about all the men named on this local memorial you can read “A village at war: 1914-1918” by J. J. Price) . John is also remembered for his Civil Service career on both the Board of Trade War Memorial and the Memorial to the Staff of the Ministry of Labour.
Board of Trade War Memorial 