- See John Stock’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 Stock? If so the War Memorial Research Group would love to hear from you
Name recorded on Board of Trade Memorial: J. Stock
Born: 27 November 1890, St Paul’s, Northampton
Date of Death: 27 September 1915
Age at death: 24
Service, Regiment, Corps, etc: Northampton Regiment
Unit, Ship, etc: “D” Company, 7th (Service) Battalion
Enlisted: Northampton
Rank: Sergeant (Service No: 15564)
Decorations: WW1 Service Medals (Victory Medal, British War Medal and 1914-1915 Star)
War (and theatre): WW1 (France and Flanders)
Manner of Death: Killed in Action (KIA)
Family Details: Son of Mary Ann Stock and husband of Mabel Mary Stock, 9 Elysium Terrace, Northampton
Residence: 9 Elysium Terrace, Northampton
Home Department: Board of Trade – Labour Department (Yorkshire & East Midlands Division)
Civilian Rank:
Cemetery or Memorial: Loos Memorial (Panel 91-93); Board of Trade War Memorial; Memorial to Staff of the Ministry of Labour; Northampton War Memorial;
Biography:
John Stock was born on 27 November 1890 to Mary Ann Stock, a single mother. He was later baptised in St Paul’s Church, Northampton on 7 November 1899.
In both the 1901 and 1911 censuses John Stock is living at 45 Northcote Street, Kingsthorpe, Northampton with his grandfather James Stock and grandmother Letitia Stock and his mother Mary Stock. His mother is a shopkeeper (grocer’s).
By the time of the 1911 census, when John is aged 20 he is now working as a Registration Clerk at the local Northampton Labour Exchange.
At the outbreak of WW1 in August 1914, we know that John was one of the first wave of 278 men to enlist on 9 August 1914 in Northampton with the 7th (Service) Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment which was one of many service battalions raised at the start of WW1 prompted by Lord Horatio Kitchener’s call to arms. John and the other men from “D” Company became known as Mobbs’ Own. This is because, the company was founded by Lt Col Edgar Robert Mobbs DSO (1882-1917), a legendary former captain of England and Northampton ruby union player born in Northampton and later who lived at Dartmouth House, Olney. He was one of rugby union’s early superstars but had retired from the game in 1913. The start of WW1 only served to build his legendary status. More than 400 men volunteered with ‘Mobbs’ Army’ but only 85 survived WW1. Mobbs created his own company made up of sportsmen and other local men from Northamptonshire and Leicestershire because he had difficulty enlisting as an officer. In 2019, the Northampton Saints Foundation produced a brochure and conducted research into all the men that joined up with Mobbs in September 1914 as part of “Discovering the Mobbs’ Own“.
John’s WW1 Short Service Attestation Papers survive (and one of only a quarter of such records to survive, since the vast majority of WW1 service record papers were burnt during a bombing raid during WW2).
He was initially posted as a Private and then quickly appointed as Assistant Sergeant and then ultimately Sergeant from 1 October 1914. This is probably because he had previously served with the Northamptonshire Yeomanry.
We know from his attestation papers that he was 5 feet 8 and a quarter inches tall. He is also described as having a fresh complexion, dark brown hair and brown eyes and weighing 154lbs and having a chest measurement of 41 inches.
He trained with the battalion at Shoreham. Just prior to being posted to France, John married Mabel Mary Harris (1895-1980) in Northampton in July 1915.
The battalion was ordered to France from 28 August 1915 as part of the 73rd Brigade, 24th Division. John first embarked to serve in France on 1 September 1915 and was killed in action aged 24 on 27 September 1915.
One of the first military actions the battalion fought in, was the Battle of Loos (25 September 1915-8 October 1915). He was initially reported as missing but was later confirmed as having been “shot through the heart”.
John has no known grave. His name is one of over 20,000 men remembered on the Loos Memorial which forms the sides and back of the Dud Corner Cemetery located at Loos-en-Gohelle village in France.
On his death he left £5 2s and 6d to his wife Mabel but when his war gratuity came through in June 1919 he had a sum of £6 10s which was distributed to “wife and sole”. We don’t know the name of John’s child
After the war, his wife Mabel later remarried to Charles Lovell Major (1888-1959) in Westminster, England on 12 January 1922. Together they emigrated to Australia where they had four children.
John is remembered in England on two Civil Service War Memorials – the Board of Trade War Memorial and the Memorial to the Staff of the Ministry of Labour. He is also remembered by the Northampton War Memorial (or Town and County War Memorial designed by Sir Edwin Lutyans which is located in the churchyard of All Saints Church in the centre of Northampton.
Meanwhile Edgar Mobbs, the Lieutenant Colonel of the battalion was himself killed in action at Zillebeke while attacking a machine gun post on 31 July 1917 during the Third Battle of Ypres (Battle of Passchendaele. His body was never found and he is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial and by a commemorative bust in Northampton and also by a cross and remembrance plate in woods at Zillebeke, Belgium.
Board of Trade War Memorial 