JOHN WAITE

John was born in Easton Royal on the 29th November 1894 but his birth was not registered until 8th January 1895.

John was Edward and Kate Waite’s second child and eldest son and they went on to have another 8 children. Nine of the ten were still alive in 1911.They lived at cottage number 21 Easton Royal which had one room downstairs and two rooms upstairs. Edward worked as a carter on a farm.

The School Admissions Register records that John joined the school on 4th January 1898 when he was a little over three years of age. There is no mention of him in the School log and no record of when he left. However, it can be seen from the Census that by 1911, John, aged 16, was working as a milker on a farm.

John enlisted in the Wiltshire Regiment at Devizes on 31st August 1914 and by April 1915 he was in France with the 1st Battalion. In September of that year he is recorded as having a couple of medical problems. On the 12th he was taken to a field ambulance unit suffering from a septic leg. Three days later he was admitted to hospital with cellutis in his left leg and on the 26th he was sent back to England with Impetigo.

Some while later, after recuperating, he joined the 5th Battalion and was sent to Mesopotamia (present day Iraq) where he died on 28th July 1918 aged 23.

He is buried in the Baghdad (North Gate) War Cemetery along with over 4000 other Commonwealth casualties.

The Wiltshire Regiment badge