John Carter Adnitt was a first (and the favourite) cousin of Lizzie Burgess, who is featured in “Harry Burgess & Mary Eliz Hollick” under Chrons – South Aust
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| John Carter Adnitt in his police uniform |
John Carter Adnitt was born in Oct 1889 near the small town of Welford in Northamptonshire, and baptised in the local Anglican church of St Mary The Virgin. At the time his father Joseph was 26 and working as a shepherd on Watts Lodge Farm, (about 1km south of the town, today the site of a nursery school), and his mother Hannah (nee Hollick) was 23, both from local agricultural and factory working people. Two years later his sister Mary Ellen was born.
From
stories passed down in the Hollick family, it seems that John’s father was a
“hard task-master”, to the point where one of the local men and a couple of
mates decided something should be done about it, and said as much to the local
constable one night in the pub.
The
constable, clearly a practical copper, mentioned that he would be “away” for
the next few days, and as it turned out, Joseph Adnitt happened to get baled up
and given a severe beating the following night, although no reports or
complaints were ever made.
But after
this, aged about ten, John went to live with his maternal grandmother Mary
Hollick, a widowed charwoman living in the High St of Welford. It was here that
his cousin Lizzie Hollick – about four years younger - spent time with him, as
she loved holidaying with her Grandma and John, Lizzie remembering him as “a
kind boy, who always looked out for me”, and going together for milk and eggs to
Home Farm across the field.
By 1911,
John was 22 and working as a farm labourer, now living back with his parents, on
the outskirts of Welford itself. But soon after this he joined the
Northamptonshire Borough Police Force, serving locally as a PC until June 1915
when, with the war already raging in France and Belgium, he and four of his fellow
constables joined the Northamptonshire Regiment, and was assigned to its 7th
Service Battalion (part of the 24th Division), each given the rank
of Corporal, and began training, although apparently those “...early days were
somewhat chaotic, the new volunteers having very few trained officers and NCOs...”
Then, on
1st Sept 1915, and John now 26, they were shipped to France, landing at
Boulogne, and -
“...concentration
was completed in the area between Etaples and St Pol on 4 September. The
Division’s first experience was truly appalling. Having been in France for only
a few days, lengthy forced marches brought it into the reserve for the British
assault at Loos. GHQ planning left it too far behind to be a useful
reinforcement on the first day, but it was sent into action on 26 September,
whereupon it suffered over 4,178 casualties for very little gain.”
This was
the Battle of Loos –
“... the
largest British offensive on the Western Front to date and part of another
Franco-British attempt to destroy the stalemate of trench warfare and break through
the German lines...”
“... on
25th Sept, 24th Division, who had only arrived in France on 13th Sept and were
yet to see the trenches, were stationed at Beuvry as part of the General
Reserve for the attack at Loos ... during the evening they moved into the Loos
valley ready to participate in the attack the following day.
“... 75,000
British infantrymen advanced under cover of a smoke screen to capture Loos and
Hill 70 before moving up to Lens...
“... advancing
under heavy artillery fire, some of it their own artillery dropping short, most
of the units managed to make it as far as the German wire, which they found
uncut and impenetrable ... their success was short-lived, short of ammunition
and fresh troops the advance stalled and Hill 70 was retaken by the Germans. Realising
that the assault had failed, on 28th September the British retreated to their
starting point of 25th September. The 24th Division had suffered around 8,000
casualties, in this its first action.”
One of the
English Generals would write – “From what I can ascertain, some of the
divisions did actually reach the enemy's trenches, for their bodies can now be
seen on the barbed wire.”
John
survived the Battle of Loos, and he was moved to the Zillebeke Lake area, about
2kms southeast of Ypres in Belgium, and assigned to routine maintenance of
trenches. One historian was to say –
“When the
artillery barrages had finished and no infantry attacks were happening,
soldiers were still in danger from snipers. These were specialist marksmen who
hid in No Man's Land waiting for an enemy soldier to be foolish or careless
enough to show himself above the trench parapet, needing only the smallest of
clues or the briefest of sightings to locate their target.”
Maybe it was one unlucky moment, maybe one careless one, but on the 16th of January 1916, Cpl John Adnitt was killed by a German sniper.
John is
buried in the Menin Road (South) Military Cemetery in Ypres, with a headstone
that reads “Ever In Our Memory” at the request of his mother. He is also
commemorated on a plaque in St Mary The Virgin Anglican church in Welford where
he was baptised, and on an Honour Roll in All Saints Church in Yelvertoft,
Northamptonshire, where his father was born.
Of the four
other young police constables who joined the Regiment together in 1915, Sgt
Arthur Spence (BEM) was killed in action 31/7/1917, but 2nd Lieut
William Afford (DCM), Sgt John Chadwick, and 2nd Lieut Richard
Freeman all survived the war.
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