Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Great Grandfather – JOHN LOWE

Now that Ive done the two group layouts of my Great Grandparents I thought it was a good time to do some individual layouts about each.

I started with John Lowe, my Fathers Grandfather.  I only became aware of him in the 1990s when my father must have been given a photo of him in his Drummers Uniform of the Sherwood Foresters Batallion   by my Grandmother r on a visit to the UK. I never really thought to ask about the photo, but the uniform always intrigued me.

The smaller photo inset in the text looks so much like my father looked ( without his glasses) that its quite uncanny.

 

The Journalling on this 2 page spread reads:

John Lowe was one of 7 sons of Samuel George Lowe and Mary Jane Boam. By the age of 15 he was working as an Iron Moulder at an Iron foundry. The family including his widowed mother lived at 29 Drage Street in Derbyshire,a 3 bedroomed terraced house where his family had lived since 1898. With Mary Jane now a widow, she and 6 of her children lived in this house with 2 lodgers.
At the age of 16 on the 16th April 1902 John signed up to the UK Territorial Forces as part of the 1st Battalion of the Sherwood Foresters, ( Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment) Part of the Derbyshire Yeomanry , and was a Private during this period.
In 1908 on April 21st he married Susan Wheatcroft, the first of his children, Donald being born in October of that year.
It was that year he reenlisted with the Yeomanry moving to a Mounted Unit of the the 5th Battalion of the Sherwood Foresters, completing the required training every year . He was promoted to the rank of Bugler and continued to re-engage every year finally attaining the rank of Corporal.
His brother Herbert had also joined the Derbyshire Yeomanry and both John and Herbert were shipped to the Middle East and fought in Egypt,and Gallipoli Turkey. Unfortunately Herbert was not to survive that battle, being killed in action on 21 August 1915.
In November of that year John was discharged from the Force after serving his 14 years voluntary service and continued his job as an Iron Moulder.
John and Susan went on to have 8 children and John became the drummer in the Orchestra at the Grand Theatre in Derby. John died in 1938 .

When war was declared in 1914, the Sherwood Foresters consisted of eight battalions and a Depot in Derby. During the war the Regiment expanded to 33 Battalions of which 20 served overseas. Altogether 140,000 men, nearly all from Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, served in the Regiment. 11,409 of them did not return.
John Lowe received the 1914-1915 star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal for his service to his country.

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