Pte 203305 John Lamb

• Age: 26
• From: Burscough
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 18th Btn
• D.O.W Tuesday 4th September 1917
• Commemorated at: Bailleul Cc Ext
  Panel Ref: III.E.210

John Lamb was born  on the 21^st July 1891 at Burscough and was baptised on the 28^th June 1891 at St John’s Church, Burscough Bridge. He was the son of John Lamb and his wife Margaret (nee Aspinall) who were married in St Peter’s Church, Liverpool on 25^th January 1886. 

The 1901 Census shows the family living at Cinder Street, Lathom, John and Margaret and their four children Margaret, John, Charles and Stephen.

His mother, Margaret, died in 1907 and his father re-married in 1909 to Ellen Hewitt.

The 1911 Census has the family living at Canal Boat 286 at Wharf, Burnley - John Lamb with son John and William Hewitt (Stepson) His father was a Bargeman.

1911 Census finds the family living at Crabtree Lane, Burscough - Ellen Lamb with step children Walter, Stephen and William Lamb and her children Edward and Walter Hewitt.

John Lamb Jnr. married Martha Forshaw on the 06^th November 1915 at St John’s Church, Burscough and they had a daughter Jessie Margaret born 1916.

Prior to the outbreak of war had been employed by the Leeds and Liverpool Canal Company.

He enlisted in Ormskirk and was serving in the 18th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 203305.

He died of wounds at the 53rd Casualty Clearing Station on the 04th September, 1917 aged 26 during the Third Battle of Ypres.

He now rests at Bailleul Communal Cemetery Extension, France.

Bailleul was occupied on 14 October 1914 by the 19th Brigade and the 4th Division. It became an important railhead, air depot and hospital centre, with the 2nd, 3rd, 8th, 11th, 53rd, 1st Canadian and 1st Australian Casualty Clearing Stations quartered in it for considerable periods. It was a Corps headquarters until July 1917, when it was severely bombed and shelled, and after the Battle of Bailleul (13-15 April 1918), it fell into German hands and was not retaken until 30 August 1918.

The earliest Commonwealth burials at Bailleul were made at the east end of the communal cemetery and in April 1915, when the space available had been filled, the extension was opened on the east side of the cemetery. The extension was used until April 1918, and again in September, and after the Armistice graves were brought in from the neighbouring battlefields.

BAILLEUL COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION contains 4,403 Commonwealth burials of the First World War; 11 of the graves made in April 1918 were destroyed by shell fire and are represented by special memorials. There are also 17 British burials of the Second World War (all 1940) and 154 German burials from both wars (10 of which are Second World War).

During the Second World War the cemetery suffered major bomb damage that necessitated the replacement of nearly 200 headstones after the war.

Both the Commonwealth plot in the communal cemetery and the extension were designed by Sir Herbert Baker.

His death was reported in the Ormskirk Advertiser on 27th September 1917:

PRIVATE JOHN LAMB

Of Fern Cottages, New Lane, Burscough, son of Mr J. Lamb, who has died from wounds received in action in France. He only joined the King's Liverpool Regiment in March of this year and had been out in France for about 7 weeks. He was formerly a boatman in the employ of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal Company and was 26 years of age. She is a widow and has a baby child.

Soldiers Effects to his widow Martha and pension to Martha and child Jessie Margaret

John is commemorated on the Lathom and Burscough Memorial.

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