Pte 22266 John Stringer

• Age: 22
• From: Widnes, Lancs
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 20th Btn
• K.I.A Thursday 12th October 1916
• Commemorated at: Thiepval Memorial
  Panel Ref: P&F1D8B &8 C.

John Stringer was born in 1894 in Widnes and was the son of Charles Stinger and his wife Caroline (nee Norris or Wateridge) .

His father first married in 1881 to Mary Emma Bostock at St Thomas, Stockton Heath  but was widowed when his wife died at the age of 23 soon after giving birth to their son Charles in 1882. He remarried to John’s mother Caroline Norris Wateridge (or Watridge) in 1890 and they had five children; John had older siblings Norris, born in 1890, and Caroline 1892, and younger brothers Harry 1896, and Alan, born in 1898 who died at age 2.

He enlisted in Liverpool on 13th November 1914 joining in the 20th Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 22266. He gave his age as 20 years and 346 days, and his occupation as clerk.  He is described as being 5’ 5” tall, weighing 112 lbs, with a fresh complexion, hazel eyes, and dark brown hair.  His physical development is described as fair. He has slight deafness in the left ear. He gives as next of kin his father Charles at 94 Mersey Road, and his religion as C of E.

Formed in November 1914 the 20^th Battalion were originally billeted at Tournament Hall, Knotty Ash before on 29^th January 1915 they moved to the hutted accommodation purposely built at Lord Derby’s estate at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 20th Battalion alongside the other three Pals battalions left Liverpool via Prescot Station for further training at Belton Park, Grantham. They remained here until September 1915 when they reached Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain. 

He served in ‘A’ Company. Whilst at Larkhill on 26th September 1915 he forfeited one day’s pay for being absent from 10 p.m. to 01:50 a.m.

John arrived in France with his battalion on 7th November 1915.

On 21st March 1916 John was sent to No.96 Field Ambulance, with influenza, then to No.30 Dressing Station, and rejoined his unit in the field on the 28th.

He was killed in action on the 12th October 1916, aged 22 during the Battle of the Transloy Ridges which was part of the ongoing Somme Offensive. John was originally posted as Missing as his Casualty Form shows -

12/10/1916 Wounded in action 

12/10/1916 Wounded and Missing

22/06/1917 Reported buried (nearly nine months after he was reported Missing). 

According to the 20^th Bn War Diary, on 10th October 1916 the battalion marched from Dernancourt via Mametz to Bazentin Le Grand where it bivouacked for the night. The next day the battalion moved up to site for assembly trenches, arriving about 11 p.m., where it dug in two good trenches, Nos.1 and 2 Coys front and Nos.3 and 4 Coys in rear.

From the War Diary:

Near Eaucourt L’Abbaye.  12/10/1916. The 4^th British and 6^th French armies continued the attack. Zero 2.5 p.m.  The whole XVth Corps attacked […]  The attack of 89^th Inf Bde was carried out with 2^nd Bn Bedf Regt on right, 17^th Bn KLR on left, 20^th Bn KLR in support, 19^th Bn KLR in reserve.  Battalions attacked in four waves. On the departure of the attacking battalions Nos. 1 and 2 companies advanced, each in two waves, to garrison the front line trench vacated by 2^nd Bn Bedf Regt on right and 17^th KLR on left. On Nos 1 and 2 Coys vacating front assembly trench, it was occupied by two platoons of Nos. 3 and 4 Coys respectively, from rear assembly trench. As the assaulting waves left their trenches they were met by intense machine gun fire, especially on our left. The enemy also opened heavy barrages on our front support and assembly trenches. […] Capt. H. Beckett, commanding No.1 company, reached the front line with few casualties, but Lieut R.D. Paterson leading No.2 company was killed. His company also had few casualties. The assaulting battalions were held up by very heavy machine gun fire, and made little progress.  […] At 4.20 p.m. two platoons, No.4 Coy, under Cpl Brighouse, were sent up to reinforce the left, and No.3 Coy under Cpl Sutton followed at 4.45 p.m.  Battalion HQ moved up to front line at 4.55 and remaining two platoons of No.4 Coy moved up to join Cpl Brighouse. 

Casualties during action: 

Officers – Killed Lieut. R.D. Paterson, 2^nd Lieut G.L. Grennan, Wounded – 2^nd Lieuts A.E. Griffin, L.E. Mclean Hayes, C. Buttemer, Wounded Cpl g. Brighouse.

Other Ranks killed – 20. 

It had rained incessantly at the beginning of October 1916 and the ground was full of mud. In his book ‘The Liverpool Pals’ Graham Maddocks describes the day Herbert was killed.

It was obvious that the Germans knew an attack was coming and from which direction it would be mounted. On the evening of the 11th the 20th Battalion moved up the line and dug two deep assembly trenches behind the 17th Battalion’s position for the attack the next day. The 19th Battalion also moved into its reserve positions known as Flers Trench. Although the rain has stopped, the ground was like a morass, with all the natural vegetation destroyed, it was difficult to tell exactly where the objectives lay. On the afternoon of the 12th at exactly 2.05pm, the attack began along the whole Corps line, covered by the local batteries of the Royal Field Artillery which still had line of sight. As the whistles blew, the 17th Battalion left its trenches to move forwards, at the same time No.1 and 2 Companies of the 20th Battalion moved forward and occupied the trenches vacated by the 17th. As they too went over the top, No.3 and 4 Companies took their place and waited in their turn to follow. No.2 and 3 Companies of the 19th Battalion moved up to occupy the assembly trenches dug the previous night by the 20th.

As soon as the attacking waves left their trenches the enemy artillery began to register on them and at the same time the defending infantry commenced a murderous rain of fire. Those German regiments were trained and experienced soldiers, well dug in on high ground, and for the most part, looking out on uncut wire. As such it was virtually impossible for them to miss the City Battalion men struggling to advance in the mud towards them.

Brigadier-General F.C.Stanley wrote that the Battalions were also suffering casualties due to the short shooting of the British heavy artillery fire. “I know from practical experience that they were our own guns which were shooting, and which were causing us quite a considerable number of casualties. The fault lay at that time from the fact that the heavy gunners would not send their FOO’s (Forward Observation Officers) far enough forward, but were content to observe us from right back”

Some ground was gained that day, about 150 yards, the 20th Battalion were not relieved until 24 hours later causing the men to endure another day and night in the front line trench.

An appeal for information was published in the Runcorn Weekly News on 1st December 1916:

“Particulars are wanted concerning three West Bank men in France whose whereabouts are unknown. … Private J. Stringer 22266 King’s (Liverpool) Regiment, son of Mr. Charles Stringer, 94 Mersey Road, Widnes. … Private J. Stringer of the “Pals” is officially reported to have been wounded on the 12th of October, but no particulars are given and it is not known where he is. His last letter was received on the 8th October and he was then well.  He is 22 years of age, and an old boy of the Widnes Secondary School and before enlisting in November, 1914, was a clerk with Messrs. Gossages’ [soapmakers]. He went to France in November 1915.”

The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916. 

On 01st August 1932 the Prince of Wales and the President of France inaugurated the Thiepval Memorial in Picardy. The inscription reads: “Here are recorded the names of officers and men of the British Armies who fell on the Somme battlefields between July 1915 and March 1918 but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death.”

His death was published in the Weekly Casualty List on 27th August 1917.

John earned his three medals, which his father signed for.   

In April 1918 his father received John’s personal belongings: 1 Cap badge.

His Army pay and a War Gratuity of £8-10s went to his father.  His mother was awarded a pension of 6/- a week from November 1917.

In 1919 his parents were still living at 94 Mersey Road.  His siblings were all married;  Charles, 36, was living in St. Helens, Norris, 28, was in Newquay in Cornwall, and  Caroline, 27, in Cardiff.

His mother died in 1933 aged 74, and his father in 1935 at 77.

John is commemorated on the following Memorials:

Widnes Secondary School now located in Wade Deacon High School, Birchfield Rd, Widnes

Widnes War Memorial

William Gossages & Sons Ltd. erected a marble plaque (no names listed) in honour of employees of the Widnes firm who gave their lives in the service of their country 1914-1918. The plaque is now is the Union Jack Club, Lambeth, Greater London.

We currently have no further information on John Stringer, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.