Pte 32076 John Durkin

• Age: 21
• From: Haslingden, Lancs
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 18th Btn
• K.I.A Sunday 23rd July 1916
• Commemorated at: Thiepval Memorial
  Panel Ref: P&F1D8B &8 C.

John Durkin was born in Haslingden, Lancashire, in the December quarter 1894, the third of seven surviving children born to John Durkin and his wife Mary (nee Lundy).

The 1901 Census shows the family living at 23, Wilkinson Street, Haslingden, Lancashire.

The father John aged 29, born 1872 is a cotton weaver and was born in Ireland. His wife Mary is aged 31, born 1870 in Haslingden and is employed as a cotton weaver. They have four children at the time of the Census, Annie Mary aged 9, born 1892, Bridget aged 8, born 1893, John aged 6, born 1895 and Margaret aged 3, born 1898. The children were all born in Haslingden. They also have Mary’s father Anthony Lundy, a widower aged 65, born 1836 in Ireland who is employed as general labourer.

The 1911 Census shows the family living at 32 King St, Haslingden, Lancashire.

The father John now aged 39, is a cotton weaver and his wife Mary is aged 41 has no occupation listed. They have been married for twenty years and have had twelve children of which five had died. They have their seven children living with them at the time of the Census, Annie Mary aged 19, Bridget aged 18, John aged 16 and Margaret aged 13 are employed as cotton weavers and the remaining children Michael, aged 9 , born 1902, Alice aged 2, born 1909 and Joseph born 1911.

John enlisted in Haslingden as  Private 18171, Lancashire Fusiliers, and was later transferred to the 18^th Battalion King’s (Liverpool) Regiment, as Private 32076.

John was killed in action during the Battle of the Somme on 23^rd July 1916 aged 21 years.  He was one of the many whose bodies were never recovered from the battlefield, or subsequently lost, and he is now commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme.

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.”

Soldiers Effects to his  father John, and pension to his mother Mary.

John is commemorated om the Halingden Roll of Honour, Halingden Municipal War Memorial which hang on the balcony wall at Haslingden Public Library.

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