Pte 52069 John Gwinnell

• Age: 22
• From: Seaforth, Liverpool
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 19th Btn
• Died Sunday 5th November 1916
• Commemorated at: Etaples Mil Cem
  Panel Ref: XII.C.11A

John Gwinnell was born on the 31st October 1894 and baptised on the 23rd October, 1895 at St Thomas’s Church, Seaforth. He was the son of William Gwinnell and his wife Jane (nee Simpson) who were married in the same church on the 25th September, 1882.

The 1901 Census shows the family living at 1 Rossini Street, Seaforth. John’s father William was a joiner and was 41 years old, mother Jane was 42 and had been born in Scotland. John was 6 years old and had six siblings : Jane was 17 and a dressmaker, Lily Maud was 14 and working as a milliner, William was 12, Charles 10, Clifford 8, and Mabel 4. Also living there was Jane’s brother Daniel Simpson who was also a joiner.

The 1911 Census shows the family have moved and are living at 8 Kilburn Street, Litherland. William and Jane have five of their six children living at home – (Lily) Maud is still a milliner, Charles is a plumber, Clifford a painter, Mabel is at school and John is a property jobber. The census shows that William and Jane had been married 28 years with 7 children born and 6 still alive. Also living in the household is a widowed brother in law Thomas Charnock aged 56 who is a steward.

John enlisted in Bootle and was serving with the 19th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment as Private No 52069.

He died of his wounds on the 05th November 1916, aged 22, and now rests at Etaples Military Cemetery.

During the First World War, the area around Etaples was the scene of immense concentrations of Commonwealth reinforcement camps and hospitals. It was remote from attack, except from aircraft, and accessible by railway from both the northern or the southern battlefields. In 1917, 100,000 troops were camped among the sand dunes and the hospitals, which included eleven general, one stationary, four Red Cross hospitals and a convalescent depot, could deal with 22,000 wounded or sick. In September 1919, ten months after the Armistice, three hospitals and the Q.M.A.A.C. convalescent depot remained.

The cemetery contains 10,771 Commonwealth burials of the First World War, the earliest dating from May 1915. 35 of these burials are unidentified. It is the largest CWGC cemetery in France, and was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.

The Liverpool Echo on 16th November1916 carried the following notice:

Gwinnell – November 5th in France Private J.Gwinnell the youngest and beloved son of William and Jane Gwinnell.

Soldiers Effects and Pension to his mother Jane.

His brother Charles was killed in action at Arras just four months after John on the 09th April 1917 whilst serving with the 20th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment. He now rests at Henin Crucifix Cemetery, France.

Further tragedy had struck the family, William and Jane suffered the deaths of three of their children within the space of seven months. Their daughter Maud had  died suddenly on the 30th October 1916, the pain must have been insufferable.

John is commemorated locally on the Bootle Civic Memorial alongside his brother Charles and also at Liverpool Presbytery

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