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| Pte John Thomas Shurmer |
York and Lancaster Regiment,
Killed in Action on 4th November 1918
Age 35
Buried at Frasnoy Communal Cemetery.
Newspaper Report:
Mrs. Shurmer has received official news from the War Office to say that her husband, Private J Shurmer was killed in action in France on November 4th 1918. Private Shurmer had seen much fighting in France and Salonica, when he was invalided home with malaria fever in 1916. Last December he was severely gassed and wounded, and was brought back to England. After recovery, however, he went out to France again in July of this year.
Pte. Shurmer was in the A.S.C. when he joined up in 1914, and later he was drafted to the West Yorks., and he was in the Yorks and Lancasters at the time of his death. His wife has received the following letter from an N.C.O. in Pte. Shurmer's company:-
"Dear Madam,
On behalf of the boys of the same platoon as dear jack I am sending you these few lines in reply to a parcel which you sent for him and which we shared out this evening.
I might sayt here that you have the deepest sympathy of all of us, for he was very much liked by all, and we miss him very greatly, but I know very well that you will miss him most of all.
Although it is not much consolation to you, you will, nevertheless, have the pleasure of knowing that he did his bit willingly and without grousing, in the greatest cause the world has ever known.
As you know it is not much use when a parcel comes for anyone who has passed away sending it back again, and therefore they are always shared out amongst the friends and comrades who were with him when he was killed. I herewith send you the thanks of the platoon and also my own, and we trust that God will help you in your great sorrow.
I think you will agree with me that everything happens for the best if we can only think so, and you must try and look at it in this way, that God takes all the best flowers from the garden first, and therefore He took Jack before any of us as being better than us; and then again, we shall all join him by and by, so try and bear up.
Your sincere friend,
SERGT. ELDRIDGE.
Newspaper Memorials:
Sacred to the glorious memory of Private, John Thomas Shurmer, Yorks, and Lancaster Regt.l killed in action November 4th 1918.
"When love entwines around the heart,
Experience best can tell,
How hard it is to part,
With one we love so well.
We'll think of you in silence,
Your face we'll oft recall;
But there'll be nothing left to comfort us,
But your photo on the wall."
From his sorrowing Wife and Children, 6 Spring Side, Haslingden.
"We little thought when we said good-bye,
We parted for ever and you were to die;
Oh, the grief that we feel words cannot tell,
For we could not be with you to bid you farewell.
Too far away thy grave to see,
Yet we will always think of thee."
Sadly missed by Mother, Father and Jim, 10 Spring Side, Haslingden.
"Ah, he has fought a gallant fight,
In death's cold arms he persevered,
And after life's uncheery night,
The harbour of his rest is neared.
From his Siter in law Margaret, 42 Prospect Hill, and Joe in Russia.
"Gone to his rest through the pathway of duty,
Venturing his life that others might live;
He sleeps with England's heroes,
In the watchful care of God."
"May his reward be as great as his sacrifice."
In loving memory of our dear Brother in law, from Pte. John Wm. and Eliz. Ann Wellock, Barnoldswick.
"So sad, yet so true, we cannot tell why,
The best are first that are called to die;
O Lord, how strange and myhsterious are Thy ways,
To take our brother in the best of his days."
From his loving Sister Betsy, and Ernest (serving in England).
In loving memory of our dear Brother, Private. John Thomas Shurmer, Yorks and Lancaster Regiment, killed in action Nov 14th 1918.
"Links are snapped beyond repairing,
And the tenderest, cords are riven;
Nothing can fill the void created,
But the gentle hand of Heaven."
"His duty nobly done,
Eternal rest now won."
From his Brother Jim Harry (serving in France and Sister in law Maria and Nephew Josie.
"Call him not "Dead" who fell at Duty's feet,
And passed through light,
Where earth and Heaven meet,
To radiant rest.
Call him not "Dead" our fallen Soldier Daddy,
But say the warfare waged, the victory's won,
He made the Supreme Sacrifice".
Dearly loved by Wife and Children.
"We are thinking of our loved one,
And our hearts are sad with pain;
Oh, this world would be like heaven,
Could we hear his voice again."
"Time passes - memory never fades."
Sadly missed by Mother, Father and Jim.
"We cannot forget him, nor do we intend,
We think of him daily and will to the end;
We mourn for our Brother in sorrow unseen,
He is with us in memories of days that have been."
Always remembered by Betsy and Ernest.
"A little while - your grave will be o'er trodden,
Soon the frail cross have fallen in the breeze;
No loving hands are there to tend and cherish,
That grave in foreign soil beyond the seas."
Ever remembered by Margaret, 42, Prospect Hill.
