 |
| Private John Ainsworth |
East Lancashire Regiment,
Killed in Action 31st July 1917
Age 21
Commemorated Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial.
Newspaper Reports:
(1) Official news has been received that Private John Ainsworth, East Lancashire Regiment, was killed in action on July 31st, 1917, by a shell which burst in a group of men, killing three.
He was 21 years old, joined up in August 1916, and was well liked by the boys in his regiment, and also by the officers and N.C.O.'s, who have sent their deepest sympathy to his mother, a widow, in the loss of her only son.
At the time of enlisting he was a weaver at Grane Mill, and was a regular attender at King Street Wesleyan Church, his name being on that roll of honour.
The manner of Private Ainswoth's death is corroborated by a soldier who, in a letter to Mrs. Ainsworth, describes himself as the deceased's "best pal".
The shell, he says, burst among a group of men and killed three of them, after the British had gained their objective in an attack at dawn.
(2) HASLINGDEN SOLDIER KILLED WHILE SITTING ON A BOX OF EXPLODED BOMBS.
Death has come in a singular manner to Private John Ainsworth, East Lancashire Regiment, of 36, Piccadilly Street, Haslingden.
He had just come out of action when an enemy shell exploded in the trench he had gone to. The explosion fired some bombs in a box on which he was sitting, and he was killed on the spot.
Single, and 21 years of age, the deceased was a weaver at Grane Mill, when he responded on the last day of the Derby scheme. He was sent back from Preston, but in the following August he was recalled to the colours, and he did his training at Plymouth.
A studious young fellow, he was quick at snapping up knowledge on quite a variety of subjects.
He was connected with King Street Wesleyan Church, and he was the only son of a widowed mother.
 |
| Census certificate for Private John Ainsworth (Click over to enlarge) |
