Peasants to Puddles
My Family History - By Nicky Rowberry
John James Nurse - Private 16/1736
This page is dedicated to the memory of John James Nurse who died on 3rd September 1916 in France.
John James Nurse (or James John Nurse) was born on 3rd January 1880 at 1 Court, Bishopsgate Street, Birmingham, the eldest son and second child of James John Nurse and (Mary) Jane Puddle. He died on 3rd September 1916 in France, one of the many millions of men who lost their lives in World War 1. It seemed sad for him to have died and all but these bare facts remembered, so I've tried to find out at least a little about his life until his untimely death aged just 36.
John James's parents had married in Birmingham in April 1878, some 11 months after their first child Mary was born in Hereford. John James was then born in 1880. The family should have been recorded in the 1881 census, but are proving difficult to find. There is a family going by the name of Puddle (the mother's maiden name) in College Street, Birmingham who are about the right age with the right number of children and are born in Herefordshire. I THINK this might be them and things just got mixed up on the census returns, but I can't be sure.
In 1891 John James was living with his mother and 4 younger siblings. His older sister Mary seems to have left home, possibly in domestic service somewhere, and his father James was a patient at Birmingham General Hospital. John James himself was still at school, aged 11.
By 1901 John James Nurse was a boarder with a family in Aston and was working as a paper hanger - probably meaning wall paper and he was a decorator. His mother Jane died in 1907, aged only about 50, and by 1901 John James was back living with his widowed father in Hatchett Street, Birmingham. John James Nurse was still single and was now described as a house painter.
The table below gives a transcription from the 1911 census.
| Census of England and Wales, 1911 | Number of Schedule: 94 | ||||||||
| Name and Surname of every person in this dwelling on Sunday April 2nd 1911 | Relation to Head of Family | Age | Single, Married or Widowed | Completed years of present marriage | Total children born alive | Children still living | Children who have died | Rank, Profession or Occupation | Where Born |
| James Nurse | Head | 65 | Widower | 35 | 8 | 6 | 2 | Builder's Carter | Hereford |
| James Nurse | Son | 30 | Single | House painter | Birmingham | ||||
| Louisa Earp | Boarder | 26 | Single | Machinist | Birmingham | ||||
| Number of rooms in this dwelling: 3 | Signature: James Nurse | ||||||||
| Postal Address: No 4 Bk 7 Hatchett Street | |||||||||
World War 1 broke out at the end of July 1914 and at some point John James Nurse must have enlisted. Unfortunately his army service records have not survived (over half the WW1 service records were destroyed by a bombing raid in WW2), so there is little direct evidence of his military time.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission website revealed John was a private in the 14th Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment and that his service number was 16/1736. It also states that he is commemorated at the Delville Wood Cemetery in Longueval. I can't reproduce the CWGC photo of the cemetery, but to see his page please click here. You can now look at the Medal Roll cards from the first world war online. These show a soldier's name, rank and what medals they were entitled to. Due to copyright issues, I don't think I can reproduce the image of the medal card, so instead I've transcribed it.
| Name | Corps | Rank | Reg No. | |
| Nurse | R. War R | Pte | 1736 | |
| John J. | ||||
| Medal. | Roll | Page | Remarks | |
| VICTORY | L/104 B24 | 5191 | ||
| BRITISH | ditto | ditto | ||
| STAR | ||||
| Theatre of War first served in | ||||
| Date of entry therein | ||||
The index card indicates that he would have been entitled to two medals. The British Medal was awarded to servicemen who served in a theatre of war between 5th August 1914 and 11th November 1918. The Victory Medal (Allied Victory Medal) was awarded for service in any operational theatre over the same time frame. The Star was awarded to all those who served in any theatre of war against Germany between 5th August 1914 and 31st December 1915. The fact that he wasn't awarded the Star medal suggests he may not have joined the army until 1916. The 14th Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment was one of the "Pals Battalions". They were raised locally so John may well have known some of his fellow recruits.
Although I can't find any specifics on John's service, you can now look at the War Diaries for regiments in WW1, which can give a real insight into what the men went through. War Diaries were kept as a daily record of operations, intelligence reports and anything else that was going on for a given battalion. I've looked at the War Diaries for the 14th Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. Sadly the war diaries rarely mention ordinary soldiers by name, so John's death isn't detailed, but I've transcribed the bit from the days leading up to his death.
| 14th BATTALION WAR DIARY FOR Sept - 1916 | ||||
| WAR DIARY or INTELLIGENCE SUMMARY | ||||
| Place | Date | Hour | Summary of Events and Information | Remarks & references to Appendices |
| Citadel BRAY | 1.9.16 | Battn employed on general cleaning up & completing arms, equipment etc preparatory to proceeding to front line again to take part in the attack. 2Lt Turner notified that he has been awarded the mily+. | Lm Lt Col | |
| Trenches bet FALFEMONT Fm + WEDGEWD | 2.9.16 | Battn proceeds to trenches - taking over from 1/Cheshire - + assumes positions of readiness for the attack. Relief of trenches complete by 12.30am 2.9.16. | Lm Lt Col | |
| Ditto | 3.9.16 | A general attack takes place against the Germans on the line HIGHWOOD - GUINCHY - GUILLEMONT - WEDGEWOOD - LE FOREST. French army on the Right then in sequence to the left: XV Corps. Objective for 13/Infty Bde (a) The capture of FALFEMONT Farm & main line for about 400x to right. This attack to be carried out previous to the main attack as the possessin of the FARM leaves the French left open to enfilade fire. (b) The capture of the German Main Line trenches from the left of the FARM to & including WEDGEWOOD. These attacks to be carried out (a) By 2/KOSBs & b) 14/R War Rgt. At 9am the 2/KOSBs advanced to the attack, very gallantly & in splendid order. They were lost to sight over the ridge & from that moment until about 5pm. the situation at the FARM remaining obscure as no message came back from 2/KOSBs. At 12.10pm in conjunction with the 95Bde on the left 'C' Coy attacked the 1st objective vix the Gun-pits position in the valley running S.W from WEDGEWOOD. This attack under M/G fire from both FALFEMONT FM & the gun-pits did not succeed until 1.40pm. At 12.50pm A & B Coys attacked the 2nd objective, vix the enys trenches from left edge of FARM to left of WEDGEWOOD, in conjunction with 95th Bde on left. As it transpired the 2/KOSBs had failed in their attack on the FARM. The 14/R War Rgt had therefore to advance with their right open to the concentrated fire from Machine Gun & rifle fire of FALFEMONT Fm. Under these conditions the impossible was being asked. Both Coys advanced very gallantly & in splendid spirit, but at once coming under very heavy M/G fire & losing heavily, they began to wither away. 'A' Coy on the right bore the full brunt & soon dwindled away to a few remnants, which however continued to advance in the most undaunted manner. 'B' Coy on the left, suffered almost as severely, but struggling on managed to occupy & hold the front trench of the position, just S of WEDGEWOOD. In conclusion I would say that the behaviour of the Battalion was, throughout magnificent & that it was by no fault of theirs that the attack failed. Captain A Addenbrooke & 2Lt H. Barrow displayed splendid push & bravery during the attack on the Gun-pits position. I would also like to bear independent testimony to the splendidly fearless manner in which the 12/Gloucesters & 1/D.C.L.Is - 95th Bde advanced on our left & captured their objectives, despite heavy losses. No sight could have been finer than these splendid Corps advancing, at the walk, as if on parade, under a particularly violent artillery fire. Battalion Operatio Orders (Appendix No 1) & Report on the attack (app No. 2) are attached herewith. For the 5th Divisional Cmdrs speech to 13th Bde see under date 8.9.16. Total casualties during the operations are:- Officers: Killed 2Lts A.W.DOUGLAS & A.R.BRINKWORTH. Wounded:- Captain A. ADDENBROOKE, 2Lts POPPLETON C.G., COSTIGAN, R.H., JACOBI W.T., LANGLEY, E.W., SHEPPARD, N.M., BARROW, H. Other Ranks. Killed or missing 141. Wounded 152. Total 293. | ||
So John James Nurse was presumably one of the 141 other ranks reported killed or missing from 3rd September 1916. I don't know which of the companies he was in, but they were all bombarded with machine gun fire. The commanding officer describes everything as splendid or magnificent; it's hard to believe it felt anything like that for the men under fire. The attacks listed in these war diaries were part of the larger offensive known as the Battle of the Somme in which over 300,000 men died.
His death may well have been reported in the local newspapers, but as yet I've not found it. Searching for a surname like Nurse is difficult as too many hits come up for the word nurse, but hopefully one day I'll find one.
The final documentation of John's life is the Army Register of Soldier's Effects. These registers show what monies were owing to the soldier at the time of his death - in the case of John it amounted to 2.11s.7d. His father also received a War Gratuity of £3. By any standard it doesn't seem much for his son's life.
John was buried in Delville Wood Cemetery in Longueval, France. He is also commemorated in the Birmingham Book of Remembrance. He is also probably listed on one of the Birmingham War Memorials, but I've yet to find which one.
It would be really nice to find a photo of John James Nurse to complete his story. He had a lot of siblings, many of whom have descendants, so hopefully someone out there has a photo. Please do get in touch by emailing me at n.rowberry@btinternet.com
In researching John's final days, several sites have been invaluable, so I've included links to some of them here.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission is a great site to start with to give you the basic details you would need to then start digging deeper:
The National Archives at Kew now hold a huge number of records, many of which are available online, but it is well worth a visit down there if you can make it:
The British Newspaper Archive holds digitised images of newspapers from all over Britain. New pages are added weekly and it can be a great way of adding to your research:
If any of the above is of further interest, please feel free to contact me at: n.rowberry@btinternet.com
© Nicky Rowberry 2023
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Peasants to Puddles - My Family History. By Nicky Rowberry