1791: Pte John Richard Naylor (photographs; casualty details; memorial)
John was born December 10 1897. Before the war he was apprenticed for four years with Mr Francis Willey, Wool Merchants of Bradford. He was a prominent member of Menston Parish Church Choir and on the 22nd June 1911, he was presented by the Vicar of Menston, the Reverend E.R. Dawe, with a beautiful prayer book in commemoration of his fine singing of the solo in the Coronation Anthem in Menston Parish Church on that date.
He went to France on his 20th birthday, December 10 1917. He was captured May 27 1918 at Rancourt. (Rancourt is a small village on the main N17 road between Bapaume and Peronne) .
As a POW he worked behind enemy lines and was injured there by our own fire. He died on August 20 1918 from a broken leg and a haemorrhage. John died in a German field hospital for officers, formerly a convent. He was buried the next day.
He is interred in the British and Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery at St. Erme. The reference is: NAYLOR J R United Kingdom Private 67275 Machine Gun Corps (Infantry) 20/08/1918 B. 4.
The memorial in God’s Acre, Menston states:
‘Also of John Richard, eldest son of W. and A.M. Naylor, born December 10 1897, and died prisoner of war at Rancourt, August 20 1918, and was interred at St. Erme Military Cemetery August 21st 1918.’
