He was born in Spennymoor the son of William and Sarah Askew. William worked on the railways. In 1901 the family was at Shincliffe. In 1911 John William was a Page Boy at the Station Hotel at Newcastle, whilst his family were living at Boldon Colliery. John William enlisted in Newcastle.
John William Askew is not remembered on a local War Memorial but is remembered at Newcastle in NUT068 the Battalion History.
