Sergeant John Hall 1/8th Battalion D.L.I.
Menin Gate Memorial
John Elliott Dilkes was born on the 6th November 1896, son of Peter and Sarah (nee Elliott) Dilkes at 1 Swinburne Place, Birtley. In the 1911 Census the family are living at Wingate, but would return to live in Birtley - 2 May Street and 20 Neville Crescent.
Father Peter was employed as a brick burner, and John is a coal miner. John was the eldest child and he has two sisters Nellie and Ethel and a younger brother, Robert. Sadly sister Hannah died in 1911 aged 12.
He was killed on the 26th April 1915 aged 18.
It appears from information derived from the Chester-le-Street Chronicle 25/09/1914 that John may have enlisted under the name of James W. Dilkes, of 2 May Street, Birtley. He would have been 17 years old.
"A LUCKY SORT OF LAD" Chester-le-Street Chronicle 18/06/1915:
Sergeant James Armstrong writes home to his brother-in-law, Alex Henry, with details of John Dilkes' death at the front.
In the evening we were ordered to take a trench. We took it, and just as we were getting into it I saw Jim Dilkes get wounded. I could not get to him at once, but had to wait until we got the order to retire. He was hit in the thigh. He asked me for a drink, and just as I lifted his head to put the bottle to his mouth he got shot in the cheek. He said: I am done Jim, so I had to run for my own life, for the Germans were not more than fifty or sixty yards away…
James Armstrong was killed on the 27th May 1918.
Another letter written by Sgt. John Hall [see photo above] of the 8th Battalion at the same time is also thought to describe the same incident:
Mother, if any one had told me I could have stood these sights I would have told them they were telling lies. There was one lad in our company got wounded, and another lad was holding him up in his arms, giving him a drink, and he was shot again through the head, but the poor lad died.
Newcastle Evening Chronicle 1915:-
"DILKES - Killed in action, April 26, aged 18 years and six months, Private John Dilkes, 8th D.L.I., dearly beloved son of Peter and Sarah Dilkes, May Street, Birtley (better known as Sarah Elliott, of Ouston). Deeply mourned by father, mother, sisters, and his little brother Robert."
Research: Jean Atkinson
Additional research: James Pasby
Sources: The 1/8th Battalion Light Infantry War History, (page 238)
