Jean Longstaff has submitted the following:-
Despite the date given on his attestation papers as 1879, John was actually born in 1882, the third of thirteen living children born to marine engine worker Richard and his wife Martha (nee Chisholm) in Hartlepool.; his siblings were Charles, Elizabeth, Rebecca, James, Hannah, Ethel, Winifred , Richard, Norman, Martha , Olive, and Emily. By 1901 John was working as an apprentice moulder, but two years later gave that up to join the Royal Navy. According to the Royal Navy Register of Seaman’s Service, his first ship was the Pembroke 2 which he joined in May 1903, and his last was the Algerine on which he served in October 1910.
In September 1913 John arrived in Quebec, and a year later answered the call to arms and enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force at Valcartier on 23rd September 1914. He named his mother in Everard Street, Hartlepool as his next of kin, gave his job as a moulder, mentioned his eleven years in the Royal Navy, but gave no address. Becoming Private 16791 he was attached to the 7th Battalion and sailed to England on the SS Ruthenia on 4th October 1914. His service record is very sparse, with no details of where he was based or when he arrived in France. His paybook will dated February 1915 left everything to a friend Miss Mary Mills, King’s Arms, Watford, Hertfordshire.
Private 16791 was killed in action in an attack near to St. Julien on 24th April 1915 and it was reported by the enemy that he was buried at the crossroads on the Pollacapelle/Ypres road. He is commemorated on the Menin Gate memorial.
Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail 12/05/1915 records:-
Laybourn – Killed in Action, date unknown, Private John Laybourn, of 7th Battalion Canadians, dearly beloved son of Richard and Martha Laybourn 17, Everard Street Hartlepool – He answered his call and fell like a British soldier.
John Laybourn is remembered in Hartlepool on H115.09 and H115.30 page 26 and as John Laybourne on H115.73
He is also remembered in Canada on their Virtual War Memorial and in their Book of Remembrance.
Canadian Book of Remembrance
Canadian Virtual War Memorial
The CWGC entry for Private Laybourn
