John Spouse
Original Marker
CWGC Headstone
Eyemouth War Memorial
Jean Longstaff has submitted the following:-
Born on 8th August 1871 in Eyemouth, Berwickshire, John was the first son of fisherman William Spouse and his wife Sarah Gray, there were already three daughters, Alison, Jane and Sarah, and two further sons, William and Thomas, who were born after the family left Eyemouth. In 1873 the family crossed into England and William and Sarah opened two seafood shops, one in Consett and the other in Tynemouth, where the family lived. In November 1878 when John was only seven years old his mother died from a stroke and the family was then brought up by their father and his sister Isabella, living in Bedford Street, Tynemouth along with grandfather John Spouse.
John did not follow the family tradition by becoming a fisherman, but instead became a teacher in Newcastle, and having finished his training was appointed to Cone Street Boys’ School in 1893. Moving to Hartlepool in 1898 he was appointed Principal of West Hartlepool Pupil Teacher Centre, but returned to Newcastle the following year where he married fellow teacher Margaret Sturgess in St Nicholas’ Cathedral on 30th March 1899. They went on to have two children, Winifred born in 1901 and Frederic Alan in 1905, and John became headmaster of Elwick Road Senior Boys’ School, Hartlepool.
Margaret’s parents emigrated to Canada in 1905 and five years later at the end of May 1910 John, Maggie and the two children left England to join them on their farm in Nelson, British Columbia. Deciding that farming was not the life for them, they moved to Vancouver where John returned to teaching at Victoria High School and then went on to become Assistant Master at the Provincial Normal School for Student Teachers and become an examiner for the Province.
On 16th May 1916 John enlisted at the Central Recruiting Depot in Vancouver, and fearing that his age would cause him to be rejected wrote 1875 instead of 1871 for his date of birth, and became Private 506134 in 6th Field Company, Canadian Engineers. Six months later he was posted to the Engineers Training Depot in Quebec with the rank of Corporal and on 15th November was commissioned as a Lieutenant.
One year later Lieutenant Spouse sailed with the 25th Reinforcement Draft of the Canadian Engineers on board the SS Justicia arriving in Liverpool on 14th May and a posting to CE Training Depot Crowborough, Sussex. Moving to Bexhill where the officers were billeted in a large hotel overlooking the beach, John enjoyed walking along the promenade and occasional band concerts. In January 1918 he was posted to the Canadian Engineers Pool in France and at the end of May, along with 50 reinforcements from the Pool, joined the 7th Battalion at Ligny-Les-Aires near Arras where he supervised the movement of materials to front line troops.
On 20th/21st July Battalion HQ at Grosville was heavily shelled, and on the Sunday Lieutenant Spouse, who was in the Works Office was killed instantly by a shell exploding nearby. The Battalion War Diary states “Lieutenant Spouse has served with the 7th Battalion almost since its inception, having joined us at Ligny-Les-Aires Although the official records show him to have been 43 years of age he was really 48, but he had carried on most creditably since he joined us.”
The funeral took place the next day, with the service being taken by Rev. T.C. Colwell, Chaplain of 2nd CMR Battalion. A firing party of twenty men fired three volleys over his grave in Bellacourt Military Cemetery and the Last Post was sounded.
John Spouse is remembered in the Hartlepools on H115.18 and H115.30 and in West Hartlepool on W111.86 page 30, in Eyemouth on the local war memorial and on the Scottish National War Memorial Roll of Honour of Scots in Canadian Forces in Edinburgh Castle.
In Canada he is remembered on their Virtual War Memorial and in their Book of Remembrance, and his family presented a memorial cross in his honour to St Stephen’s Church, Vancouver.
Scottish National War Memorial
Canadian Book of Remembrance
The Canadian Virtual Memorial
The CWGC entry for Lieutenant Spouse