Photo: Brian Chandler

Alnwick Gazette Almanack 1916

Jean Longstaff has submitted the following:-

The eldest son of joiner Nicholas Francis Grey and his first wife Elizabeth Brewis (nee Robson), John Grey was born on 27th April 1882 at Felton, Northumberland, his younger brother Thomas was born a year later, and their mother died in 1890. After her death Nicholas and his two sons moved to live with his widowed mother Mary, a grocer on Holy Island, until he married Margaret Davidson, also of Felton in the autumn of 1891. Margaret died two years later and in 1894 Nicholas married for a third time, and in 1896 Elizabeth bore him another son, William.

At the turn of the century John enlisted in the 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards as Private 3662 and remained with them for three years serving in the Boer War and then remaining on the reserve list for nine years.

In the spring of 1904 John, who was now working as a stonemason, married Margaret Dobson, also of Felton, and she bore him two sons, John Thomas in 1907 and Nicholas in 1910. February 1911 saw John arriving in Canada on board the SS Lake Manitoba and when Margaret and the boys, who had been living with her parents in Felton, joined him in December 1912 the family settled in Calgary, Alberta.

At the outbreak of war John enlisted in Ottawa on 26th August 1914 becoming Private 257 in No.1 Company Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry. The regiment sailed from Quebec as part of a convoy on 27th September 1914, and by 27th October they occupied a camp on Salisbury Plain. In early November they joined the 27th Division of the British Expeditionary Force at Winchester and sailed with them for France, arriving on 21st December making PPCLI the first Canadian infantry regiment to enter the war.

The regiment took their place in the much waterlogged trenches at “Dickiebush” on 6th January 1915, and remained in the area for several months. On 20th March 1915 Private Grey was wounded in the chest during action at St. Eloi. and dangerously ill was evacuated to hospital in England, where recovering from his wound he caught pneumonia and didn’t return to France until the end of May.

Taken ill in July he was again evacuated to England and admitted to the Royal Victoria Hospital at Netley outside Southampton with gastritis. Transferred to the London War Hospital at Epsom at the end of September, he became seriously ill and was visited by his father. He died on 14th October 1915 and was buried in Felton five days later. His wife and children did not return to England until early January 1916, returning to Canada post war.

Morpeth Herald 05/11/1915 carries a brief obituary:

The grim reality of war was brought home to Felton on Tuesday, October 19th, when the remains of Pte. John Grey, who died in hospital were brought to their last resting-place in his native village with full military honours and amid universal tokens of sorrow. Pte. Grey was a member of the Canadian Light Infantry, and had returned from France a few months ago, wounded and gassed. He leaves a wife, the daughter of Mrs Dobson, Shotlaw, and a family of young children. Much sympathy is felt for them, and also for Mr. N. Grey, his father.

This photo appears in the Alnwick Gazette Almanack for 1916 with the report: "October 19th: Military funeral of Pvte. John Grey at Felton."
The death notice adds:
"They miss him most who love him best, ever remembered by his wife and two sons."

John Grey is remembered in Felton on F14.01 and F14.02

In Canada he is remembered on their Virtual War Memorial and in their Book of Remembrance

Canadian Book of Remembrance
Canadian Virtual Memorial
Felton Roll of Honour
The CWGC entry for Private Grey