Jean Longstaff has submitted the following:-
Born in Sunderland on 25th February 1888 John Henry Howard was the youngest of six children, Thomas Wardle, named after his father was born in 1872, James in 1876, Arthur in 1879, Horace in 1881, Mary Jane in 1886 and lastly John in 1888. By 1901 the family were living at 8 Brougham Road, Bishopwearmouth and supporting their widowed mother Mary Ann, including James who aged 13 was working as a grocer’s errand boy.
Horace left for Toronto in 1910 and in June 1913 John Henry joined him. On 26th August 1914 John Henry, who had been working as a groom, was amongst the first to answer the government’s call to arms and enlisted at the newly created camp at Valcartier becoming Private 8104 of “E” Company, 2nd Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force. Two months later they landed at Plymouth, having crossed the Atlantic on the SS Cassandra as part of a convoy of 30 ships carrying some 32,000 soldiers as Canada’s first infantry contribution to the war. The 2nd Battalion were based at Bustard Camp on Salisbury Plain, where during all the rigorous training it just seemed to rain continuously.
8th February 1915 saw them at sea again, this time on the SS Blackwell, sailing from Avonmouth to Boulogne and then on to billets at Armentieres, where they also got their first experience of the trenches. In March they relieved the Royal Warwickshire Regiment at Boisgrenier, and when they themselves had been relieved they went back to trench work training and foot inspections.
Their first experience of a battle was at Ypres. By 20th April the battalion were at Vlamertinghe, in positions near the St. Julien road. The war diary states that the attack was “bravely carried out, but owing to the enemy’s machine guns was not successful” and when the battalion pulled out they had lost 543 men, one of whom was Private 8104 John Henry Howard.
John Henry Howard is remembered in Sunderland on S140.041
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 Howard
