FOSBROOKE J L

From Hoole History and Heritage Society

FOSBROOKE, John Lee

Regiment: 2nd Bn. Royal Fusiliers

Rank: Private

Number: 3612

Died: 22 November 1915

Aged: 18

Buried/ Memorial: Boulogne Eastern Cemetery

Address: Formerly of ‘Avondale’, Hoole Lane, Chester

Chester Chronicle 04 December 1915

DIED IN FRANCE

FORMER HOOLE SCHOLAR

We regret to learn that Mr. And Mrs. J. Fosbrooke, formerly of “Avondale” Hoole Lane, Chester, and now living at 39, Somerleyton Road, Brixton, London, have received sad intelligence that their son, Private John Lee Fosbrooke, has died from wounds in a hospital in France. Their Chester acquaintances will deeply sympathise with the bereaved parents in their sorrow.

Private Fosbrooke had many friends in Chester, and especially in Hoole, where as a boy he attended All Saints’ Day School and Sunday School. When the family left Chester for London he became a clerk in a London office, but when the war broke out he was one of the many patriotic young Englishmen to leave the pen for the sword. Joining the 2nd London Regiment, Royal Fusiliers, he left England for France on August 18th, and it was on November 4th, while on guard in the front trenches, facing the Germans, that he was struck by a shell and seriously wounded in the left side. He was invalided to Boulogne Hospital where, happily, his parents were able to visit him, before he passed peacefully away on November 22nd. They also had the mournful satisfaction of being present at his funeral at Boulogne Cemetery. Deceased, who was only 18 years and two months old, was liked and esteemed by all who knew him, and his death has come as a great blow to his parents.”

The Census of 1911 shows John as a 13-year-old at 'Avondale' Hoole Lane with father John, a commercial traveller, mother Annie and brother Alan.