1024001 Private John Joseph French (Regimental Number 63

Private John Joseph French (Regimental Number 63),
having no known last resting-place, is commemorated
beneath the Caribou in the Beaumont-Hamel Memorial
Park.
His occupation prior to military service recorded as that of a boiler-maker working for a
weekly wage of $10.00, John Joseph French was a recruit of the First Draft.
Having presented himself for medical examination at the
Church Lads Brigade Armoury in St. John’s on August 25 of
1914, he then enlisted a week later – engaged at the daily
private soldier’s rate of $1.10 - on September 2. Attesting a
month later again, on October 2, Private French embarked the
following afternoon, onto the Bowring Brothers’ vessel
Florizel (right – courtesy of Admiralty House Museum). On the
following day the ship sailed to its rendezvous off the south
coast with the convoy carrying the 1st Canadian Division
overseas.
In the United Kingdom Private French
trained with the Battalion: firstly in
southern England on the Salisbury
Plain; then in Scotland at Fort George
(right); at Edinburgh Castle; and for
three months at Stobs Camp near the
Scottish town of Hawick.
(Far right above: The Newfoundland Regiment parades at Stobs Camp and is presented
with its Colours on June 10, 1915. – courtesy of Reverend Wilson Tibbo and Mrs. Lillian
Tibbo)
At the beginning of August, Private French was transferred with the four senior
Companies, ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’ and ‘D’, to southern England, to Aldershot, for some two weeks of
final training and a royal inspection in preparation for active service at the eastern end of
the Mediterranean Sea at Gallipoli.
‘E’ and ‘F’ Companies, the last arrivals, were instead sent to the new Regimental Depot.
There they were to form the nucleus of the newly-formed 2nd (Reserve) Battalion.
It was likely while at Aldershot that, on or about August 13, Private French was prevailed
upon to re-enlist, on this occasion for the duration of the war*.
(continued)
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*At the outset of the War, perhaps because it was felt by the
authorities that it would be a conflict of short duration, the
recruits enlisted for only a single year. As the War progressed,
however, this was obviously going to cause problems and the
men were encouraged to re-enlist.
On August 20, 1915, Private French took ship on board the
requisitioned passenger liner Megantic (right above) for
passage to the Middle East and to the fighting in Gallipoli
where, a month later – of which two weeks had been spent
billeted at the British barracks at Abbassia, near the Egyptian
capital, Cairo - on September 20, 1st Battalion landed on the
beach at Suvla Bay on the Gallipoli Peninsula.
(Right: Newfoundland troops on board a troop-ship anchored
at Mudros, either Megantic on August 29, Ausonia on
September 18, or Prince Abbas on September 19 – Whichever
the case, they were yet to land on Gallipoli. – from Provincial
Archives)
(Right: ‘Kangaroo Beach’, where the men of 1st Battalion
landed on the night of September 19-20, 1915, is in the
distance at the far end of Suvla Bay. The remains of a landingcraft are still clearly visible in the foreground on ‘A’ Beach. –
photograph from 2011)
(Right: a century later, the area, little changed from those faroff days, of the Newfoundland positions at Suvla, and where
Private French served during the fall of 1915 – photograph
from 2011)
Private French was evacuated from Suvla on October 10, 1915,
likely being ferried to the Greek island of Lemnos, before
being embarked onto His Majesty’s Hospital Ship Neuralia
(right), to be admitted on the 15th into the 5th Canadian
Stationary Hospital at the Cavalry Barracks, Abbassia, Cairo,
for treatment for a venereal disease.
Following treatment he was discharged from hospital to duty
on November 11, 1915, duty which was served in the same
British depot and barracks at Abbassia, from where he had
departed only two months previously.
(Right: The British destroy their supplies during the final
evacuation of the Gallipoli Peninsula. The Newfoundlanders
were among the last to leave on two occasions. – photograph
taken from the battleship Cornwallis from Illustration)
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When the British evacuated the entire Gallipoli Peninsula in
January of 1916, 1st Battalion was sent to Alexandria, arriving
there on the 15th of that month. From there the
Newfoundlanders were transferred, almost immediately, south
to Suez where they were to await further orders. To that point
it seems that the theatre of the future posting of 29 th Division
was still uncertain.
(Right above: Port Tewfiq at some time just before the Great
War – from a vintage post-card)
Private French reported to duty with his parent unit at Suez on
January 26. Some seven weeks later, on March 14, the officers
and men of 1st Battalion embarked through Port Tewfiq at the
southern end of the Suez Canal onto His Majesty’s Transport
Alaunia for the voyage to the French Mediterranean port of
Marseilles, en route to the Western Front.
(Right above: British troops march through the port area of the French city of Marseilles. –
from a vintage post-card)
Some three days after the unit’s disembarkation on March 22, the
Battalion’s train arrived at the small provincial town of PontRémy. It had been a cold, miserable journey, the blankets
provided for them travelling unused in a separate wagon. Detraining at the station at two in the morning the Newfoundlanders
still had a long march ahead of them before they would reach
their billets at Buigny l’Abbé.
(Right: the Somme seen from the bridge at Pont-Rémy as it flows
through the community – photograph from 2010)
It is doubtful that any of those tired soldiers paid much attention
to the slow-moving stream flowing under the bridge that they
passed on their way from the station. Some three months later the
Somme would be a part of their history.
On April 13, 1st Battalion marched into the village of
Englebelmer – perhaps some fifty kilometres in all from PontRémy - where the Newfoundlanders were billeted, welcomed
re-enforcements on the 15th and, on the evening of that same
day, were introduced into the British lines of the Western
Front, there to be immediately set to work to improve the
communication trenches.
The Newfoundlanders would also soon be preparing for the British campaign of that
summer, to be fought on the ground named for that meandering river, the Somme.
(continued)
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(Preceding page: part of the re-constructed trench system in the Newfoundland Memorial
Park at Beaumont-Hamel – photograph from 2007(?))
The son of Benjamin, lumber surveyor (deceased in 1917), and
Bridget French of Brigus - later of 12 Alexander Street
(address of son William) in St. John’s - his own address at the
time of his enlistment recorded as 2, Patrick Street, in St.
John’s - he was also brother to William, Kenneth, Minnie(?)
and Alice(?).
Private French was reported as wounded and missing on July
1, 1916, while serving with ‘A’ Company during the fighting at
Beaumont-Hamel on the first day of the Somme. Some six
months later, on December 31, he was officially presumed
dead.
John Joseph French had enlisted at the age of twenty-five.
(Right top: looking from the British lines down the hill to Y
Ravine Cemetery which today stands atop part of the German
front-line defences - The Danger Tree is to the right in the
photograph. – photograph from 2009)
(Right above: a grim, grainy image purporting to be
Newfoundland dead awaiting burial after Beaumont-Hamel –
from …)
(Right: The War Memorial in Brigus honours the
sacrifice of Private French. – photograph from
2011)
(The photograph of Private French is from the
Provincial Archives.)
Private John Joseph French was entitled
to the 1914-1915 Star, as well as to the
British War Medal (centre) and to the
Victory Medal (Inter-Allied War Medal)
(right).
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