PEOPLE IN PORTSMOUTH

 

Lives Lived and Lives Lost - Portsmouth and the Great War

JOHN WILLIAM LAWTON
 
The Lawton family did not arrive in Portsmouth until 1887, shortly after John William's parents were married in Worcestershire. There's no obvious reason why they should have chosen to move to the town as there seems to be have been no prior connection to it and his father's trade as a tailor's cutter wouldn't appear to offer him greater job opportunities.
 
The parents were William and Annie (nee Clarence) who had been born in Wolverhampton in 1863 and Malvern in Worcestershire in 1865. The 1891 census recorded them at 12 Drummond Street, Landport, with their child Herbert who had been born in Portsmouth in 1888. The family is missing from the 1901 census and when they re-appeared in 1911 they wwere living at 31 Burlington Road, North End with three younger children, John William (b. 1892), Olive Mandy (b. 1899) and Harold Robert (b. 1901).
 
The 1911 census also noted that John William was then employed as a tailor, possibly in the same business as his father. When the Great War broke out in August 1914 John William enlisted in the 1st/4th Battalion, Hampshire Regiment which was formed that month in Winchester. They sailed for India, landing at Karachi on 11th November. In March 1915 they transferred to Mesopotamia where they remained for the rest of the war. John William did not survive that long, losing his life in September 1916.
 
FURTHER INFORMATION
 
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) list John William Lawton, Private (280806), 1st/4th Battalion, Hampshire Regiment, died 02/09/1916. Buried at Baghdad (north Gate) War Cemetery (Grave Ref: XXI.D.50.). Son of William Lawton, of 31, Burlington Rd., Portsmouth.
 
John Lawton is remembered on the Cenotaph in Guildhall Square. He is not listed in the 'National Roll of the Great War' Section X.
 
Tim Backhouse
March 2015