John Ivan Cheetham
- Family History
- Military History
- Extra Information
- Photographs
John Ivan was the only child of George and Annie Elizabeth Cheetham (née Breedon). His father George was born in Newark, Nottinghamshire, in 1874. In 1891 he was a baker's apprentice, living at the Post Office, Cropwell Butler in the household of Michael Thurlby, a baker and grocer, and his wife Ann. His mother Annie Elizabeth was born in Cropwell Butler in 1872, the daughter of John Breedon and his wife Mary (née Burton m. 1870). In 1891 Annie, a dressmaker, was living with her widowed father at Town Street, Cropwell Butler. Also in the household was John's niece by marriage, Emma Thurlby (b. 1866), the daughter of Eliza (née Burton) and Mark Thurlby (d. 1875). George and Annie Elizabeth were married in 1895 and John Ivan was born the following year. George, a baker, and Annie were living in Cropwell Butler in 1901. Also in the household were their son Ivan (4), Annie's father John Breedon, her cousin Emma Thurlby, Emma's son Bertie Thurlby (b. 1893) and Walter Miller, a baker's apprentice. The family was still living in the village in 1911: George, Annie, John Ivan, who was a wheelwright and joiner's apprentice, John Breedon and Bertie Thurlby, who was assisting in the bake house. Bertie's mother Emma had died in 1907. John's parents were still living in Cropwell Butler in 1939 when the England & Wales Register was compiled. His father George probably died in 1951 and his mother Annie Elizabeth in 1961. John's cousin, Bert Cheetham (sic) served in the Army Service Corps (S4/0410704 Private) and later the Royal Fusiliers (SS.75327 Private). He qualified for the 1915 Star (in theatre April 1915), British War Medal and Victory Medal. Bert survived the war and returned to live in Cropwell Butler.
12th Bn Highland Light Infantry. attd. 205th Coy Royal Engineers (Medal Roll). Formerly 42038 1st Royal Scots Fusiliers. The 1st Bn Royal Scots Fusiliers served in France on the Western Front from August 1914. The 12th (Service) Battalion Highland Light Infantry (City of Glasgow Regiment), a battalion of Kitchener's New Army, was formed in Hamilton in September 1914 and served in France on the Western Front from July 1915. The 205th (1st Dundee) Field Company Royal Engineers was raised in Dundee as part of Kitchener's 5th New Army in March 1915 and served with the 35th Division. John Ivan was killed in action on 8 June 1918 and is buried in Mesnil Communal Cemetery Extension, France (grave ref. I.A.44). He qualified for the British War Medal and Victory Medal. CWGC - History of the Mesnil Communal Cemetery Extension (extract): the village of Mesnil is about 6.5km from Albert. 'Mesnil was close to the Allied front line until September 1916, and again from March to August 1918. The communal cemetery extension was begun in July 1916, and used again as a front-line cemetery in 1918. It was greatly enlarged after the Armistice when graves were brought in from the battlefields of 1916 and 1918 north-east of Mesnil, and from Mesnil Dressing Station Cemtery. The latter, which was west of the village, was used from June 1916 to February 1917 and again from March to July 1918, largely by the 63rd (Royal Naval) Division. It contained 141 graves.' (www.cwgc.org)
CWGC headstone personal inscription: 'When the roll is call'd up yonder I'll be there' - refrain from the hymn ‘When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound and time shall be no more’ CWGC: 'Son of George and Ann Elizabeth Cheetham of Cropwell Butler Nottinghamshire.' Registers of Soldiers' Effects: his father George was his legatee
