John Thomas Dugdale
- Family History
- Military History
- Extra Information
- Photographs
John was born in Retford in 1895 and was the son of John a master painter and paper hanger and Esther Dugdale. John senior was originally from Selby in Yorkshire whilst Esther was from Sutton cum Lound, they had a total of five children the first two, daughters Esther and Alice were born while the family still lived in Selby, the family moved to Retford just after 1890 and went on to have three sons all born in Retford , Lester, John Thomas and Leonard. in the 1911 census the family are living at 18 Moorgate at Retford the two eldest daughters are not living at home however the three sons are there , John is 15 years of age and still at school. His brother Lester also served in the Seaforth Highlanders during the ' Great War' and survived
John enlisted in Retford in May 1915 and served with the 8th Division Ammunition Column of the Royal Field Artillery. He went to France in Ooctober 1915. He was wounded in the right knee by shrapnel and brought back to England and was treated in Milton Military Hospital, Portsmouth where he died on 8th August 1916. His body was returned to his home of Retford where he was buried with full military honours.
The Retford Times 18/8/1916 gave the following report of John's funeral:- The funeral took place on Saturday afternoon at the Retford Cemetery of Gunner John Dugdale,Trench Mortar Section, RFA, who, as briefly recorded in our last issue, died on the previous Tuesday in the Milton Military Hospital, Portsmouth as a result of wounds received in action. The deceased, who was 21 years of age, was wounded in the right knee by shrapnel on July 1st. He was a miner at Manton Pit, Worksop and enlisted in Retford in May 1915. He was sent to France last October. Mrs Dugdale visited her son in hospital at Portsmouth the week before he died. Her eldest son Lance Corporal Lister Dugdale of the Seaforth Highanders, has been in India since May. A nurse at the Milton Hospital Portsmouth in a sympathetic letter to Mrs Dugdlae wrote; 'The night nurse and I have ordered some flowers to be sent to you on Friday. Will you kindly place them near him,he specially asked for ross the night before he passed away. It will be a great consolation to you when I generally say that I sincerely hope when my time of parting comes I shall be as happy as he was, the vision of the angels and Christ stretching out his arms to take him home away from all his suffering is sufficient proof to me. He was quite conscious up to the end. I left him at 8.30am and he passed away about 9.30am . I never left him at all that night. He was so bright and patient in spite of everything. He died a very happy death, in fact I have never seen a patient quite the same.' The Reverend M A Paxton, Vicar of St Saviour's Church, officiated at his funeral and the coffin was borne by six men of the RAMC, billeted in Retford. Some 120 members of the unit joined in the cortege. The last rites were of an impressive character and every manifestation of esteem and respect was shown for the late brave soldier.
