John Henry BOSTOCK (1874)

Born 1874 in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, John Henry BOSTOCK was the eldest of five children. His parents being William BOSTOCK and Maria COOK.

In 1881, John can be found living in Ilkeston with his parents and two sisters, Harriet and Eliza. By 1891 two brothers, William and Samuel, are listed in the census. Sadly, John's mother has died.

John marries Mary Burrows on 3rd April 1899 and by the 1901 census they have a daughter, Elsie. Three more children follow: Ida, John and Samuel. They are still living in Ilkeston at the time of the 1911 census.

John worked as a miner until in January 1915, at the age of forty with four children at home, he enlists in the Army, serving in the Sherwood Foresters. His enlistment record states that he had previously spent four years in the same regiment. He appears to have transferred to the Machine Gun Corps in January 1916 and then in August 1916 John was transferred to the Class W Army Reserve "so long as it is necessary to retain him in employment at Shipley Colliery". He is then recalled to the colours in April 1918 . John survives the war being discharged in December 1918

John dies in 1933.