PRIVATE JOHN HENRY TURNER
MIDDLESEX REGIMENT
24TH AUGUST 1918 AGE 19
BURIED: DOUCHY-LES-AYETTES BRITISH CEMETERY, FRANCE
This is another strangely fatalistic inscription but unlike yesterday's I'm pretty sure that Private Turner's father knew what he was saying - you do never know what the future will bring At the time of the 1911 census, Mr and Mrs Turner had had seven live births in their twelve years of marriage, but in 1911 only two of these children were still alive: John Henry, 12 and his younger brother, Arthur, 9. I hope Arthur survived the war.
John Henry was killed in action on 24 August 1918 when the 56th (London) Division captured Summit Trench and attempted to go on and take the village of Croisilles. The village, however, turned out to be far more heavily defended than reports had led the Londoners to believe.