Private John Weeks

John was born in Great Torrington in 1881. He was the son of George and Elizabeth Weeks, born in 1856 and 1858 respectively. His father was born in Great Torrington and his mother hails from Merton. He was one of twelve children. As he was born shortly after the 1881 census and there is no school record for him, we have to look at the first available information in the 1891 census to get an insight into his life.

By 1891 the family are living in Castle Street, Great Torrington. The household consists of the head of household George, a carpenter; his wife, Elizabeth; the eldest daughter, Maud, a gloveress; as well as John, at this point aged 10 years and his brother and sister, George and Annie, are all scholars. The youngest two daughters, Mary and Gertrude, are pre-school age.

The 1901 census finds the family living at 119 New Street, Great Torrington and the family have expanded somewhat, but largely comprises of the same faces with a few additions. George maintains his job as a carpenter whilst Annie has progressed from school to be part of the gloving trade, much like her elder sister from the last survey. George has also moved on from school and is a paper seller. Brothers and sisters Mary, Gertrude, Lily, William, Bessie are all of school age whilst Nellie and Samuel are infants. John Weeks now holds down employment as a “navvy”.

Newspaper articles from the time show that John lived a troubled life and was often in the gaze of the authorities. The 13th January 1903 Western Times reports that John Weeks was brought before the Borough Justices with a charge of drunk and disorderly. He was fined 5 shillings and costs for his misdemeanour along with a warning that a further appearance would pay the penalty of “the new Act” as this was his second appearance [1]. As we will see shortly, this would not be his last case in front of ‘the beak’.

In September 1909 John would again have a brush with the law. The Western Times’ column highlights the case where he is accused of stealing 40lbs of wheat from his Grandfather’s shed, which was in a field adjacent to Calf Street. His Grandfather, William Passmore had reported the incident to the Police and it was duly recovered by the end of the day in the possession of John Weeks. The prisoner pleaded guilty and a fine of £1 was meted out. [2]

Whilst the 1891 census had the family listed as “Weekes”, the 1911 data records them as “Wecks”. At this point in time, with the family now living at 79 Well Street; however, previous head of the household, George Weeks, is not present. The presumption is that he has passed away, although I am unable to directly evidence this. In which case, the new head is the family’s mother, Elizabeth, who for the first time has an occupation listed as a “house worker”. John Weeks continues his trade as a general labourer and his younger brother, William has followed him into this occupation. Sister Mary remains in the gloving trade whilst the youngest three in the household, Nellie, Samuel and Alice, continue at school.

In addition to the above information in the 1911 census was John’s relationship status remaining single. As far as I can evidence, he remained unmarried. John enlisted into the Devonshire Regiment and was posted with the 2nd Battalion. His enlistment place was Exeter. He held the Service Number 11205.

John Weeks will have seen action at the Battle of Neuve Chapelle. This followed a wretched string of operations over the winter months leading into 1915. With the growing number of British forces now arriving in the region this would be the first assault solely involving their forces.

Although the 2nd Devons were part of the initial fighting as the offensive was launched on 10th March, which saw positives forward gains, the fighting soon became bogged down. March 12th saw a formidable German counter-attack, although the Devons would play no part in its fending off as they were being held in reserve at the time. Despite their position in reserve, they were subjected to heavy bombardment that resulted in a high casualty toll. Although the beleaguered 2nd Devons were pushed forward to help recommence the attack toward the late afternoon, this would eventually be called off.

In the aftermath there were mixed outcomes. On the one hand, the battle could be deemed a success insofar as a reasonable amount of land was captured, including Neuve Chapelle. However, casualties were undeniably high.

John Weeks was killed on March 12th. Specific details into his death are scant, indeed, it would appear that there is a degree of misinformation amongst the information released in the local papers. A number of those that reported John’s death are consistent by reporting that he was killed at Neuve Chapelle and died from wounds that were inflicted on the same day [3]. However, it is also reported that he was attached to the 22nd Ambulance Field Corps [4]. The fact that a number of papers report this is not in itself conclusive as they would have received the same information from the same source. However, this is in stark contrast with official records assigning him to the 2nd Devons. At the time, the 22nd Ambulance Field Corps were embedded with 7th Division who also fought at Neuve Chapelle, so it is feasible that this may have been the case. Again, poor record keeping and miscommunication has caused some confusion.

John’s headstone can be found at the Estaires Communal Cemetery in the Nord region. As previously mentioned, he leaves no spouse or children.

[1] Western Times. January 13th 1903. ‘First Case Under the New Act at Torrington’.

[2] Western Times. September 3rd 1909. ‘Labourer Charged With Robbing His Grandfather’.

[3] Western Times. April 9th 1915. ‘Late District News’.

[4] The Devon & Exeter Gazette. April 9th 1915. ‘Roll of Honour’.