23887 Lance Corporal John Henry Wallhead of the 10th Battalion Sherwood Foresters (the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment) was born in Sheffield, Yorkshire in 1888; the first-born of his family. His parents were Thomas Wallhead (born Collingham Nottinghamshire 1853) and Clara Emma nee Sanders (born Nottingham 1863). They wed in Nottingham in 1887.
The 1901 census found the 13-year-old schoolboy John Henry living with his parents and siblings at 1 Orange Street, central Sheffield. At the time his father, Thomas Wallhead, was a Groom / Horsekeeper.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) website confirms that John Henry Wallhead was the: “brother of Arthur Wallhead, of 21, West St., Thurcroft, Rotherham.” The 1901 census shows that Arthur Wallhead, also born in Sheffield, was John Henry’s next younger sibling by some three years.
By the time of the 1911 census, John Henry and his parents had moved to Pilsley, near Chesterfield, Derbyshire. His parents were located at Queen Street, Pilsley, his father, Thomas, being now a Colliery Banksman* [*The person in charge of the cages (lifts) at the surface of a colliery].
Now, having married, John Henry himself was found in Waterloo, Lower Pilsley, employed as a General Labourer for a Mechanic. John Henry Wallhead had wed in 1910 at the church of St Mary the Virgin, Pilsley. His bride was Minnie nee Roper (born Pilsley 1891). The couple would have three children, all born in Pilsley: Minnie (junior) in 1911, Hilda in 1912, and Doris in 1914.
John Henry’s service records have not survived. The publication ‘Soldiers Died In The Great War 1914-1919’ (SDGW) gives his birthplace as Crookes (which is a district of Sheffield), his then residence as Pilsley, and his place of enlistment as Rotherham, Yorkshire.
The CWGC and SDGW give the date of death of John Henry Wallhead, as 8 July 1916. SDGW says that he died of wounds. CWGC confirms that his remains are buried in the Gordon Dump Cemetery, Ovillers-La Boisselle, in the Somme Region of France, adding that “Gordon Dump Cemetery is 2 kilometres north-east of Albert”. It may well be relevant to John Henry Wallhead’s fate, that he died during the Battle of the Somme, which had begun on 1 July 1916.
John Henry Wallhead, would have been 28 when he met his fate. He left a widow and three children. He is also commemorated on Pilsley’s war memorial.
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