Born in 1882, Lived in Aiskew, Killed in action on 7 August 1915 aged 33, Buried in the Lala Baba Cemetery, Turkey.

John William Buckle was the son of Charles Buckle and Emma Sykes who married towards the end of 1881 in the Bedale area. Charles was a mason from Aiskew, and Emma a domestic servant from Romanby. The young couple lived in Aiskew after they married, where their first child, John William, was born a year later. The following year Emma gave birth to a daughter, and on 2 November 1883 John and his infant sister were taken to the parish church in Bedale for baptism.

Four more children were born into the family by the time the census return was made in 1891. The five younger children were at home in Aiskew with their parents, John was living with his paternal grandparents, in their cottage in the same village. 

As Charles and Emma’s family grew John remained with his grandparents and in 1901 when the next census was taken, his younger brother, Henry was also living there. John had joined the family business and was assisting his grandfather as a joiner/carpenter.

John’s grandparents both died before the next census return was made and the two boys began to make their own way in life. Henry moved to Sunderland, where he worked as a draper’s assistant, but at the time of writing John as not been identified on the 1911 census. 

With the outbreak of war John was quick to volunteer his services, and enlisted in Atherton, probably in August 1914. He joined the Yorkshire Regiment and was posted to 6th (Service) Battalion which had been formed in Richmond and moved to Belton Park near Grantham for initial training. In April 1915 the men moved to Witley Camp in Surrey.

On 3 July the battalion was mobilised for war embarked at Liverpool for overseas service - they sailed to Mudros and then to Suvla Bay where they disembarked on 6 August.  The battalion was immediately tasked with capturing nearby Lala Baba hill and attacking a smaller hill on the other side of a dry salt lake.

The men were tired from rigorous training, and many were suffering from the after effects of a recently administered cholera inoculation. They encountered heavy fire but carried on and managed to capture the hill, despite suffering the loss of most of their officers and almost a third of the men. 

One of those men lost was Lance Corporal John William Buckle. He was buried in the nearby Lala Bala Cemetery, along with several of his comrades killed on the same day. After the war his father paid for the inscription ‘At Rest’ on his headstone.

For his service to his country, John earned the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and the Victory Medal. His accrued pay, and £4 war gratuity was paid to his father, Charles. 

John’s mother died in February 1929, and when the 1939 Register was taken, John’s father, Charles was still living in Aiskew with his daughter Mary. Charles died in May 1941 and was buried in St Gregory’s church yard.

[John’s younger brother, Percy, served in the Royal Navy in WW1, earning the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. He later joined the police, and In 1939 was living and working at the police station in Eston, where he was acting sergeant. He died in 1959.]