Pte John Beddall had been born in Netherton, and he lived at No. 32 High Street, Kates Hill, Dudley; it is believed that he volunteered in November 1914.
Wounded whilst on the Gallipoli Peninsula, he was being conveyed to hospital but succumbed to his wounds whilst aboard a Hospital Ship on 9th January 1916. He was presumably given a sailor’s funeral and his body consigned to the sea, as his name is recorded on the Helles Memorial to the Missing.
Closer to home, his name is on Dudley's civic war memorial in Priory St, and also on the war memorial in St John’s, Kates Hill. The Dudley Chronicle gave the information that he was the fourteenth man from St John’s to have given his life for his country. He left behind a widow and a young daughter, Alice to whom a pension was paid until her 16th birthday. His widow re-married within the year.
Source: This is an extract from the book “Dudley’s 1914-1918 war memorial and the men commemorated” by J. B. E. Hale.
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