John was the second son of Thomas and Betsy Cutler of 1 Court, 3 House, Brewery St., Kates Hill, Dudley; he had been born in West Bromwich, though the family had moved to Dudley whilst he was an infant.
He was killed in action on the 25th July 1917, aged 19, when the 11th Royal Warwicks were holding front-line trenches near Kemmel and is buried in Derry House Cemetery No. 2, which is located to the south-east of the town of Wijtschate – a town better known as “Whitesheets” to the men of the BEF. The battalion War Diary records 16 men killed or died of wounds and a further 28 men wounded during their seven-day period in the front-line.
A bachelor, his name is carved on the walls of Dudley's civic war memorial in Priory St, and also on the war memorial in St John’s, Kates Hill.
His elder brother Fred also served, with the Worcestershire Regiment, and is believed to have survived the war.
Note: This story is based on his entry in the book “Dudley’s 1914-1918 War Memorial and the Men commemorated – 2nd Revised & Expanded Edition” by J. B. E. Hale.
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