The ‘Derbyshire Courier’ of 16 September 1916 included the following under the above headline:

“Dronfield Woodhouse people will learn with deep regret that Private(sic) Jack Banks has made the supreme sacrifice. The sad news has reached his parents at Cowley [near Dronfield Woodhouse, Derbyshire] where he lived with them before he joined the Army…..He was 25 years of age, and since he was a youth had worked at Hutton’s Sheffield**

It was in September 1914 that he volunteered, with others from the works, to join the colours. He enlisted in the King’s Royal Rifles…… When at home in civil life he made many friends by his pleasant and cheery disposition. Fond of cricket he was a member of the local league team.

The parents have received from his officer the following letter dated 27 August:- ‘I expect by the time you receive this letter you will have heard that your son, Private(sic) J Banks, was accidentally killed in the trenches four days ago…...It may be some way of comfort to you in your misery to know that your son was killed instantaneously, and did not suffer at all. He was shot through the head purely accidentally……I know what a terrible loss it must have been to you, but perhaps you would like to know he was also a great loss to me, because he was the best bomber*, after the corporal in charge of the section, and besides that he was always so cheery and brave….’.”

[*Bomb means hand grenade]

[**William Hutton and Sons manufactured silver plated cutlery. Jack Banks is listed on their roll of honour]

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) website confirms that R/981 Rifleman John “Jack” Banks of the 1st Battalion King’s Royal Rifle Corps was the: “son of the late Arthur and Mary Ann Banks.”

Aged 25 when he died in 1916, Jack Banks was born circa 1891. The publication ‘Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914-1919’ shows that, when he enlisted in Sheffield, Yorkshire, he gave his birthplace as Dronfield Woodhouse, which is in Derbyshire, just south of Sheffield.

Jack Banks died on 23 August 1916 from an unfortunate accident. The only page of his service record that survives is a report of the court of inquiry signed off by Brigadier General Cameron Deane Shute on 24 September that year. The key evidence statements were as follows:-

R/3715 Rifleman John Bell stated – “On August 23rd in the Guillemont trenches about 03.10pm I was going to clean my rifle, and, as it was out of my reach, I asked Rifleman Banks to pass it to me. He picked it up and handed it to me with the butt towards me. I took it from him with both hands, and, although the bolt cover was on, I must have pressed the trigger as it went off and hit Rifleman Banks through the head. Sergeant [Thomas] Millington inspected the rife afterwards and found that it was not mine at all.”

R/3701 Lance Corporal H. Turner stated - “On August 23rd I was standing in the same bay as Riflemen Bell and Banks. I heard Rifleman Bell ask Rifleman Banks to pass him his rifle, then I heard a report and Rifleman Bell said ‘Oh God what have I done’. I saw Rifleman Banks in a sitting position and upon examination found that he was dead. I went into the next bay for stretcher bearers and seeing Sergeant Millington I told him.”

His CWGC entry confirms that John “Jack” Banks died, aged 25, on 23 August 1916 and that his remains are interred in Peronne Road Cemetery, Maricourt: “Maricourt [being] a village in the Somme Region of France ….. 10.5 kilometres from Albert.”