Help identifying John Lane

[benfraoch]

I have very little information about my great grandfather John Lane prior to his marriage in 1905 at the age of 24. I can only trace him to this point.  However a new piece of information has come to light that he died in 1917 supposedly in Gallipoli.

I have looked at the Commonwealth War Graves site and the only John Lane that died in 1917 at the age of 36 was this one.

http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=782365

LANE, JOHN  Lance Serjeant East Surrey Regiment "A" Coy. 1st Bn.
Date of Death:    18/07/1917   Arras Memorial

Can anyone advise as to what I can do to find out more about this man?

I hope that is enough info to go on.

thanks  Linda

[neil1821]

Hi Linda,
If you're looking at CWGC, don't forget those who are listed just with an initial "J" rather then John. Also don't forget those who are listed as age unknown.

Is John Lane his full name?
If he died in 1917 Gallipoli is not a possibility as the Dardanelles campaign was over by Jan 1916, but check other years as well.

Do you have a place of birth and/or place of residence for your John Lane?
Hopefully someone can look up details of this soldier in SDGW and compare details.

[benfraoch]

Hi Neil

If you're looking at CWGC, don't forget those who are listed just with an initial "J" rather then John. Also don't forget those who are listed as age unknown.

Is John Lane his full name?
If he died in 1917 Gallipoli is not a possibility as the Dardanelles campaign was over by Jan 1916, but check other years as well.

Do you have a place of birth and/or place of residence for your John Lane?
Hopefully someone can look up details of this soldier in SDGW and compare details.

I followed your suggestion and copied all the J's, Johns and John Charles into a spreadsheet which gives me thirty casualties all ages including the unknowns from 1914 - 1919.

None appear to have died at Gallipoli as far as I can tell from the cemetery/memorial name.

I don't have a place of birth for him, but he was married in East Ham, London and his wifes death in 1913 was registered in West Ham, London - I don't know if that helps with regards to a regiment?

Is this a lost cause?  I will need to wait for the 1911 census to find the family and see where he was born.

Thanks for your suggestions.

Linda

[neil1821]

Ok, well those thirty names are a good starting point.
With luck you can eliminate a few by virtue of the additional information given on CWGC (eg a wife's name, when you know your John Lane was a widower by then). If age is factored in too perhaps others can be eliminated (although I would leave 5 years leeway either side of your g-grandfather's supposed age).

Then a check against the records in SDGW will hopefully give places of birth/residence for some, so you can see if any look more likely than others.

Neil

[benfraoch]

Hi Neil

I have waded through them all.  Nothing has jumped out at me unfortunately.  Most of the unknown ages don't have next of kin, and the rest didn't match any of the information I have.

The other thing about the John Lane in my first message is that his next of kin is his brother.  I have no idea if my John Lane has a brother, but as a widower they couldn't have put his wife's name could they?  All four of the children were very young when he died and I don't expect childrens details would appear anywhere on a war record.

Linda

[spof]

Hi Neil



None appear to have died at Gallipoli as far as I can tell from the cemetery/memorial name.

I don't have a place of birth for him, but he was married in East Ham, London and his wifes death in 1913 was registered in West Ham, London - I don't know if that helps with regards to a regiment?

Is this a lost cause?  I will need to wait for the 1911 census to find the family and see where he was born.

Thanks for your suggestions.

Linda

Hi Linda,

As your link to CWGC shows, he was in the Eat Surrey Regiment. Here is a link to his Medal Index Card from the National Archives which you can download for £3.50

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/details-result.asp?Edoc_Id=3471437&queryType=1&resultcount=1
 with notes to help explain it

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/medals.asp

and for more information on the East Surrey Regiment, look here:

http://www.regiments.org/regiments/uk/inf/031ESurr.htm

Do you have his marriage details? Or his parents names so we can have a look on the 1901 and 1891 censuses.

Glen

[benfraoch]

Hi Glen,

Unfortunately for me John got married in 1905 so couldn't locate him in 1901 through his wife Edith.  Found her and her family with no trouble.  On wedding cert his father is named as Charles occupation Carpenter.  Its a shame English wedding certs don't give place of birth isn't it.

Thanks for the links I will follow up on the medal card later if he looks like the best candidate.  I will have a look at the East Surrey Regiment link too. 

Thanks

Linda

[spof]

Hi Linda,

I've had a think about this and assume that he would only join the East Surrey Regiment if he was either local or had family connections and with his age in 1917 being 36, he would have been born around 1880-82.

FreeBMD has these birth entries for "John Lane" in the south or south east of England. It is unlikely that Charles would have moved much with a new baby so if you think some of these are less likely to be your John e.g. those born in Romsey or Sheppey, we only need to get onto the free Familysearch 1881 census

http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp?PAGE=census/search_census.asp

to hopefully find Charles.

Here is the list of births



Births Mar 1880   
LANE    John           Epsom       2a   4   
LANE    John            Romsey       2c   87   
       
Births Sep 1880   
LANE    John Bramwell         Tunbridge    2a   611   
LANE    John James         Lambeth    1d   473   

Births Dec 1880   
LANE    John Davis         Shoreditch    1c   117   
Lane    John Holme         Mile End Old Town    1c   469
   
Births Mar 1881   
LANE    John            Holborn    1b   845   
LANE    John Southgate         Shoreditch    1c   85   
   
Births Jun 1881   
LANE    John            Westminster    1a   497   
LANE    John George         St. Olave    1d   295   
   
Births Sep 1881   
LANE    John Thomas         Sheppey    2a   854   

Births Dec 1881   
Lane    John            Marylebone    1a   534   
Lane    John Alexander         Croydon    2a   268   
Lane    John Richard         Lewisham    1d   1113   
    

Births Mar 1882   
LANE    John James         Whitechapel    1c   374   
LANE    John Reginald J         Stratford    6d   651   

Births Jun 1882   
Lane    John Frederick         Hackney    1b   554   
Lane    John Robert         St. Geo. East    1c   389   
Lane    John Walter         Hendon    3a   170   

Births Sep 1882   
Lane    John Bolas         Brentford    3a   109   

Births Dec 1882   
Lane    John Joseph         St Olave    1d   195   
Lane    John Joseph         St. Olave    1d   196   

[mmm45]

SDGW Gives him as Born St James London Enlisted Kingston Upon Thames.

Theres also 9564 pte John Lane KIA F+F 14/2/15 born Norwood enlisted Kingston on thames 2nd batt east surreys

Ady