1st Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment
John James Murray was born 1890 in Cardiff, the son of John and Mary Murray. John’s father was born in Pembroke Dock, an important army base during the 19th Century, so John may have been born into a military family.
John became a regular soldier before the outbreak of the Great War. In the 1911 Census, he is listed as serving in India and Ceylon with the 1st Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, and promoted to the rank of Corporal, before arriving in France in August 1914 at Le Cateau. After 1914, John was involved in the Second Battle of Ypres. In 1916 he saw action on the Somme, going into the attack in the area of Beaumont-Hamel on the first day of the battle. He was taken prisoner in an attack in the Arras Offensive of April 1917, remaining captive in a German prisoner of war camp until the end of the war. He was repatriated in November 1918 and returned to his home in Stow-on-the-Wold.
Having consulted the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) POW records, I identified a G Murray, Service Number 610 of the Warwickshire Regiment, who was repatriated on the SS Prince George arriving in Hull on 29 November 1918. The record may be that of John James Murray.
John died on 14 December 1919, aged 29 years, of pulmonary tuberculosis (phthisis), contracted while a prisoner of war, and was buried on 17 December in Stow-on-the-Wold Cemetery. He is commemorated in St Edward’s Church, Foss Way, Stow-on-the-Wold. The memorial, which is cut directly onto the church wall, shows the casualties, their ages, and dates of death. He was one of 45 men from Stow who died in WW1.
Researched by Baden Russell 7 June 2021