Army Service Corps
John Albert Howell was born in October 1877 at Chipping Campden, the son of Reuben and Eliza Ann Howell. It is possible that he was their only child.
He appears to have left school quite early as in the 1891 Census, when aged 13, he is shown as being an ‘errand boy’. Ten years later his occupation was listed as a ‘station porter’ and he was lodging at Hatfield, near Leominster, Herefordshire. Whilst located there he must have met Dora Stead, whom he married at Leominster on 14 October 1902. The couple had two daughters, the first born almost a year later on 2 October 1903 and the other on 24 January 1906. The 1911 Census shows the family living at Cider Mill Lane, Chipping Campden and John’s occupation was noted as ‘secretary’.
On 19 May 1915 John enlisted into the Army at Cirencester, at the age of 37 years, 210 days. On his enlistment form he stated his address to be Church Street, Chipping Campden and occupation ‘motor driver’; as a result he was posted to the Motor Transport section of the Army Service Corps.
He appears to have received rapid promotion to acting Corporal, whilst based at Bulford, Wiltshire on 10 August 1915 and he became acting (unpaid) Company Quartermaster Serjeant on 29th of that month. His unit transferred to Calne, Wiltshire where he was confirmed as a CQMS on 4 October 1915.
On 22 April 1916 he was posted to the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front. However, his stay there was very short as he returned to the UK on 4 May 1916. The reason for this is not clear but it is suspected that this was due to a deterioration in his medical condition. On 9 September 1916 he was discharged from the Army as ‘no longer physically fit for war service’.
He was granted an Army Pension, of 21 shillings per week, due to having diabetes mellitus: whilst the condition was not viewed as being the result of active service it was considered that this had aggravated it. The pension was for an initial period of six months but as time progressed he attended several medical boards and eventually he was deemed to have 100% disability.
He died on 2 December 1918, aged 41. A recently released Pension Record Card states the cause of death to have been diabetes, influenza and heart failure, aggravated by active service: the death was registered at Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire. He was buried in the churchyard of St James’ Church, Chipping Campden and his grave is now marked by a standard CWGC headstone.
GRA
5 January 2014
(revised 28 July 2021)