10th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment
The CWGC Register shows the date of death for Private Meadows as being 24 August 1917, a date which is also shown on his standard CWGC headstone. However, the Register of Birth, Marriages & Deaths clearly shows that death was registered during the third quarter of 1916 and the church burial records show that burial took place on 24 August 1916, when he was aged 34. This must put in question the date shown in the CWGC records.
John Meadows was born in Twyning in 1881, the son of Robert Meadows (a labourer) and his wife Jane (née Humphries): the couple had nine children, of whom eight had survived up to the date of the 1911 Census. He was baptised on Christmas Day 1881.
John attested for military service (a three year short service engagement) on 15 September 1914. He stated his occupation as a labourer, his age to be 33 and the fact that he was a single man, with no previous military service. At the time of the 1901 Census John was living in Salperton, working as a farm labourer.
Following attestation, he joined the Gloucestershire Regiment at Bristol on 21 September 1914 and was posted to the 10th (Service) Battalion. Time was spent training on Salisbury Plain before the battalion transferred to billets in Cheltenham in November 1915.
In January 1915 he was admitted to Cheltenham Hospital with diabetes. Due to his condition he was discharged from the Army ‘as medically unfit’ on 12 February 1915. He applied for an Army Pension, claiming that he was the sole supporter of a crippled father and mother: he stated his address to be The Nut Orchard, Twyning. A Medical Board in May 1916 acknowledged that due to his condition John Meadows was seen as having on 50% capacity in the labour market and that the diabetes was growing worse and incurable. However, the diabetes was not due to or aggravated by service. His application was declined. His father appears to have died in February 1917.
It appears very likely that diabetes was responsible for John Meadows death, aged 34: his death certificate would confirm this and the exact date and place of death. He is buried in Twyning (St. Mary Magdalene) Churchyard.
Notwithstanding the fact that he saw no action in the Great War and his Army service lasted less than six months, John Meadows’ name appears on the Twyning War Memorial.
Researched by Graham Adams 24 March 2018