Johnnie Whitaker died of wounds on this day in 1918
Johnnie Whitaker was born in Addingham, Cheshire in 1894.
His parents were Jonathan (a labourer from Holbeck) and Emily (a housekeeper from Ruthin, North Wales).
Johnnie was the eldest of six in 1911 (three boys and three girls), with the family living in a 3 roomed dwelling at 64 Main Street, Addingham.
John was employed as a silk spinner by Lister & Co at Burnside Mill, Addingham, Yorkshire. The Listers owned three of the five mills in Addingham at the end of the 19th century. Soon after the outbreak of war, he enlisted in the local territorial artillery unit , 'The Wharfedale Howitzers', the nickname for the 4th West Riding Howitzer Brigade, a Territorial Force unit of the Royal Field Artillery.
John arrived on the Western Front in early 1916. He was severely wounded near Ypres on 12 May 1918.
He died of his injuries in a Casualty Clearing Station near Poperinge the following day and is buried in Nine Elms British Cemetery, Poperinge. He is also commemorated on the Addingham War Memorial to the Glorious Dead.
776147 Trumpeter John Whitaker, 245th Brigade, 49th (West Riding) Division, Royal Field Artillery