Lance Corporal 13029 John (Jack) Hough

Died of Wounds on Sunday, 20th September 1914, age 19.
Commemorated on the La Ferte-Sous-Jouarre Memorial, Seine-Et-Marne, France.

3rd Bn., Worcestershire Regiment. 7th Brigade of 3rd Division.

Son of Thomas and Eliza Hough, of 61, Hurst Lane, Tipton, Staffordshire.
Born: Tipton, Enlisted: Dudley, Resident: Tipton.

First landed France & Flanders, 12th August 1914.
Medal entitlement: 1914 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal.
Soldier's Papers at National Archives did not survive.

Commemorated on the St. Matthew's Memorial.
Commemorated here because he appears on a Tipton memorial.

Link to Commonwealth War Graves Site: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/879131/

Genealogical Data

Birth of John Hough registered June quarter 1895 in Dudley.

1901 Census
41 Hurst Lane, Tipton, Staffs.
Thomas Hough (33, Stationmaster, born not known), his wife Eliza (33, born Cookley), and their 6 children: Eliza (8, born Tipton), Thomas W. (7, born Bilston), John (6, born Coseley), Dorothy (4, born Coseley), Gladys (3, born Coseley), and Henry (2, born Coseley).

1911 Census
65 Hurst Lane, Tipton, Staffs.
Thomas Hough (43, Stationmaster, born Knowle), his wife Eliza (43, born Cookley), and 5 of their 7 children: William (17, Porter, born Ettingshall), John (16, Porter, born Woodsetton), Gladys (13, born Woodsetton), Harry (12, born Woodsetton), and Bernard (9, born Tipton).

Personal Data

At the outbreak of war John Hough was already a serving soldier with the 3rd Worcesters and was one of the original "Old Contemptibles", landing in France on 12th August 1914. Sadly his war lasted no longer than 5 weeks.

After Jack's death, his outstanding army pay and allowances amounted to £5/13/7d (5 pounds, 13 shillings and 7 pence); this was paid to his mother and sole legatee, Mrs Eliza Hough, in June 1915. His War Gratuity was £5/0/0d (5 pounds precisely), this was also paid to his mother in June 1919.

Jack's mother, Mrs Eliza Hough of 51 Hurst Lane, Tipton, applied for a Dependant's Pension on 22nd April 1919. The Pension Card does not give an indication if this was accepted or rejected.

Action resulting in his death

The 3rd Worcesters faced the Germans at Mons on the 23rd August, the odds were overwhelming and retreat was the only option. After two days, II Corps were too exhausted to continue and were to stand and fight - the Battle of Le Cateau on the 26th August. This provided little relief as the retreat continued that night, but the losses inflicted on the Germans meant that they did not harass the retreat for some time.

The retreat continued until 6th September when the French, with some British assistance, managed to halt the German advance at the Battle of the Marne. This success led to a German retreat which continued until 13th September, when they attempted to stabilise their line at the Battle of the Aisne.

The 3rd Worcesters managed to cross the River Aisne at Vailly on 15th September 1914, and secured a foothold only after severe fighting. From 16th to 19th September, they were dug in across a little wooded valley above the village of Vailly, north of the River Aisne.

On the evening of the 19th September a fierce musketry duel broke out all along the line of the 3rd Worcesters. This was initially repulsed, but a second attack on 20th September broke the British line to the left of the Battalion. Two platoons were sent to support that flank and suffered heavily. At the same time German infantry attacked through woodland on the right flank into a gap on the steep hillside.

Three platoons of “D” company were involved in fierce fighting in a dense wood against superior numbers, and had to fall back to form a defensive flank to counter a close firefight at the woodland edge 100 yards distant. Eventually the Germans withdrew, but “D” company had lost over 80 killed and wounded.

An article in the Tipton Herald reported that John Hough was wounded and died from his wounds on the next day; it is likely that thr action on 19th September was when John received his fatal wounds.

The 3rd Worcesters had 17 Other Ranks and 2 Officers killed on the 19th September, and 26 Other Ranks and 1 Officer killed on the 20th, a total of 46 lives lost. 42 of the 46 men killed were never identified and have no known grave. Jack is one of the 42 with no known grave. and is commemorated on the La Ferte-sous-Jouarre Memorial.

Newspaper Cuttings

London Evening News 13th October 1911
THE BOY IMPOSTER.
Sentence on a Youth Who Has Been a Criminal Since His Infancy.
Alfred Johnson, aged seventeen, whose impersonation of another youth named John Hough, caused a dramatic scene in Willesden Police Court last week, appeared on remand today on a charge of travelling on the L. & N.W.R. without a ticket.
Owing to the prisoner’s statements when he was arrested, Mrs Hough came to London from Tipton under the impression that it was her son who was charged, and fainted when she discovered the imposture in court.
The missionary now told the magistrate that he had heard from the real Jack Hough, who told him that the prisoner stole his coat containing letters from home, and his watch and chain. By means of the letters Johnson was able to carry out the impersonation.
A police inspector said the prisoner had a very bad record, and had been a criminal almost since his infancy. He had been birched, sent to reformatories, and several times imprisoned for theft.
The magistrate sentenced him to a month’s hard labour, regretting that this was the longest period the law allowed him to pass.

Tipton Herald December 5th 1914
L/C Jack Hough, son of Mr Hough, Stationmaster, Five Ways Tipton, who enlisted in the Worcesters two years ago, has met his death at the front. Father won £500 just prior to son's death.

Tipton Herald January 2nd 1915
Mr T Hough, of Hurst Lane, Tipton, has won the first prize of £500 in a competition in a popular weekly journal. Mr Hough is the stationmaster of the GWR Five Ways Station.

Tipton Herald January 30th 1915
TIPTON & DISTRICT NOTES.
I regret to learn that the news of the death of Private Hough at the front, son of Mr Hough, Stationmaster of Five Ways GWR station, has been confirmed by a sergeant. He was in the Worcestershire Regiment. He received a bullet in the body, and was removed on a stretcher and subsequently succumbed. No official report of his death has been received by his parents.

Tipton Herald March 13th 1915
TIPTON SOLDIER'S DEATH CONFIRMED.
Mr and Mrs Hough, of 61 Hurst Lane, Tipton, have now received official intimation that their third son, Lance Corporal Jack Hough of the Worcesters died of wounds received at the Battle of the Aisne. In September he was wounded in the stomach by a shell, was removed on a stretcher but died the following day. He apparently wrote a letter to friends in Tipton on the very day that he was killed. The first intimation of their son's death was received by Mrs Hough from a Colour Sergeant of the regiment, but an application to the War Office for fuller particulars elicited the reply that nothing had been heard concerning the affair. Further enquiries at the seat of war brought collaboration of the young soldier's death, and letters that had been written to him subsequent to the date of his death were returned to his friends.
Young Jack Hough had been a popular boy of Tipton Green, and had been educated at Five Ways Council School. He was one of the team which won the School Football Championship Shield, and his love of athletics was further exercised when he joined the Army in May 1912 having only just attained his 17th birthday in April of the same year. He would have been 20 years of age next month. As a boy he was in St Matthew's Church Choir and a member of the Band of Hope. In the 3rd Worcesters he was in the team that won the Tidworth Garrison cross-country race in 1913, and was placed 3rd out of two thousand competitors.
Mr Hough, who is the stationmaster at the Five Ways GWR Station, Tipton, is also further represented in the present campaign by his second son, aged 21, Gunner T W Hough of the Royal Garrison Artillery (21) RGA at present somewhere in England.

Tipton Herald March 27th 1915
MEMORIAL SERVICE.
The late Lance-Corporal Jack Hough, of Hurst Lane, Tipton, who died from wounds received in France, was an old Sunday School scholar, and chorister at St Matthew's Tipton, and it was arranged that the service on Sunday evening last should partake of a memorial character. The special preacher was the Rev J.G. Halford M.A., Vicar of St Luke's, Bilston, who referred to the losses that practically every parish in the land was sustaining as the result of the war, and also touched on the loss sustained by St Matthew's in losing so promising a young man. At the close of the service, the organist played "Dead March" in Saul.

Tipton Herald August 28th 1915
Gunner Hough of the Royal Garrison Artillery is now in the fighting line. He is the eldest son of the stationmaster of the Five Ways G.W.R. Station at Tipton, he and his family having long been resident at Hurst Lane. A younger brother was killed at the front several months ago.

Tipton Herald September 25th 1915
ROLL OF HONOUR.
Hough: 22nd September 1914 at the Aisne. Lance-Corporal John Hough (son of Mr and Mrs Hough, Five Ways, Tipton) aged 19.

Tipton Herald September 22nd 1917
IN MEMORIAM.
HOUGH:- In loving memory of Lance Corporal John Hough, 3rd Worcesters, of Tipton who died of wounds received in action on 22nd September 1914. A sad day remembered by his mother, father, sisters, brothers.

Tipton Herald July 20th 1918
Marriage of his brother Cpl T W Hough at St. Matthew's. 3 years service in France, and now stationed at Bedford.