John Hall

Story:
John Hall was born in 1884 in Spetisbury, Dorset, and baptised there on 11th May, 1884. He was the son of Daniel Hall, a Farm Carter, and Mary Hall (née Dennis). On 7th October, 1905 he married Emily Harris at Sixpenny Handley. They had two children, both boys. John's mother died in 1907 and his father in 1910. At the time of the 1911 Census, John was working as a Farm Labourer and living at Dean End, Woodcutts, Sixpenny Handley, Dorset with his wife and two children. He enlisted in Wimborne, Dorset, on 2nd February, 1915 and joined the 1st Battalion of the Dorsetshire Regiment (Service No. 12893) and at the time of his death held the rank of Lance Corporal. He served in Salonika as well as France & Flanders and was awarded the Victory, British War and 1915 Star medals. On 21st April 1918 he died at the 6th General Hospital, Rouen, France, from the effects of gunshot wounds and of an earlier episode of gassing. He was buried at St. Sever Cemetery Extension, Rouen, France (grave id. P.VII.A.6A). He is remembered on the Sixpenny Handley War Memorial.

John's widow Emily did not remarry and was living with her sons in Handley at the time of the 1939 Register.