John Roberts

Story:
John Roberts was born in 1894 in Iwerne Minster, Shaftesbury, Dorset, and baptised there on 6th May, 1894. He was the son of Alfred Roberts, a waggoner on a farm, and Charlotte Roberts (née Jackson). At the time of the 1911 Census aged 17 years, he was a farm worker and living with his parents at The Drove, Iwerne Minster, Dorset. He enlisted in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, and joined the Duke of Edinburgh's (Wiltshire) Regiment as a Private (Service No. 11930). He served in France & Flanders from 4 Jan 1915 and was later transferred to the Royal Munster Fusiliers (Service No. G/1584) being posted to Italy where he was promoted to the rank of Corporal. He was treated for pneumonia in the No. 29 Stationary Hospital, Cremona, Italy where he died on 20th October 1918 and was buried at Cremona Town Cemetery, Cremona (grave id. C.4). He was awarded the Victory and British War Medals as well as the 1915 Star. He is remembered on the Iwerne Minster War Memorial, Shaftesbury, Dorset. His father was sent his final pay due and his mother was in receipt of a dependent's pension. (The medal records show that a 'widow' named Alice M. Roberts (nee Smith) of 86 Loveridge Road, Kilburn, London, NW6, had applied for his medals. This is a mistake as she was married to a John W. F. Roberts but not our 'John'.)

Printed Source:
Iwerne Minster Before, During, and After the Great War. Edited by P. Anderson Graham.