PRIVATE JOHN MESSINA LAVERJACK
ROYAL FUSILIERS
9TH AUGUST 1917 AGE 32
BURIED: MONCHY BRITISH CEMETERY, MONCHY-LE-PREUX, FRANCE
This is a lovely tribute from a widowed father to his grown-up son. John was the fourth of his seven children and the third of his five sons, all of whom apart from John survived the war. Their mother had died when John was 13 and the youngest, Percy, was 6.
John was a bank clerk in Hull when the war broke out. His medal rolls index card shows that he was entitled to the War and Victory medals but not the 1914-15 Star so he was not a volunteer, or if he was he was a late volunteer.
Laverack served with the 9th Battalion Royal Fusiliers. From the position of the cemetery where he is buried, he was probably killed in a minor operation involving the 12th Division which is famous for being the first time the Royal Flying Corps was used to strafe enemy position as the troops left their trenches for the attack.