The War Dead of WW1 and WW2
Search for all individuals who died serving their country, and who are known to have some connection with Bollington and Kerridge.
A casualty of World War 1.
Private JOHN TRUEMAN 47 Battalion Canadian Infantry (British Columbia) 688085.
He was born 14 April 1889 at Bollington, the son of James Solomon Trueman and Martha (formerly Bollington), and baptised 26 May 1889 at Rainow.
He lived at Lord Street in 1891 and at Adshead Barn in 1901. He emigrated from Liverpool 19 May 1910 to Canada on the “Corsican”. He was a farmer in 1911.
He enlisted in Canadian Expeditionary Force 27 March 1916 at Quesnel BC. He died 13 April 1917 aged 28 following the capture of the Vimy Ridge.
He has no known grave and is named on the Vimy memorial and on the memorials at Bollington and St Oswald’s. His name appears on the 1917 Roll of Honour, but not among those “who have fallen at the post of duty”.
The battalion was part of 10th Canadian Brigade in 4th Canadian Division. The Regimental diary for 13 April 1917 reads: Splendid day - snow nearly all gone - state of ground on ridge very bad. Several enemy observation balloons up - our aeroplanes very active - intermittent shelling of ridge by enemy heavies...Killed in action: 629061, 687993, 688085.
The Vimy Memorial overlooks the Douai Plain from the highest point of Vimy Ridge. Located north of Arras in France, the Vimy Memorial is Canada’s largest overseas National Memorial. It commemorates more than 11,000 men of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, many of whom were killed during the capture of Vimy Ridge in April 1917, and who have no known grave.
Notes:
If you wish to visit a war grave or memorial please consult the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website. This will provide detailed directions to the location, information about opening hours, and advise of any accessibility issues.
The not-for-profit War Graves Photographic Project may be able to provide you with a high resolution photograph of the grave/memorial for a modest fee.
As a general rule in these short histories, details of campaign medals awarded are NOT included unless there is something of particular interest. See the section on Medals for an explanation of how soldiers qualified for the various campaign medals.
Unless otherwise stated, addresses are in Bollington, near Macclesfield. St John's was the local Anglican church, and St Gregory's was the local Roman Catholic church. (Neither church is still in use, replaced by St Oswald's and the new St Gregory's respectively. However, each of the former churches has its own burial ground.) The Wesleyan Methodist chapel is on Wellington Road opposite St Gregory's, but is no longer in use as a chapel. The Primitive Methodist church (now demolished) was on High Street and the Methodist New Connexion chapel (now demolished) was on Grimshaw Lane. The Congregationalist chapel was at the bottom end of Palmerston Street; part of the building still stands and is now used as offices.
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