John Buckley, known as Jack, was born in 1894 in Shandrum, Co. Cork, Ireland the oldest child of Thomas Buckley and Elizabeth Harrington. Thomas and Elizabeth had five children together: John, May, Annie, Jennie and Bryan. In 1901 the Buckley family were living in Water Street in Cork beside the River Lee and around the corner from the Beamish and Crawford Brewery. 

Jack’s father Thomas was a Carpenter and his mother Elizabeth was working as a ‘Housekeeper’. It is not clear from the records if Elizabeth was employed or if her listed occupation was in fact looking after her young family given that the five children were all under eight years old.

Thomas and Elizabeth had emigrated to the United States of America when Jack was just an infant in 1894, landing at Philadelphia en-route to relations in New York City. Jack’s three sisters were all born in Cambridge, Boston, Massachusetts when the family lived at 119 Fourth Street in the late 1890s.The Buckley family returned to Ireland in 1900 where their youngest son Bryan was born.

Not much is known about Jack and his family until the outbreak of war, but we do know that his mother was living and/or working at the Odd Fellows Arms in Apsley End in 1911. Jack meanwhile was working with Dickinson & Co. Limited at Apsley Mills and it was from there that he enlisted in August 1914.

Jack attested at Hemel Hempstead joining the Bedfordshire Regiment and was subsequently posted to the 6th (Service) Battalion to begin training. Initially, the Battalion was attached to the 9th (Scottish) Division at Aldershot whilst training, but when the 37th Division was formed in March 1915, the Battalion moved to join it at Andover and trained on Salisbury Plain, where it was transferred into the 112th Brigade.

Jack finally left for France with the Battalion, sailing from Southampton on board the SS Empress Queen and disembarking at Le Havre on the 30th July 1915. Having gathered its supplies, the Division concentrated around St Omer before moving forward to the front line.

During the next twelve months the 6th Battalion were concentrated around the area of Bienvillers-au-Bois, approximately twelve miles north of Albert, spending time in the trenches or in billets. In July 1916 Jack saw his first significant action when the 6th Bedfords fought at the Battle of Bazentin Ridge, an early engagement in the Battle of the Somme.

The 112th Brigade had orders to attack and capture Pozieres and the Battalion War Diary recorded the events as follows: "15 Jul 1916 Attack on POZIERES by 112th Bde. from trenches S. of CONTALMAISON, Bde. held up by hostile machine guns, established itself about 100 yds from the lisiere & dug in. Casualties (3 Officers Killed, 32 Other Ranks Killed) (25 missing) (9 Officers Wounded, 174 Other Ranks Wounded)."

This rather brief entry does not perhaps describe the extent of the assault which lasted for most of the day, but the intensity of the fighting is clear from the fearful casualty rates incurred.

Jack was one of the men killed at Bazentin Ridge on Saturday, 15th July 1916. 

He was one of 200,000 Irishmen who enlisted in the Colours during the Great War of which an estimated 35,000 died. Jack was also one of six young Roman Catholic men from Hemel Hempstead who fought and died in the conflict.

He is commemorated on the memorial plaque at St Mary’s Church, Apsley End, and on the Dickinson & Co. Limited War Memorial in Apsley.

Jack is Remembered with Honour at Pozieres British Cemetery, Ovillers-La Boisselle, Somme, France where he is interred in Grave III.D.8. The inscription on his headstone, requested by his mother Elizabeth, reads: “GOD KNOWS BEST DEEPLY MOURNED BY MOTHER”.

He was 22 years old when he died.

Jack was entitled to the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Allied Victory Medal.