John Donovan was born in Poplar, Middlesex on Christmas day, Sunday, 25th December 1892 and baptised at All Hallows Church in East London Docks on Sunday, 8th January 1893. He was the only son born to John Donovan and Sarah Anne Martin who had four children together: Mary Elizabeth, Sarah, John and Elizabeth. It is not known when John came to Hemel Hempstead, but it is likely to have been after 1896 when he found work with John Dickinson & Co. Limited in Apsley Mills. He was living on Cowper Road in Boxmoor in 1911 as a ‘Boarder’ at the home of a retired millhand, Henry Lovegrove and his wife Mary. John worked as a ‘Die Stamper’ with Dickinsons at the time.

On the outbreak of war, John was amongst the first volunteers from Hemel Hempstead and at the start of September he joined the Colours. He attested at Hemel Hempstead, giving his residence as Canning Town, East London where his parents lived and enlisted with the Bedfordshire Regiment. He immediately went to the newly opened Ampthill Park training establishment and on completion of his basic training, he was posted to the 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment and sent overseas. John disembarked at Le Havre in France on the 2nd February 1915 and six days later joined his unit in billets at Bailleul.

John was soon in action in the trenches and in April 1915, he fought in the Battle of Hill 60 south of Ypres. This was a real baptism of fire which began with the detonation of two massive mines. These were in underground tunnels which had been excavated by Northumbrian and Welsh miners before the attack. The explosions were followed by the attack and the Hill was captured by the British. However, it was retaken after the Germans mounted an ‘annihilation bombardment’, persistent machine gun attacks and bombing raids, which all proved costly. During early May both sides deployed poison gas against their respective positions, again causing many casualties.

Between the 18th and 21st April the 1st Bedfordshires suffered over 100 men killed and several hundred more wounded. At the conclusion of the battle on the 7th May they had incurred a further 293 casualties. Miraculously, John survived the engagement. For the rest of the year John spent his time in the trenches with his colleagues whilst the 15th Brigade and the Battalion were reinforced and strengthened ready for 1916.

March 1916 saw a move for the 1st Bedfordshires, with the 5th Division to take over a section of front line between St Laurent Blangy and the southern edge of Vimy Ridge, in front of Arras. This was a lively time, with many trench raids, sniping and mining activities in the front lines. When the Franco-British offensive opened at the Somme on the 1st July, John and his comrades were enjoying a period of rest and re-fit and in GHQ Reserve. However, this restful time was not destined to last and between mid-July and early October he fought in the following actions and battles: High Wood, Guillemont, Flers-Courcelette, Morval, and finally Transloy. These were all phases of the Battles of the Somme and John survived unscathed.

On the 5th October the 1st Bedfordshire Regiment left the Somme and moved to hold a quieter line near Festubert. There was a constant threat from enemy artillery and sniper fire, but in comparison with the Somme it was a relatively tranquil period that lasted until March 1917. John next went into action at the Battle of Arras and fought at Vimy, La Coulotte and the Third Battle if the Scarpe before the Battalion was relived in September and sent to Flanders. This move was to support the ongoing allied offensive at the Third Battle of Ypres and John was soon in action again, fighting at Polygon Wood in September and then Broodseinde and Poelcapelle in early October.

It was at the Battle of Poelcapelle that John’s good fortune finally ran out. The battle was fought in very poor weather across an area which had been turned to swamp in some places by the heavy rain. When the attack started, the allied troops had already negotiated miles of mud just to reach the start lines. In an exhausted state they jumped off at 5.20 am to be met with heavy machine gun and small arms fire from the well-entrenched Germans. The Battalion War Diaries recorded the attack in a matter-of-fact manner: “9 Oct 1917 15th Bde attacked POLDERHOEK CHATEAU with 1/Norfolks & 16/R.War R. The attack failed & they withdrew to their jumping off positions about 250 yds W. of CHATEAU”. This does not describe the horror of the action, the level of casualties inflicted or the fact that a significant number of wounded men were stranded on the battlefield, unable to be rescued and under enemy sniper fire, in the mud and rain. Accounts relate untended wounded men being found up to four days later.

John was one of the men killed in the initial attack and he died on Tuesday, 9th October 1917. He had managed to survive two-and-a-half years of some of the most dreadful fighting on the Western Front before he finally fell.

He was commemorated on the John Dickinson & Co. Limited War Memorial at Apsley. His name is recorded incorrectly as ‘Donavon’ on the memorial.

John is Remembered with Honour on Tyne Cot Memorial, West Vlaanderen, Belgium, Panel 48 to 50 and 162A.

He was 24 years old when he died.

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