Wreningham – All Saints Church (John Henry Ireland)

There are two Commonwealth war graves listed in the churchyard of All Saints Church in Wreningham, and neither of them have the traditional shape and style of stone as the families must have opted for something unique. This made identifying them a little more difficult, although fortunately the CWGC provide details of their approximate location in the churchyard. For anyone wanting to find this grave, it’s in the north-east part, behind the church and just a short walk from the chancel.

This grave commemorates the life of John Henry Ireland, the son of William and Sarah Alice Ireland. It also lists the death of his younger brother, Robert, who died on 12 October 1916 and is commemorated at the Thiepval Memorial in France. There was also another brother who went to fight in the war, but he survived the conflict.

This makes the 1911 census relevant, and indeed poignant, as it is a snapshot of time for this family when there was perhaps lots of hope for the future. The family lived in Wreningham, with William (aged 56) working as a farmer, Sarah Alice (aged 51) looking after the house, William John (aged 26) working as a groom and cowman, Robert Ireland (aged 21) working as labourer, Martha (aged 14), John Henry (aged 11) who was at school and Florence (aged 7). In total, William and Sarah Alice had ten children, of whom one had died by the time of the 1911 census.

When the First World War broke out, John Henry would have been 15 and it must have all felt very distant for him, although his brothers were already off to war and so he would have been aware of what was going on. Perhaps early on he was quite excited about going to fight alongside them, but his brother’s death in 1916 must have been very tough to deal with. And John reacted to that by still going to serve his country, a decision of some bravery.

During his time in the military, he served as a private in the 7th battalion of the Royal West Surrey Regiment, with service number 70053. I don’t know what he was doing in that regiment (I have little knowledge of the make-up of regiments during this conflict), but this had been formed as one of the new armies (or the Kitchener Army). Unfortunately, his war records haven’t survived, another loss during the Second World War air raids over London.

The grave gives more information than usual about the events that led to the death of John. It notes that he was injured at Albert in France on 2 August 1918, which is part of the Somme region. He was unfortunate, the Hundred Days Offensive started in early August 1918 and was the last major conflict on the western front that took place during the First World War. John was returned home to the UK from France, but he then died of his wounds in Newport, Wales on 26 November 1918. John died at the age of just 19. His body was then returned to the village where he grew up, and probably had rarely left before he went off to war.

The 1921 census will be published in early 2022 and for this family, the ten years were certainly ones that they could never have been imagined when they completed their previous forms a decade before. The two young men were injured very close together, although a couple of years apart, as Thiepval is only about five miles from Albert.