1894-1918

Cowman

Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me⁵⁴

But for the emergence of red and yellow hues among the masses of foliage⁴², the warm temperatures of late September 1894³¹ might have been mistaken for midsummer.  All things considered, the harvest was bountiful and for those labourers fortunate enough to have work during the ongoing agricultural depression, it was a busy time⁹.

For waggoner² Samuel Hanmer and his wife Agnes¹ there was much to celebrate; the birth of their second son John² and his forthcoming baptism, in the Parish Church of St. Michael & All Angels, Loppington⁸.

For the growing family, life in the small tithe cottage in English Frankton² would have been hard as it struggled to survive on Samuel’s meagre and irregular wages⁵⁷.  As he grew up, John would have been expected to share the burden of work, albeit for little pay⁵⁶.  Many long days would have been spent scaring birds from the crops, sowing potatoes, and filling sacks with grain²⁹.

John’s schooldays were spent firstly at Loppington³⁰ and then Cockshutt, after the family moved into the village³⁰, presumably as his Father pursued work⁷.  Afterwards, he made his home in Brown Heath³⁵ whilst working as a Cowman at Church Farm, Loppington³.

As war was declared and Church bells stopped ringing¹⁹, the news filtering in from the Western Front was grim as the elite but small BEF fought valiantly at Mons and Marne, but at great cost⁵⁰.  As 1914 ground to an end with the deadlock of trench warfare⁵⁰ and voluntary enlistment fell, Cockshutt found itself coming to terms with the death of one of its own.

Against this backdrop, John enlisted with the 1^st Battalion KSLI¹⁶, entering the Western European Theatre of War on 2^nd June 1915¹¹.  For the next three and a half years, Private J Hanmer 11194¹⁶ fought a long and brutal war, during which it is likely he experienced the first flamethrower attack by the Germans in the 1915 Battle of Hooge⁵¹.  Over the next couple of years, he would have encountered considerable action with his Battalion which saw service in the Somme 1916, Arras 1917 (where he was wounded⁵⁹) and Cambrai³².   On countless occasions, he would have witnessed relentless “heavy casualties”⁵⁸ and still found the strength and courage to move against the persistent “heavy resistance (and) constant heavy shelling throughout the day … and sniping at night” ⁵⁸.

By early 1918 John had been promoted to Lance Corporal¹⁶ and in all likelihood saw action on the Hindenberg Line³² during the German Spring Offensive.  Afterwards, the Battalion moved to Lagnicourt, Northern France⁵⁸ where the fighting was so ferocious it was later labelled “one of the worst episodes in German History²⁸”.  In the resulting carnage and chaos, Lance Corporal J Hanmer was captured by the Germans on 21^st March 1918 and taken to Kassel Niederzwehren Prisoner of War Camp, Germany^16/35.

Having served his country in the most appalling circumstances for nearly three and a half years, Lance Corporal J Hanmer 11194 died as a Prisoner of War on 23^rd November 1918¹⁶.

Posthumously awarded the 1914/15 Star, The British War Medal and the Victory Medal¹¹, his final resting place is at Niederzwehren Cemetery, Kassel, Germany¹⁶.

Now at peace, John Hanmer was the last of “Our Boys” to be killed in the Great War 1914-1918.

We Will Remember Him.

Lance Corporal John Hanmer, 11194, 1st Bn. King’s Shropshire Light Infantry.

Died in Germany on 23^rd November 1918

Buried at Niederzwehren Cemetery, Germany. Grave VII. B. 10.

Here dead we lie
Because we did not choose
To live and shame the land
From which we sprung.

Life, to be sure,
Is nothing much to lose,
But young men think it is,
And we were young²⁵.