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 1st Battalion KSLI16, entering the Western European Theatre of War on 2nd 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 21st March 1918 and taken to Kassel Niederzwehren Prisoner of War Camp, Germany16/35.
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 23rd 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.
HANMER_J (1)
Lance Corporal John Hanmer, 11194, 1st Bn. King’s Shropshire Light Infantry.
Died in Germany on 23rd 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.