Private John Johnson, 1st Batt Loyal North Lancs Regiment

Born in 1876, Pte Johnson had previously served from 1894 to 1906 in the 1st Battalion Loyal North Lancashire Regiment. He saw active service in the Boer War and was awarded the Queen's South Africa Medal with Cape Colony clasp and the King's South Africa Medal. He re-enlisted into the Loyal North Lancs Regiment on 18th August 1914. He was sent on active service fairly promptly. He was captured soon after, at either Mons or Le Cateaux, and incarcerated at Wittenberg for the rest of the war. During this time a Russian fellow inmate embroidered a handkerchief as a 'souvenir of my captivity'. The handkerchief is dated 1914, 1915, 1916, 1917 - but not 1918 - as the Russian was repatriated before the war ended. Johnson was awarded the 1914 Star, the British War Medal, and the Victory Medal. On 14th April 1919 he was stood down to the Z Reserve. He died in either 1933 or 1934.