John Mercer
Date of birth: 10.8.1895
Date of death: 4.11.1918
Area: Knottingley
Regiment: East Yorkshire
Family information: Son of Henry Edward and Elizabeth Mercer nee Jones
Rank: Private
Service number: 39589
War Service
John Mercer enlisted into the 7th Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment at Pontefract with the service number 39589. He died on 4th November and is buried at the Romeries Communal Cemetery Extension, France, Plot B1 Row D Grave 5.
In October 1918, Commonwealth forces returned to this area during the Advance to Victory. Briastre was captured on 10th October 1918, Belle Vue Farm on 20th October, Romeries itself and Beaudignies on 23rd October and Englefontaine on 26th October. The Battle of the Sambre, the last great action of the war, carried the front forward into Belgium and ended with the Armistice. Romeries Communal Cemetery extension is one of the burial grounds of those who died between these dates.
Family Life
John Mercer was born on 10th August 1895, the son of Henry Edward and Elizabeth Mercer nee Jones. His parents married on 24th July 1881 at St Giles Church, Pontefract. In the 1891 census John is shown as a Gardener living at Weeland Road, Pontefract with his parents and many siblings.