John Hagan

Born: 1883

Died: 22 April 1916

Rank and Regiment: Private 19104 in the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Norfolk Regiment

Resting Place: body unrecovered

Memorials: St. Mary’s, Cranworth, United Kingdom and; Basra Memorial, Iraq - Panel 10

John was born in Cranworth in 1883 to George, an agricultural labourer and Jemima (nee Browne). Sadly, George died in 1901. The census records Jemima as living with her sons including William, George, John and Thomas who all worked as agricultural labourers. In 1911, John was 28 and still living with his mother however his brothers appear to have moved on.

John began his career as a Private in the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Norfolk Regiment. After his training he was sent to Mesopotamia. On 22 April 1917, the allies tried to strike back against Ottoman forces by taking Sannaiyat. They were unsuccessful and suffered 1200 casualties in the process, including John. Soon after his death on 29th April, the British surrendered the city of Jut after having suffered 30,000 casualities to the Ottomans 10,000. The survivors were then marched to Aleppo, which many died due to disease and heat exhaustion. Ten months later, the British Indian Army reconquered Kut and the surrounding regions at the Fall of Baghdad - this was a major strategic victory that contributed to bringing the war to an end.

For John, his body was never recovered but he is commemorated on the Basra Memorial in Iraq. His effects of £4 were left to his mother. She herself finished her days in the Infirmary of Gressenhall Workhouse, dying in 1928 and being buried at Southburgh.

Basra Memorial, Iraq