244826 Pte. John Rowland Hammond British Army 12th Btn. East Surrey Regiment from:Battersea, London (d.5th Apr 1917) On the night of 5th of April 1917 my great-grandfather, Private John Hammond, was in the cookhouse on the reserve line at Dikkebus, near Ypres. The line came under heavy fire between 8.45 and 10.15pm and during that bombardment the cookhouse took a direct hit, a shell exploding through the roof. He was killed instantly. He left behind a widow and three children, the oldest of whom was Amelia, my grandmother. She was nine years old when the family was informed. John had volunteered aged 39 in 1915, a few weeks later and he would have been exempt. He, along with many men from the 12th East Surreys, had survived The Somme, having fought at the terribly challenging battle of Flers-Courcelette, but sadly didn't make it home, like so many thousands of others.
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