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Pte. John Thomas Carr
British Army 182nd Coy. Army Service Corps
from:Leigh-on-Sea
John Carr gave his address as Leigh-on-Sea when he signed up, but he lived around Bow most of his life, before and after the war. His record indicates that he volunteered in 1915 and served on the home front for 12 months or so. We think his unit was sent to France in May of 1915, but he didn't go, possibly because he was AWOL for 3 weeks around then. He was docked just 3 weeks pay, so perhaps he did have a good reason for being away.
JTC eventually went to France in 1916, in time for the Somme offensive. He went as "spares', and it seems from his medical records that he ended up with the 6th Division, in the 16th Army Bearer Corps. He found himself in a casualty clearing station in Varennes-sur-Somme in January 1917, suffering from a double inguinal hernia. He was shipped back to England, and passed through the Army Service Corps' medical triage centre in Southport. He seems to have served on the home front again until the end of 1917, when he was discharged on medical grounds.
John set up a motor garage and taxi service in Bow after the war, which he ran until he died in the 1960's. He was my grandfather.
