John Higgins

John was born in Co. Longford c. 1883, and grew up in Slieve, Clondra and worked as a labourer. By 1903 John had moved to England, and lived in both Liverpool. He married Elizabeth Rock(s), on the 31 July 1909  at St. Alban's, Liverpool**. By 1916 he had two children, James and Aileen. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission gave Elizabeth's address as Tubberaboure Cottage, Cabinteely, Co. Dublin at the time of his death.

John had a long military service, initially enlisting with the Grenadier Guards in Manchester at the age of 19 in 1903. His attestment shows that he was comparatively tall for the time, standing at just under 5' 11" (180cm). Higgins was remobilised for service in WW1 in August 1914. He served two terms in Belgium with the Grenadier Guards: November 1914 to September 1915 and October 1915 to March 1916. He likely took part in the First Battle of Ypres where only 204 members of the regiment remained. At the end of his first period of service in 1916, John transferred to rthe Leinster Regiment.  Chaplain Fr. Ambrose McGrath*** wrote to John's wife:

14th June 1918

My dear Mrs. Higgins,

Your kind letter of the 29th may reached me today at the 51C.C.S. Your dear husband Sergeant John Higgins of the Leinsters was brought here by one of the officers of his unit in the very early hours of the morning of the 17th May, Friday in the midst of a bombing outburst on the surroundings. He had come down from the line suffering from a gunshot wound to the right leg . Loss of blood and complete shock. His state was hopeless from the very beginning and i just had time to give him absolution. He died just aft

Link to CWGC entry; link to Soldiers' Wills; Grenadier Guards overview; read Ponsonby's The Grenadier Guards in the Great War Vols 1-3;