b. 04/03/1892 Blackburn, Lancashire. d. 09/04/1918 Givenchy, France.
John William Schofield (1892-1918) was born on 4th March 1892 at 17 Artillery Street, Blackburn, Lancashire. His father, also John, was born in Withnell, Lancashire, and his surname was registered as Scholfield. He was a fishmonger’s apprentice in 1881. He married Martha Haworth in 1886. He later became a well-known fish and game dealer. John junior had four siblings.
John was educated at Blackburn Church of England Higher Grade School and at Arnold School, Lytham Road, Blackpool, Lancashire from 1904-1909. He was a sergeant in the school’s Officer Training Corps and won the Form IV Mathematics Prize in 1905. He was a talented sportsman and captained the Cricket XI in 1909. On leaving school he became a fish salesman in Blackpool. He joined the family firm as a wholesale fish and game salesman at Blackburn fish market. He was a member of East Lancashire Tennis Club and Blackburn Golf Club. He became engaged to Ethel Hargreaves, who lived in Blackburn.
John W Schofield VC
He was one of the patriotic young men who early in the war offered his services to the country in its hour of need. Twice, he was rejected because of his eyesight, but eventually was accepted, and posted to the Army Service Corps for clerical work. In this capacity he served for about eighteen months in Salonika, but returned to this country to qualify for a commission, his opinion being that married men ought to have less dangerous berths. This was the spirit that animated him. He was anxious to take more than a passive part in the great fight for freedom and liberty. He was gazetted to the Lancashire Fusiliers, and went to France with that famous regiment in November 1917. He quickly gained a reputation as an intrepid soldier, and was particualrly daring on certain patrol work which he undertook.
Tragically, his only brother, Corporal Fred Schofield, R. F. A., was killed in action on the Somme in July, 1916. Their father passed away on May 24th 1917.
At Givenchy, France on the 9th April 1918, Second Lieutenant Schofield led a party of nine men against a strong-point and was attacked by about 100 of the enemy, but his skillful use of men and weapons resulted in the taking of 20 prisoners. This officer, having made his party up to ten, then proceeded towards the front line, where he met large numbers of the enemy, on whom his party opened fire. He climbed on the parapet under point-blank machine-gun fire and by his fearless demeanor forced the enemy to surrender. As a result, 123 of them, including several officers, were captured. He himself was killed a few minutes later.
Schofield was buried originally in King’s Liverpool Graveyard Extension, near Cuinchy, before being moved after the war, near to another VC, Joseph Henry Collin (killed on the same day) in Vielle Chapelle Military Cemetery, Lacouture, France. Mrs. Schofield received several letters from her son’s superior officers, in which they lay glowing tributes to his gallantry. His Captain wrote “This was almost immediately followed by the news of his death. He had been hit by a machine gun, and just murmured, ‘Send someone to help me down’, and passed quietly away. It was all over very quickly and I thank God that a brave, cheerful soul was spared any long drawn out pain. All day long he was laughing and joking about his work, and told one of my officers ‘that I don’t need my revolver, I just shout at them and out they come, calling Kamerad’. I reckon that he took some 170 prisoners off his own bat in that one day, by sheer pluck and initiative…Personally, I have lost not only a fine officer, but a cheerful, good comrade and friend, by his death”. The VC was presented to his mother at Buckingham Palace by King George V on 4th September 1918. He is commemorated on the family headstone in St Peter’s Churchyard, Salesbury, Lancashire, on the VC Memorial in Blackburn Town Hall, on the war memorial outside St Thomas’s Church, Blackburn (memorial later moved to St Jude’s Church, Blackburn, on the war memorial at Blackburn Golf Club, and with two VC commemorative stones, both at Blackburn Town Hall (unveiled on 23rd April 2018 and in October 2018).
In addition to his VC, he was awarded the British War Medal 1914-20 and Victory Medal 1914-19. The VC was presented to the Lancashire Fusiliers in 1989 by his niece, Mrs Janet Pratt, of Kingston upon Thames, Surrey. His medals are held by the Lancashire Fusiliers Museum, Bury, Lancashire.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: LANCASHIRE FUSILIERS MUSEUM, BURY, LANCASHIRE.
BURIAL PLACE: VIELLE-CHAPELLE CEMETERY, LACOUTURE, FRANCE.
PLOT III, ROW C, GRAVE 8.
Acknowledgements:
Kevin Brazier – Cemetery Map.
John Patterson – Image of the Schofield VC Medal Group at the Lancashire Fusiliers Museum, Bury.