Person

John Thomas Hinds was born in Consett on 28 April 1884, or, according to his enlistment papers, 1888. His parents were both originally from Ireland. Father John was a steelworker at the plate mill and when John was born there were already three girls in the house with another one born a year after him. After 1891 there is no further trace of parents or siblings on the UK census under the name Hinds. The next that is known of John is that he was in Canada by 1916 and on 12 January 1916 married Cumbrian girl Mary Thompson in St Andrew’s Manse, Nanaimo, British Columbia. Three weeks later, he left her to enlist in the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF).

Having spent three years with the 3rd Durham Light Infantry (DLI) Special Reserve, John was passed as fit and became Private 703511 in the 102nd Battalion. It had recruited in Northern British Columbia and was mobilized at Comox on Vancouver Island. Having been promoted to corporal in April, John’s battalion left the island on 10 June 1916. They proceeded in full marching order with kit-bags and two blankets per man across the narrow neck of sand for the last time, to travel by train to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Here they embarked on the SS Empress of Britain to arrive in Liverpool, Lancashire on 28 June 1916 for onward travel to Bramshott, East Hampshire to become part of the 11th Infantry Brigade, 4th Canadian Division.

After six weeks intense training in musketry and bayonet drills, the 102nd travelled to Southampton, Hampshire and then crossed the Channel on 11 August. They remained at a camp close to Reninghelst, Flanders, Belgium until the end of the month, undergoing trench training with the 29th Battalion. Casualties were quite frequent even behind the lines and Corporal Hinds was wounded on 1 September 1916 whilst part of a working party repairing trenches, but he returned to duty the next day.

The battalion returned to the front line on 9 November 1916 where, on the plain around Courcelette, Somme, France, they would be part of the attack to capture that portion of Regina Trench that was still in German hands. Although they gained their objective the battalion suffered under fierce counter-attacks from the Germans and one of the casualties was John.

Corporal 703511 John Thomas Hinds is remembered on the Vimy Memorial, which was unveiled in 1936 as a memorial to all Canadians who served their country in battle during the First World War, and particularly to the 60,000 who gave their lives in France.

The service record for John Thomas Hinds bears the note “unable to determine beneficiary or next of kin” as his wife had died in 1918.

Civil Parish: Consett

Birth date: 28-Apr-1884

Death date: 11-Nov-1916

Armed force/civilian: Army

Residence: 37 Princes Street, Consett (1891 census)
Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada (1916 marriage certificate)

Religion: Church of England (1916 marriage certificate)
Presbyterian (1916 enlistment paper)

Employment: Miner (1916 enlistment papers)

Family: Parents: John Hinds, Mary Hinds
Siblings: Mary J Hinds, Elizabeth Hinds, Isabella Hinds, Rebecca Hinds
Spouse: Mary Hinds nee Thompson

Military service:

3rd Durham Light Infantry (Special Reserve) (pre-war)
703511
Private
Corporal
102nd Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force

Medal(s): British War Medal
Victory Medal

Memorial(s): Vimy Memorial

Gender: Male

Contributed by Jean Longstaff, Durham