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JOHN HARVEY ENDACOTT

1893 - 1918

John was born in Throwleigh in 1893 to Edwin Harvey Endacott and Elizabeth Endacott. Records indicate John lived with his mother and father at Isaford Farm, Widecombe in the Moor. Nothing else is known of John’s early life.

Following the failure of an application for exemption from Military Service, he enlisted in early 1917 into the 1st/5th Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment. He saw service with the Regiment in Palestine in 1917 but was posted to the Western Front in 1918. In September his Battalion was part of a force trying to pierce the German Defences on the Hindenberg line.

To quote from the Devonshire Regimental History for 13th September 1918:

"But the next day brought the 5th their chance. Havincourt was counter attacked in force, and urgent orders were sent for reinforcements. Colonel Bastow therefore pushed A and C Companies into Havincourt under Captain Pitt-Lewis. They were at once hotly engaged. C Company went to the help of 5th Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and had a savage struggle for Kimber trench and the Cemetery east of the village... casualties were heavy... C Company were not to be denied and secured the Cemetery and part of Kimber trench. A Company also was fiercely engaged. All officers were hit before the village was cleared,... But the help given by these companies was decisive…Havincourt was retained...Its losses two officers and twenty seven men killed."

John Harvey Endacott, was one of those killed in the battle. For his action that day Lance Corporal Endacott was “Mentioned in Dispatches”.

John Harvey Endacott is commemorated on the memorial plaque in St Pancras Church in Widecombe.

 

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