2nd Lieutenant John Finlayson WHITE
Remembrance - The Yorkshire Regiment, First World War
2nd Lieutenant John Finlayson WHITE

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2nd Lieutenant John Finlayson WHITE

For a larger sized image, click on the thumbnail image. Close the window that opens to return to this page. (Photo is from that of 6th Battalion Officers, 1915)

2nd Lieutenant John Finlayson WHITE

6th Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment.
Died 7 August 1915.

Commemorated Panel 55 to 58, HELLES MEMORIAL.


The following notes are provided in Bob Coulson's biographies of Yorkshire Regiment Officers killed in the First World War;-

John White was born in Boroughbridge in 1894, his father being the proprietor of an outfitters shop in the town.

John White served with the 6th battalion, as did his elder brother Captain Archie White who would go on to win the Victoria Cross on the Somme in 1916.
2nd Lt White sailed with the battalion from Liverpool on Saturday July 3rd 1915 bound for the Dardenelles.
They arrived at Mudros Bay on the island of Lemnos on July 10th and ten days later moved on to Imbros for training and acclimatisation.
At 2-30 pm on August 6th, 2nd Lt White attended an officers conference where maps and instructions were issued for the landings on the Gallipoli peninsula.
In the darkness of the early hours of August 7th the battalion were towed ashore in lighters to land at Suvla Bay just south of the Salt Lake.
The battalion regrouped on the beach and after early skirmishing they arrived at the base of Lala Baba hill.
A charge up the hill against the Turkish positions was ordered and bitter fighting went on all day, the hill eventually being taken in the late evening.

2nd Lt John Finlayson White was killed in this action on August 7th 1915 aged 21 and his body lost. He is remembered today on the Helles Memorial on Gallipoli.

John White was the son of Thomas and Jean White, nee Finlayson of Norwood.

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