Family :

Service Life:

Campaigns:

• The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.

9 April - 16 June 1917. The Arras Offensive consisted of a series of linked attacks starting with the Anglo Canadian assault on the dominant Vimy Ridge feature through the battles in the Scarpe River valley and up to the assaults on the Hindenburg line in the summer of 1917.

Detail :

Commissioned as 2nd Lieut. 2/6th Battalion, Notts & Derby Regiment, The Sherwood Foresters Territorial Force, 22.8.1914: Capt. 22.3.1915: Served during in the Irish Rebellion 1916, and in France and Flanders from 26th February 1917.

MARSDEN's MC Citation "John Horace: 2nd Lieut. Temp Capt: 2/6th Battalion: London Gazette 18.6.1917, at Jeancourt on 31.3.1917, he led his men in the most gallant manner and succeeded in capturing nine prisoners. He has at all times set a splendid example of courage and determination."

Killed in Action 27.4.1917 in the attack on the Hargicourt Quarries: "2/6th Foresters attacked and captured Hargicourt Quarries on 27th April, 1917 during the actions on the Hindenburg Line" (or Battle of Arras).

MARSDEN, John Horace, Captain, 1/6 Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby Regiment) Capt John Horace MARSDEN 2/6th Battalion, killed in Action 27.4.1917. He was one of 4 Offrs and 32 ORs from his battalion killed that day. Buried Templeux-Le-Guerard British Cemetery, France

Probate: MARSDEN John Horace of Avondale House Chesterfield Derbyshire captain H.M. Army died 27 April 1917 in France on active service Probate London 7 June to Richard Leslie Marsden accountant. Effects £683 10s. 4d.

For his service and in addition to the Military Cross, he was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

De Ruvigny's summarises his story in Volume IV of his publication: "MARSDEN, JOHN HORACE, M.C., Capt., 2/6th (Territorial) Battn. The Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regt.), 2nd s. of the late John Marsden, Solicitor, by his wife, Mary Elizabeth (Parkhurst, Chesterfield), dau. of John Thomas Gretton; b. Chesterfield, co. Derby, 25 July 1878; educ. Chesterfield Grammar School, and the Royal Masonic School for Boys; was Brewer to the Brampton Brewery Co.; obtained a commission as 2nd Lieut 6th Battn, The Sherwood Foresters in Oct. 1914, and was promoted Captain in 1915; was Transport Officer at the Curragh, Ireland, during the Rebellion; served with the Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders from Feb. 1017, and was killed in action at Hargicourt 27 April following. Buried at Templeux-le-Guerard. Brigadier-General Machonochy wrote: "I was for so long the General of your son's Brigade, and knew him so well, that I feel, although no longer commanding the Brigade, that I must write to, and sympathize with, you in the loss of so gallant and lovable a son. He was my Brigade Transport Officer for more than a year, and I knew what a valuable officer he was, and how loved by all with whom he worked, ... His loss is a real, personal one to me, and an irretrievable one to his regiment and country," and his Colonel: "He was the most popular officer that one could hope to meet, and his cheery manner will be sadly missed. He behaved with much gallantry, and his leading of men in our first engagement was beyond all praise ... he died setting a splendid example to his men." A brother officer also wrote: "He was loved and admired for his indomitable pluck. He was the pluckiest person under fire that ever breathed. He did not know what the word fear meant." He was awarded the Military Cross, " For showing fine handling of his command during the advance, and, by anticipating a movement of the enemy, was able to kill one enemy and capture nine unwounded prisoners at the attack on Jeancourt on 31 March, 1917." Unm.

Masonic :

Recorded as a Brewer when he was initiated into Scarsdale Lodge. One of eight petitioners and founder members of the Cavendish Lodge No. 3055 on the 26th June 1904. John MARSDEN was a Past Master of his lodge.

He features in an article written for Freemasonry Today in 2014 - "John Horace Marsden, a local brewer, had been installed as Master of Scarsdale Lodge, No. 681, in Chesterfield in January 1913. The lodge minutes for October 1914 record that he, and another member of the lodge, attended for the last time prior to leaving the town with their regiment. Marsden never returned. Described as a man of ‘indomitable pluck’, he was killed on the Western Front in April 1917."

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• The (UK) National Archives
• Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
• ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry

Additional Source:

• Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
• Researcher : Bruce Littley