War Memorial
Private Jack Brooker, service number 24905, of the 10th Battalion, Essex Regiment, was born in Leigh, Kent, and baptised at St Mary's Church on 7 May 1899. He was the youngest son of James and Annie Brooker, who lived in Leigh Village, and the family gave generously to the war effort, with three other sons also serving.
Before the war Jack worked for the Tonbridge Gas Company, and he enlisted at Tonbridge. He had previously served with the Bedfordshire Regiment under the number 10647 before transferring. He crossed to France on 1 April 1918, only six days after his nineteenth birthday.
His front-line service was tragically short. On 26 April 1918 he was wounded in action and subsequently reported missing. News of his wounding reached home through The Courier, which carried a report on 7 June 1918. He was aged just 18 or 19 when he lost his life that same day.
Jack is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial, which stands in the Somme region of France and honours those who fell in the fighting of 1918 with no known grave.
His parents, Mr and Mrs Jas Brooker, were left to mourn a son who had barely reached manhood. Jack Brooker's name is remembered locally among the men of Leigh who gave their lives in the First World War.