Soldier Record

I did not know my grandad as he died 26 years before I was born.

Inspired by the BBC programme 'Who Do You Think You Are?', I began researching my family history about 3 years ago. I knew nothing about my grandad as he died 26 years before I was born and my father died when Iwas only 4 years. I have discovered that when he enlisted in December 1914 he would have been 39. He was married with three children at the time and his occupation was a coalminer. Why he ended up in a scottish regiment is a mystery, as he was born in Beighton, Derby and had grown up in Morley, Yorkshire. He moved to Scotland around 1905 and married a local girl in 1907 in Denny. Lanarkshire. My uncle (now in his 80's) told me that his dad did mention Loos and the Somme but mostly did not talk of his experiences in the war. John Leonard Thacker received the 1914-15 star, the British war medal and the Victory medals for his service and was eventually discharged in march 1919.