John was born in November 1889 to parents John and Ruth Blakeley. The family were living at Selcroft Road, Greenwich. John was the eldest of 13 Children. The Blakeley family had their roots in Greenwich but John's mother was from Grimsby. The family worked as labours in and around Grenwich and Poplar before moving up to Grimsby and Immingham in c.1907 and lived for part of the war in Cowick, East Yorkshire. The family moved back down to Greenwich, living in Old Woolwich Road and Orlop Street, during c.1916 and finally settled back permanently in Greenwich during c.1918. We know very little about John apart from that he attended the Ricardo School (Tower Hamlets) in 1900 and twice got into trouble with the law - once for being too loud as a news paper boy and secondly for gambling on a Sunday It is believe that John signed up into the army before the War and his photo shows him as the rank of lance corporal and with one good conduct stripe. Of the Blakeley brothers John died of wounds, his younger brother Samual was killed in 1915 and James Frederick was injured and discharged from the Army. John's personal affects were passed onto to his mother and his dog tag and 1914 Christmas tin remained on display in my Grandparents house until my Grandfather's death in 2003. Upon clearing his house we discovered John and his brother's death scrolls and photo portraits stored in an upstairs cupboard. John is commemorated in a Goole Times Roll of Honour and Roll of Honour located in Cowick Church. 

Stephen Walker