West River Street
Lance Corporal Johann Barrowcliffe
Johann “Jack” Barrowcliffe was born in Stapleford, Nottinghamshire, England, the seventh child in a family of eight to Jacob and Elizabeth Barrowcliffe. The Barrowcliffe family had for generations derived their incomes from the lace making and hosiery industry in the Stapleford/Ilkeston/Nottingham area of England. All the children were born in Stapleford or Ilkeston except Jack, who was born on July 8, 1892, in Milan, Italy. His birth certificate from Milan is in Italian. His father Jacob became Giovanni. His mother Elizabeth is written Elizabetta. John, his parents’ intended name, became Johann. The lace and fabric mills in Milan were famous for their lace and knitted products, and it was common for an English mill to sell equipment to Italy. Jacob and Elizabeth were likely in Italy for Jacob to teach the Italian company how to service new English equipment.
In the 1901 UK census, when Jack (called Giovanni in the census!) was 8 years old, his father, Jacob was a twist hand lace worker, his sister, Louisa 21 was a cotton winder, his brother, Arthur, 19, was a twist hand lace worker, and his sister, Ada 15, was a cotton winder. By the time of the 1911 census, Jack Barrowcliffe was also employed at Leavers as a lace machine maker.
In April of 1912, Jack’s brother, Arthur, had joined the hordes of British textile workers pouring into Paris as the result of ads from Penmans. Arthur was working at No. 1 Mill, Paris. On Sept 29, 1912, Jack and his sister, Elizabeth, arrived aboard the Corsican, sailing from Liverpool to Quebec bound to join their brother in Paris, Ontario. Jack’s occupation was twister and was to be employed as a hosier in Penmans Mill No.1 with his brother. Jack Barrowcliffe married Florence Beatrice Moore, another British ex-pat, on February 17, 1915, in the rectory of St. James’ Anglican Church in Paris. They resided on West River Street in Paris.
Jack was 23 years old when he enlisted with the 125th Battalion in Paris. He was a member of the 10th Platoon that embarked aboard the S.S Scandinavia on February 12, 1916. He was promoted to Lance Corporal at this time. The 9th and 10th Platoons were the first contingent of soldiers from Paris, nearly 100 men, to go overseas. However, Jack got sick while aboard the Scandinavia and arrived in England seriously ill. On August 15, he was
declared medically unfit to serve due to his disability. His illness drastically altered his and Florence‘s lives. When she heard of his illness, she sold all of their family belongings by auction. Clearly Jack was part of this decision, because at about the same time, he made a change to his assignment of pay from October 1, 1916, directing it to be sent to Florence, c/o Mrs. A. Moore, Florence’s mother, in Leicester, England.
While Florence was in the process of returning to England, Jack was going in the opposite direction. On December 8, 1916, at Bearwood, a Canadian Convalescent Hospital managed by Canadian Army Medical Corps in a stately English home, he was examined and found to have pneumonia with bronchial catarrah and was losing weight. He was discharged for having pneumonia and debility (physical weakness) and invalided to Canada. On January 27, 1917, on board the S.S. Metagama bringing him back to Canada, it was noted that he had a slight hemorrhage and had coughed up blood. After the ship arrived in St. John, New Brunswick, he was sent on to the Spadina Military Hospital in Toronto. On March 2, he was re-examined and was diagnosed with probable pulmonary tuberculosis, though his prognosis good and treatment at a Sanatorium was recommended. Disability could last three weeks. He was transferred to Hamilton Mountain Sanatorium and then back to Spadina Military Hospital for discharge.
Meanwhile, on April 9, 1917, Florence Barrowcliffe and their son, Jack, now five months old, arrived in St. John from Liverpool. Lance Corporal Jack Barrowcliffe was discharged on July 31, 1917, from Spadina Military Hospital. On August 23, 1918, Florence gave birth in Paris to a girl, Irena, who, sadly, died the same day. At some point, the family returned together to England, because his War Service Gratuity, which was signed September 30, 1919, was addressed to Florence’s mother’s home in Leicester.
After all these tribulations, Jack and Florence’s lives turned around. In the 1921 UK Census, the family was living in Stapleford, Nottinghamshire, where Jack lived before emigrating, and he was working at Johnson and Barnes Hosiery Manufacturers as a knitting machine operator. Their son Jack was now nearly 5 years old, and they had another son Kenneth. In the 1939 England and Wales Register, Jack was working as a motor mechanic, and the family was living in Ilkeston. Their son Kenneth had died, but there were three more sons after Jack – Leslie, Denis and Ivan.
In 1951, Jack and
Florence took a trip to Italy to see where he was born. Lance Corporal Jack John Johann Giovanni Barrowcliffe died on February 14, 1957 in Stapleford, Nottinghamshire. He was 67 years of age.