| Other Info | Mr. (ex-C.S.M.) J. D. Furley died in Moreton-in-Marsh Hospital on 1st January 1965, aged 78 years.
John Dennis Furley was born in the Winchcombe district of Gloucestershire, a few miles from the Worcestershire border, in 1886. About 1905 he enlisted in The Worcestershire Regiment, and after service in the 1st and 2nd Battalions was posted to the Depot as a Corporal and was appointed Lance Sergeant to teach in the Army Children's School at Norton Barracks, where he was serving on the outbreak of the 1914-18 War. (In those days soldiers' children were taught by Army Schoolmasters and Army Schoolmistresses, assisted by Regimental non-commissioned officers.)
He was then posted to the 2nd Battalion at Aldershot and crossed to France in August, 1914, taking part in the Retreat from Mons and the historic battle of Gheluvelt. He was severely wounded in the right shoulder late
in 1918 as a Warrant Officer (C.S.M.) and lost the use of his right arm and hand; after many months in military hospitals he was discharged to pension as medically unfit for further service.
Despite this severe handicap, he enrolled at Saint Paul's Training College, Cheltenham, and qualified as a teacher, and taught in the North Cotswolds from 1919 until his retirement, having been Schoolmaster of Moreton-in-Marsh and Stow-on-the-Wold Schools. For some years he had resided at Stow-on-the-Wold, had been Chairman of the Parish Council, and Committee Member of the Cricket and Rugby Football Clubs. His wife died over 20 years ago, and there were no children. He was a member and a very active supporter of the Regimental Masonic Lodge. |
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