Current Information:

Age-31

4 Temple Street, Dalston

Le Touret Military Cemetery, Richebourg-l'Avoue, France

16th Rifle Brigade of 117 Brigade, 39th Division, arrived in France in March 1916 and the following month 39th Division took over the sector of trenches at Givenchy and Festubert in the First Army area. On 23rd April, 16th Rifle Brigade moved into the front line in the Festubert sub sector. The battalion diary records that on the following day, 24th April, there was some slight shelling of their positions but that overall it was a quiet day. Not quiet enough however for John Roofe who was the only member of the battalion killed in action that day, most likely from the aforementioned shelling.