7164 Pte John William Asnip, 2nd Bn East Lancs Regt.
John was time-expired Army Reservist from Burnley: he had served for 16 years in the regular army prior to the Great War, including service in the Boer War for which he had been awarded the QSA and KSA. John was employed as a surface worker at Bank Hall Colliery in Burnley and he had been employed there for some years before volunteering his services in August 1914 (his reserve commitment had also expired by August 1914). Arriving at the front in September 1914, John was killed in the Battle of Neuve Chapelle. Although newspaper reports give his death as being at the hands of a sniper, it is likely that he was actually killed by German artillery fire during an attack that cost the lives of a further 77 men (plus 23 missing) from his battalion. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Le Touret Memorial to the Missing.
11 March 1915
Research by David O'Mara, Croonaert Research Services.
