Knox, John Connor (Jack)
Sapper
No. 121376, 61st Signal Company, Corps of Royal Engineers
Died of disease on Friday 16 November 1917 (aged 18)
Buried:
Drumcoo Cemetery, Co. Tyrone (Grave A. 107 South of Mortuary)
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Dungannon and District War Memorial
Bangor Grammar School
BIOGRAPHY
John Connor Knox was born on 20 March 1899 in Union Place, Dungannon and he was the only son of Charles and Mary (Minnie) Knox (nee Connor) who were married on 22 February 1882 in Richhill Presbyterian Church. Charles Knox from Cookstown was a son of John Knox, a farmer. Minnie Connor from Richhill was a daughter of William Connor, a cabinet maker.
The Knox family lived at 1 Union Place, Dungannon.
Charles Knox worked as a woollen draper and he and Mary had three children:
Sophia Brown (Sophie, born 21 May 1884 in Molesworth Street, Cookstown)
Kathleen McCurdy (born 14 July 1896 at Union Lodge, Dungannon)
John Connor (Jack, born 20 March 1899 in Union Place, Dungannon)
Jack was 2 when his father, Charles Knox, died of heart disease on 15 June 1901 (aged 47) and the Knox family moved to Bangor where they lived at 2 Ranfurly Avenue.
John Connor Knox attended Brookfield School, Lisburn and then Bangor Grammar School from 1913 until 1914.
In 1915, Jack Knox joined the Royal Irish Rifles but was discharged because he was underage. Then he responded to an advertisement for boys to train as wireless operators and successfully completed the course. He was posted to the Royal Engineers and went to France in January 1917. He served with the 61st Signal Company Corps in the Royal Engineers and in September 1917 he contracted an illness whilst on active service and was taken to London General Hospital. He was 18 when he died there on 16 November 1917 and his death was reported in the County Down Spectator, the Tyrone Courier and the Lisburn Standard.
Sapper John Connor Knox was buried on 20 November 1917 in the family burying ground in Dungannon New Cemetery (now Drumcoo Cemetery) and he is commemorated on Dungannon and District War Memorial and on the Memorial Plaque in Bangor Grammar School.