John's Story.
EARLY LIFE
John O'Kell (or Okell) was born in Broken Cross in 1890, the son of Sarah Jane (née Broome) and John O'Kell, an agricultural labourer of 4 Meg Lane, Broken Cross, Macclesfield. In 1891, baby John was living at that address with his parents and siblings Arthur (11), William (10), Harold (7), Gertrude (5) and Mary (3).
In 1911 the family was at the same address and included two more children, Annie (18) and Heelan (spelled Elon in the census and Elin in the Macclesfield Courier), aged 13, who was educated at Macclesfield Grammar School. John, then aged 20, was employed as a farm labourer.
WW1 SERVICE
John served in the Cheshire Regiment with service number 4662, but was later transferred to the King's Shropshire Light Infantry. He died of pneumonia in France on 2 February 1917.
COMMEMORATION
Private John O'Kell is buried in Grave Ref. O. IV. L. 9. at St. Sever Cemetery Extension near Rouen, France. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission holds casualty details for John O'Kell, and he is listed on the Imperial War Museum’s Lives of the First World War website.
Locally, John O'Kell is commemorated on the Macclesfield Park Green, Town Hall, and St Michael's Church war memorials, and on the Henbury and Broken Cross war memorial.
NOTES
Brother of Heelan O'Kell, who served as Private 19219 with the 3rd Coldstream Guards, was wounded and a prisoner of war in 1917 and is believed to have survived the war.
SOURCES
GRO (England & Wales) Index: Births
Census (England & Wales): 1891, 1901, 1911
British Army Medal Index Cards (Ancestry)
Soldiers Died in the Great War (Find My Past)
Macclesfield Courier: 25 May 1918
Research by Rosie Rowley, Macclesfield.