Jack was born on 2nd October 1892 in Harkstead, Suffolk. In 1911, he was living at home with his parents, working as a farm labourer and, on 15th February 1915, Jack joined St Audry’s as an attendant, a job he would keep until his retirement in 1945.

On 29th July 1915, Jack and six other attendants from St Audry’s enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps. Jack was one of four to join the 68th Field Ambulance, part of the 22nd Division. A mere five weeks later, on the 7th September, he set foot in France with the rest of his colleagues, yet their stay in France was short-lived. On 27th October, they boarded the SS Ascania in Marseille bound for Salonica, where the 68th Field Ambulance stayed until the end of the war.

As with many of the soldiers serving in Salonica, Jack contracted malaria and because of this, he was given a small disability pension payment on his return to England. Jack was demobilised in Thetford on 6th April 1919 and resumed working at St Audry’s two days later. For his war service, he received the 1914-15 Star and the British War and Victory Medals.

In 1923, Jack married Charlotte Elizabeth Stone of Heveningham, Suffolk, and they had one child, a son, also called Jack, who died in 1950 aged twenty-six. In 1939, Jack and Mary were living at Sadler’s Cottage behind Spink’s Saddlery (now McColls). In addition to working at St Audry’s Hospital, Jack also made harnesses and other items for the saddlery next door to his home. He retired from St Audry’s in 1945 after almost forty years of service and, at his death, on 2nd January 1957, he and Charlotte were living at 2 Hall Farm Road, Melton. Jack, his wife Charlotte and their son, Jack, are all buried at Melton Old Church.