John Abrahall was born on 6 February 1875 in Buttevant, County Cork, Ireland, a son of William James Abrahall (1842-1890) and Mary Jane Abrahall née Lewis (1855-1939). His father was a soldier who been born in Lymington, Hampshire and who had been based at Buttevant Barracks where he had married a local girl. On 20 February 1875 he was baptised in St Mary's Catholic Church, Main Street, Buttevant, where the baptismal register shows his father was serving in the 25th (King's Own Borderers) Regiment of Foot.
The 1881 census shows him living at 36 Wellington Street, Clerkenwell, with his parents, his brother Thomas Abrahall (1876-1933) and his sister Ada Abrahall (1880-1953).
In April 1889 he was appointed as a Post Office Telegraph Messenger and this was his occupation that was shown on the 1891 census that records him living at 18 Hastings Street, St Pancras, with his widowed mother, brother Thomas and sisters Ada and Jessie Abrahall (b.1888). In May 1893 he was promoted to the grade of Sorter.
On 9th December 1900 he married Annette Emily Redmond (1876-1941) in St George's Church, Bloomsbury and in the 1901 census they are shown as living in three rooms at 47 Castle Road, Regent's Park, London, NW1 and his occupation was recorded as a postal letter sorter. They had six children: William John Abrahall (1901-1981), Blanche Ada Julia Abrahall (1904-1975), Doris Annette Abrahall (1906-1982), Kathleen Norna Abrahall (1911-1912), Terence Henry Abrahall (1913-1942) and Herbert Arthur Abrahall (b.1915). The 1911 census confirms he was still a letter sorter for the G.P.O. and was living in four rooms at 100 Junction Road, Upper Holloway, with his wife, their three eldest children and his widowed mother.
By September 1914 he had enlisted in the 1/8th (City of London) Battalion, The London Regiment (Post Office Rifles). His service number was 2414 but he was renumbered on 1 January 1917 to 370657. He entered France on 13 March 1916 and died of his wounds, aged 42 years, on 9 June 1917 at No.46 Casualty Clearing Station in Mendinghem, Belgium. He was buried in Plot 2, Row D, Grave 1 at Mendinghem Military Cemetery, Roesbruggestraat, 8972 Poperinge, Belgium.
His widow was sent his army effects totalling £4-10s-7d on 24 September 1917 and when probate was granted to his widow on 12 October 1917 his effects totalled £306-7s-4d. She was sent his £16-0s-0d war gratuity on 1 November 1919 and he was posthumously awarded the British War Medal 1914-1918 and the Victory Medal.
He is also commemorated on the London Borough of Islington's On-line Book of Remembrance, on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website, on the Imperial War Museum's Lives of the First World War website and on page 5 of the Post Office Fellowship of Remembrance's Book of Remembrance 1914-1920.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
