John Porteous Patterson

Private John Porteous Patterson – Machine Gun Corps (Infantry)

Early Life

John Porteous Patterson and Gertrude Mary Rewbridge
marriage certificate
Swansea Christ Church

John Porteous Patterson was born in 1892 in Dumfries, Scotland. Few records of his early life have survived. By 1911, John was living in Swansea, where he married Gertrude Mary Rewbridge at Swansea Christ Church. At the time of his marriage, 19-year-old John was working as a dentist.

Military Service

Service Papers

John enlisted in the British Army in July 1918. His service records list his home address as 120 Chapel Road, Hollinwood, and his occupation as a dental mechanic, working on his own account. Although he initially sought to serve with the Royal Army Medical Corps (Dental Mechanical Section), he was ultimately posted to the Machine Gun Corps (Infantry).

Death

Private Patterson’s service was brief. According to the Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, he died on 23^rd November 1918 at Brindley Hospital, Camp Brereton, Staffordshire, from pneumonia, just days after the Armistice brought the First World War to an end.

Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects

At that time, Brindley Hospital (also known as Brindley Heath Military Hospital) was one of several large medical facilities established on Cannock Chase, near Rugeley and Hednesford in Staffordshire. Built around 1916, it comprised twelve large timber wards with accommodation for around 1,000 patients. The hospital served both the vast training camps nearby and soldiers returning from the Western Front suffering from wounds or illness. After the Armistice, it continued to treat men recovering from pneumonia, influenza, gas exposure, and shell shock. It was in this busy military hospital that Private Patterson succumbed to his illness.

Burial

John Porteous Patterson
Oystermouth Cemetery
credit - findagrave

Following his death, John’s body was returned to Swansea, where he was laid to rest in Oystermouth Cemetery. His interment marked the first military burial at the cemetery following the Armistice of 1918.

Legacy

Although little is known about his short life, Private John Porteous Patterson is remembered as one of the many servicemen who died in the final days of the Great War — not in battle, but from illness in the service of his country. His grave at Oystermouth stands as a poignant reminder of those who did not live to see the peace they helped secure.