Family :

Service Life:

Campaigns:

• The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.

9 April - 16 June 1917. The Arras Offensive consisted of a series of linked attacks starting with the Anglo Canadian assault on the dominant Vimy Ridge feature through the battles in the Scarpe River valley and up to the assaults on the Hindenburg line in the summer of 1917.

Detail :

Lieutenant Colonel John Tonge: Commissioned 15th February 1886.

The KING has been graciously pleased to give directions for the following appointments to the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, for services rendered in connection with Military Operations in the Field: To be Additional Members of the Third Glass, or Companions, of the said Most Distinguished Order:- Lt.-Col. John Tonge, R.F.A., T.F. Gazette Issue 29608 published on the 2 June 1916.

He was Mentioned in Despatches by General Sir Douglas Haig twich, dated 30th April 1916, and again dated 9th April 1917, "for gallant and distinguished service in the field".

He died of wounds half an hour after being hit, 19th April 1917. He is buried with full Military Honours at Chocques, 3 miles west of Bethune.

Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer 25th April 1917 "Lieutenant Colonel John Tonge who prior to the war was a well-known solicitor at Grimsby, and commanding officer at the local R.F.A. Territorials is reported in a message received in Grimsby to have been wounded in the leg and died on April 19. He was unmarried and about 56 years of age. At Grimsby County Court yesterday, his Honour Judge Sherston Baker, Bart., said he felt it incumbent to express his very great sorrow at the news of Colonel Tonge's death. Mr John Barker, on behalf of the solicitors, said that Col. Tonge was a painstaking member of the profession, a good comrade, who would be missed not only in the court and in social circles, but by the Army of which he was a gallant member."

Boston Guardian 28th April 1917 "Lieutenant Colonel J. Tonge, of Grimsby Official intimation was received at Grimsby on Tuesday that Lieut-Colonel John Tonge, Royal Field Artillery, had been killed in action in France. He joined up at the beginning of the war, and last year was home wounded. He was a bachelor, about 56 years of age, and in civilian life had a lucrative practice as a solicitor in Grimsby. He followed the Brocklesby Hounds regularly. Lieut-Colonel Tonge was well-known in Boston."

Lincolnshire Echo 2nd May 1917 "A memorial service to the late Colonel John Tonge, C.G.M., V.D., was held at Grimsby Parish Church on Tuesday. Representatives of many public bodies with which the deceased was associated attended, and there were present some of the veterans of the Old Volunteer Artillery with which the deceased commenced his military career over thirty years ago."

Lieutenant Colonel John Tonge © IWM (HU 119185)

Masonic :

Past Master
He was initiated into Pelham Pillar Lodge No. 792 and joined Smyth Lodge on the 11th November 1891.

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• The (UK) National Archives
• Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
• ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry

Additional Source:

• Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
• Researcher : Bruce Littley