John William Reynolds

A Second Lieutenant with the 4th Battalion, John died on 7th of August 1915 at the age of 28. 

John was born at Keswick, Norwich, on 5 April 1887, a son of John William and Agnes Lucy Reynolds. He was baptised at Intwood, with Keswick, on 3 May 1887, and his family lived at Keswick. In 1891 his family lived at The Farm House, Mill Road, Keswick. By 1901 their home was The Poplars, London Road, Lowestoft. 

John was educated at Marlborough and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was placed First Class in the Historical Tripos and won the Lightfoot Scholarship. In 1909 he became a Lecturer in History at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, and was elected to a Fellowship in 1910. John founded the Confratimas Historica (History Society) when he became a Fellow. 

John volunteered and was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant in the York and Lancaster Regiment on 21 October 1914. He joined the 1/4th Battalion and arrived in France with the Battalion on 13 March 1915. On 2 August 1915 the Battalion moved to the canal area near Ypres, in the vicinity of Talana Farm. The Battalion War Diary for 7 August 1915 has:

Enemy shelled most of the day from 10 a.m. on west bank of canal. Casualties: 2nd Lieutenant J. W. Reynolds was killed by a bullet at 12.30 p.m. Eight others wounded. 
Some bombing by both sides enemy was (illegible word) jumped throwing bombs 100 yards away. Fine day.
Gol look of dry rot frames up to front line (meaning unknown). 

John’s obituary appeared in The Cambridge Independent Press 13 August 1915, page 8, and included this: 

He soon showed that he was gifted with remarkable powers as a teacher; his pupils developed greatly under his guidance, and he succeeded in stimulating in most of them some of his own enthusiasm for historical study. After the outbreak of war the history students at the college, almost without exception, offered themselves for military service, and Mr. Reynolds himself, after a period of training at Pembroke, obtained a commission in the York and Lancaster Regiment. His battalion went to the Front several months ago, and has seen a good deal of fighting.
Mr. Reynolds was a charming companion, and had many friends in Cambridge. His pupils were much attached to him, and his work was highly appreciated by his college. Like many other young Fellows of colleges, his chief interests were intellectual, and it was only in obedience to a string sense of duty that he left the work he loved in order to serve the country as a soldier in its time of need. He will be sorely missed.