Corporal John Henry Davenport of the 18th Battalion (Queen Mary's Own) Hussars, was killed at Messines on 1 November 1914. He was the son of John and Harriet Davenport of Langham and was born on 22 July 1893, at Charleson in Fife. He enlisted on 12 April 1912, and was made Corporal in December the following year. He went out to France with the British Expeditionary Force on 14 August 1914, and took part in the Retreat from Mons and in the battles of Messines, Aisne, and Landrecies. He died in the arms of his officer after being hit by a piece of shrapnel on the afternoon of Sunday 1 November 1914, and was buried nearby although his grave was subsequently lost. John was an expert horseman, and took part in the musical ride at the Royal Military Tournament in 1913, and also in the cavalry display at Olympia in the summer of 1914. He is remembered on Panel 1 of the Ploegsteert Memorial and also on the war memorial in Langham.

Photograph courtesy Langham Village History Group