John William Hedges was born on 22 April 1874 at 108 Meadow Street in Sheffield, the son of table-blade forger John Hedges and Mary (née Pigott), a working-class family living in the heart of the city’s metal-trades district. His childhood was marked by instability: in the 1881 census his mother listed herself as “single” under her maiden name, and his father appeared only as a “boarder” with a misspelled surname. Three years later, Mary died, leaving ten-year-old John in a fractured home with a sick, struggling father.

By the age of fourteen John had fallen into homelessness, drifting between odd jobs and survival on the streets. In April 1888 he was arrested after pawning stolen silk handkerchiefs for an older companion. Branded a “bad lad” by the court - a phrase echoed by his overwhelmed father - he was sentenced to twenty-one days’ imprisonment followed by five years in Calder Farm Reformatory. His admission record describes him as small, freckled, poorly educated, tattooed on the wrist, and vagrant for months. Despite nearby relatives, none had taken him in.

After leaving the reformatory around 1893, John rebuilt his life with remarkable determination. He married Mary Ann Kate that same year, worked as a labourer in Sheffield, and became a father to five children, three of whom survived into adulthood. Census records show a stable household forming around him - a complete reversal of the childhood he endured.

John’s adult life took a defining turn through military service. He had already served six years with the 3rd West Riding Regiment and fought in the Boer War before enlisting again on 10 November 1914, at the age of forty, for the First World War. Despite lingering malaria and poor health, he rose quickly through the ranks of the York and Lancaster Regiment, becoming a Corporal. His service, however, came at a cost. A worsening heart condition -later confirmed as aggravated by military duty - repeatedly sent him to hospital, and on 3 August 1916 he died in Buttevant Military Hospital in County Cork, aged 42.

John William Hedges was laid to rest in St John’s Churchyard, Buttevant, recognised as a Commonwealth war casualty. He left behind his widow and children, including a young son who suffered a serious accident just months after his father’s death. Once dismissed as a homeless “boy thief,” John ultimately became a twice-serving soldier whose life story is defined not by his early hardship, but by resilience, service, and a determination to build something better than the world he was born into.