John Thomas Broomhead was one of seven children born to Joseph and Theresa (nee Marsden). Both Joseph and Theresa were natives of Fulwood, indeed the names Broomhead and Marsden are common in the area to this day. They were married in the Sheffield Parish Church just after Christmas 1890. They set up home in a cottage at the junction of Mayfield Lane and Quiet Lane where they remained for the rest of their lives. It was in this cottage that they raised their seven children.
John Thomas was born November 1893, their third child and second son. By 1911, aged 17 years, when the census was taken, he was a nurseryman.

Army Service

When he enlisted in November 1914 the medical officer who examined him noted that he was 5ft 7ins tall and weighed 9.5 stone. After training he was embarked in July of 1915 at Southampton for the front. In November, he was wounded by a bullet that caught the top of his head. He was transferred to hospital in Stoke on Trent, returning to duty in January 1916. However he did not return to the frontline but was assigned as an officer’s batman and later was employed in farming until he was demobbed in March 1919.
He claimed a war pension for and attended a medical board at Sheffield late in 1919. The board assessed him as being 5% disabled.

Life after the War

John Thomas returned to live with his parents in the family cottage on Quiet Lane. The census of 1921 recorded that he was employed as a gardener by Reginald Webster (a solicitor) at his home: Ash House, Dore.

John Thomas married Ida Straw in 1925 and they had four children who they mostly named after the Broomhead grandparents and themselves: Joseph (born 1925) was followed by John T (born 1925), Annie E (born 1935) and Theresa (born 1937)
John Thomas and Ida set up home in one of the cottages adjacent to his parents. They were there in 1939 when his occupatipon was recorded as “builder’s labourer”

John Thomas died in 1962 and Ida in 1969.