2nd Battalion. York and Lancaster Regiment. Regimental Number 4753016.
Early life:
John was a son of Henry Orlando Dean and May Dean née Wharton who were married at Bradford in the early part of 1912. In the 1911 census Henry was age 34 and a wool merchant, boarding with the Salomon family at 62, Leamington Street in Bradford. May was aged 18 and employed as a file cutter and was living with her family at 79, St. Margaret’s Road in Bradford. There was a 16 year age gap between them.
Their first child was their daughter Winifred Mary, born at Eccleshill in Bradford in 1913. Their first son was John and he was born on the 6th of October 1915 at Radnorshire in South Wales near Builth Wells. Their third child was their second son Thomas Vivian, who was born in 1918 at Churchdown in Gloucestershire. From this it appears that they moved about a fair bit, probably due to Henry’s job as a wool merchant.
By the time of the 1921 census they were visiting May’s parents at 79, St. Margaret’s Road in Bradford but Henry was not present. This census was taken during the summer and it’s possibly this was a holiday for them and Henry may have been working elsewhere. We could not find a record for him in this particular census.
By 1939 the family were together for the 1939 register apart from Winifred who had died aged 22 in 1935. At this time Henry was aged 62 and a wool buyer and classer. May was aged 47 and on unpaid household duties. John was aged 24 and a Building labourer. Thomas may be present but his record is redacted and he would have been aged 21 at this time.
War service:
Both John and Thomas enlisted, perhaps together. Thomas enlisted in 1941 and ended up serving as a driver mechanic with the Royal Artillery and John became a private in the 2nd Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment.
We have very little in the way of Army records for John apart from him dying on the 5th of December 1941 off Tobruk when he was initially described as “presumed killed in action at sea.”
This seems to indicate that he went missing on the 5th of December 1941. He may have been drowned in the sinking of S.S. Chakdina, an armed boarding vessel which had been commandeered by the Royal Navy for use as a hospital ship. She was carrying wounded solders back to Egypt when she was sunk by a torpedo bomber.
According to the Army Casualty lists, John drowned off Tobruk on the 5th of December 1941. It’s highly likely that he was on board the S.S. Chakdina which was torpedoed and sunk on that date.
Of the 2nd Battalion York and Lancaster Regiment men named on the Alamein memorial, Private 4746956 George Dennison aged 20 years died on the 3rd of December 1941, but there are seven men from this battalion who died on the 5th of December 1941 and they were:
4753016 Private John Fairfax Dean. 26 years old.
4753596 Private George Sutcliffe. 27 years old.
4688423 Private William Taylor. 27 years old.
4748987 Private Herbert Turner. 25 years old.
4751798 Lance Corporal Joseph Wadsworth. 25 years old.
4743663 Private Thomas Wallace. 27 years old.
4746515 Lance Corporal Herbert Whitaker. 23 years old.
Keighley News:
There is a mention of his death being reported in June of 1942 but we could not find this in local newspaper archives. His brother Thomas was reported as a prisoner of war in May of 1943 and in that report was the following comment: “Last June, his brother John F. Dean, who was in the York and Lancaster Regiment, was reported presumed killed in action at sea.”
His brother Thomas survived the war.
Remembrance:
Private John Fairfax Dean has no known grave and is remembered on the Alamein Memorial in Egypt. His name is on column 68.
He is also named as ‘Dean, F.’ on the Keighley WW2 panel in Keighley Library and as ‘J. Fairfax Dean’ on the grey marble cross of Exley Head war memorial on Wheathead Lane.
Post war:
According to the electoral rolls, in the 1930s Henry and May were at Howbank Avenue, Riddlesden with Winifred Mary Dean and then to 73, Cartmel Road. In the early 1940s John Fairfax was with them. In the late 1940s Henry and May were living at 24, Linton Street, Exley Head and with them at this time was their son Thomas Vivian.
The last Keighley electoral record for Henry and May was 1948 but records are sparse for this period.
Henry’s death was registered at Holywell in Flintshire, Wales. He was living at 8, Morfa Bach in Rhyl, Flintshire when he died on the 13th of May 1958 aged 81.
We know May died some time after him as his probate administration record shows he left her effects of £401 0s 5d.
Unfortunately we could not identify a death record for her.
Information sources:
1911 England Census.
England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837-1915.
England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915.
1921 England Census.
1939 England and Wales Register.
New Zealand Library records.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Army Roll of Honour, 1939-1945.
World War II Army Casualty Lists, 1939-1945.
England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007.
England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995.
Keighley News archives at Keighley Library
The WW2 Keighley War Scrapbook at Keighley Library.
