Captain, ‘A’ Company, 21st Battalion, Manchester Regiment.
John was born in Brooklands, Cheshire, on 18th June 1888, the youngest of four children of William Joseph (an African merchant) and Mary Amelia Cunliffe, of Hatton Fold, Brooklands.
He married Dorothy Smith in 1914, they lived at Kilmorey, Brooklands and had one son, John Michael born in 1915.
He was educated at Bilton Grange and then at Winchester College (1901 to 1907). As an exhibitioner he was head of the house in his last year, a commoner prefect and played in the commoner XV.
In 1907 he went up to University College, Oxford, taking his degree in jurisprudence (MA and BCL). Afterwards he was articled to the firm of T. H. Davies-Colley and entered the Manchester office of Messrs. Slater, Heelis & Co., where he remained until the outbreak of war.
He received his commission as lieutenant in November 1914 in the 21st Battalion, Manchester Regiment and went to France on 10th November 1915. He was promoted to captain in June 1916.
John Cunliffe died on 4th September 1916, aged 28, during fighting at Delville Wood.
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