John Buckley was born in Hatton and baptised at Daresbury on 18th November 1877. He was the son of Samuel Buckley (born Hatton) and his wife Nancy (nee Burrows) who was born at Barnton.
In1881 the Buckley family were living in a cottage in Hatton Village and the father was working as a farm labourer. John had an older sister Ann (8), an older brother Samuel (6) and a younger brother Tom (9 months). Two other siblings had died previously.
Ten years later they were at Sankey Court in Hatton, with the father still working as a farm labourer. Ann and Samuel had left home and the family now also had Harry (6) and Florence (1).
By 1901 John, now 24 years old and Florence (11) and his parents were living at The Square in Daresbury. John was an agricultural labourer on a farm and so was Harry, who was boarding at The Ring O’Bells public house in Daresbury.
Sadly John’s mother Nancy died in September 1902 at the age of 58 years.
In 1911 he was boarding with Lewis Clarke and his family in Hatton, his widowed father now residing with the Oulton family in Moore. John was now an estate labourer.
The 1915 Roll of Honour for Daresbury recorded John as having enlisted, but he was later discharged from the Army Service Corps as being ill (according to the Warrington Guardian of 15th July 1916). Any service number is not known. He was not recorded in the electoral rolls for Hatton after the war and no record of war medals exists. He may have moved to live outside the village by this time.
John’s father Samuel died in December 1925.
By 1939, John had moved to live with his widowed younger brother Harry on Knutsford Road, Warrington. John was single and gave his occupation as a general agricultural labourer. He also gave his date of birth as 2nd July 1876.
John Buckley died in 1944 (registered in Runcorn). He was 66 years of age.