John Tillie Lockhart was born on 3 June 1887 in Newbattle, Midlothian. He lived in nearby Newtongrange, Scotland’s largest mining village in the 1890s.
After arriving in Australia in 1911, John Lockhart soon moved to Kurri Kurri. He married Pearl Harris in December 1912 and represented the local team in the 1913 season.
On 2 November 1917, the Lithgow Mercury reported:
KILLED IN ACTION PTE. JACK LOCKHART
Mr. D. Harris, of the Co-operative boot department, has just received word that his brother-in-law, Pte. Jack Lockhart, who prior to two years ago was for a time employed by the same store, was recently killed in action. He was a married man with one child. The widow at present resides with relatives at Kurri Kurri. The deceased soldier was so intensely impressed with the necessity for joining the colors that for weeks before enlisting he could not sleep. Eventually he decided, left his wife and little one, and finally made the supreme sacrifice.
Private Lockhart was killed in a field in Belgium on 4 October 1917 at 30 years of age. He was survived by his wife Louisa and daughter Isabel.