John Albert Pickersgill is on the Merewether Advance Roll of Honor. He was born in November 1895 in Crewe, Cheshire. Like his brother Charlie, John was also a footballer, a goalkeeper with the Merewether Thirds before the war.
He enlisted on 22 July 1915 and was sent to France. Promoted to corporal and reverted to Private at his own request, he struggled with illness and spent much time convalescing in England.
His son John James was born on 2 September 1918 in Havant, Hampshire five months after Private Pickersgill had returned to Australia on Anzac Day 1918.
He resumed playing football (with Hamilton in 1919) and reports commented on the extent to which his service had improved his play. In 1922 he played for Corinthians in Brisbane (displaying form that saw him considered for the Queensland team) and married Margaret Lillian Agnes Hughes there in 1923. He returned to Newcastle in 1925 and died on 21 December 1953 in Newcastle, New South Wales, at the age of 58.
A decade after his death his son made enquiries to Australian authorities to find out what had become of his father. The following communication tells the sad story.
