Beneath the Banner: Being Narratives of Noble Lives and Brave DeedsCross, F. J. (Frederick J.)
General
Beneath the Banner: Being Narratives of Noble Lives and Brave Deeds
Cross, F. J. (Frederick J.)
Biography -- Juvenile literature
The family then moved to Walworth, 51 Brandon Street, and the boy
attended the schools of St. John's, Walworth (Mr. Ward, headmaster).
On the 18th July, 1894, he came home from school, had his tea, and
about 5:30 p.m. went out with a companion, Campbell Mortimer, to the
foreshore near London Bridge. Here the two boys took off their shoes
and stockings, and commenced paddling in the stream. Little Mortimer,
unfortunately, got out of his depth, and the tide running strongly he
disappeared in the muddy water. Directly the boy came to the surface,
John Clinton sprang at him, seized him, and, though Mortimer was the
heavier lad of the two, succeeded in landing him safely. In pushing
the boy on shore, John Clinton slipped back, and, being exhausted with
his exertions, the tide caught him and he disappeared beneath the
surface, and was carried down stream a few yards under the pier. The
river police dragged for him, and the lightermen did all they could
for some considerable time, but without success. After fifteen
minutes' fruitless search, a lighterman suggested that the boy must be
under the pier. He rowed his boat to the other end of the stage, and
there saw the boy's hand upright in the water. He soon got the body
out, but life was extinct, and the doctor could only pronounce him
to be dead. Thus died John Clinton, a boy of whom London ought to
be proud, giving his life for his friend. He was buried in a common
grave, at Manor Park Cemetery, after a funeral service in St. John's
Church, Walworth.
[_For the above account I am indebted to the Rev. Arthur W. Jephson,
M.A., Vicar of St. John's, Walworth_.]
POSTSCRIPT.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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