CONSTANT J
Ashford Railway Rolls
Lance Corporal G/9042 John CONSTANT. 1st Battalion, The Buffs (East Kent Regiment). Died Monday
4
th November 1918 aged 24 years. Born Canterbury. Resided Ashford. Enlisted Ashford. Son of John
Constant of 2 Prospect Place, Ashford, Kent. Buried in the Premont British Cemetery, Aisne, near Bohain,
France. Grave reference II.D.2.
After leaving school John was a painter and decorator employed by Mr Shippam of Ashford. Before the
outbreak of war John was working as a Joiner in the Ashford (SE&CR) Railway Yards. His name appears on
the Ashford Railway Works Rolls of Honour.
John left for France on 18th March 1918 after volunteering for service overseas.
The Ashford Absentee Voters List for 1918 gives -
2, Prospect Place, Ashford
Private 4626 Albert CONSTANT. 6th Battalion, King’s Royal Rifle Corps (KRRC)
Private 53445 Frederick CONSTANT. 6th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment.
Lance Corporal 9042 Jack CONSTANT. 1st Battalion, The Buffs (East Kent Regiment)
The Premont area was a casualty clearing station and it seems likely that he died here of his wounds after
being recovered from the battlefield nearby. The 1st Buffs were at Fresnoy Le Grand and Bohain the day that
John was killed. This ties in nicely with the place where John is buried.
Premont is a village some 19.5 kilometres south-east of Cambrai on the road to Guise and a little south-east
of the main straight road from St Quentin to Le Cateau. Premont British Cemetery is 1.5 kilometres southeast
of the village on the south side of the road to Bohain. Premont village was captured by the 30th
American Division on the 8th October, 1918. Premont British Cemetery was made and used by four Casualty
Clearing Stations (the 20th, 50th, 55th and 61st), which came to Bohain in October, 1918, and it was closed
in the following December. Some years later 165 graves were added to it: 155 from Bohain Station Military
Cemetery, six from Seboncourt Communal Cemetery, and four from a site near Honnechy. This cemetery
contains the graves of 536 Commonwealth casualties of the First World War, eight of which are unidentified.
There are also 36 German casualties buried here, two of which are unidentified. The cemetery was designed
by Charles Holden.