BOYT John Sherren

The following information has been researched and transcribed by The Black Country Society:
John Boyt lived at Pedmore and was married to Dorothy, later of Cleeve Lodge, Hagley. He had been educated from 1914 to 1920 at King Edward’s School where his father was Head Master.  He was articled to the accountants Gough and Wright of Dudley and eventually set up his own practice at Burton-on-Trent.  He was a keen sportsman and a member of the Stourbridge Rugby Club.  He joined the Worcester Territorials in 1925 and served for 20 years, being awarded the Territorial Decoration.  He commanded A Company when the 7th Battalion went to France in 1940, but was evacuated from Cherbourg in the confusion of June 1940.  He commanded HQ Company of the 7th thereafter.  The battalion went to India in 1942 and were soon involved in the crucial defence of India against the Japanese.  The advance to the frontier was hazardous enough but the subsequent battles to defeat the enemy at Kohima in May 1944 turned the tide of the war against Japan.  The battalion then fought its way across Burma to Mandalay.  The Burmese terrain and climate were extraordinarily difficult for the British troops, but there was no doubt that they inflicted a real defeat on the Japanese army. However, Major John Boyt was killed in action on the 20th March 1945, the day Mandalay was captured.  His Company were in the old fort of Hamadan and were enduring a hail of Japanese fire.  In going to the perimeter wall to encourage his men he was seriously wounded and died the next day.