Biography:
John Fortescue Worsley was born in December 1888, the fourth son of Godfrey Thomas Worsley, Headmaster of Evelyns School, Hillingdon, Uxbridge and Frances Worsley, daughter of the John Fortescue Stephen Melcup Hill, Rector of Shelsley Beauchamp, Worcestershire.
He came to Winchester College as an Exhibitioner in September 1903 from Cordwalles School. He was in A House, Chernocke, under Mr Furley. He was one of the best runners of his time in the school and left in the summer of 1907 for Magdalen College, Oxford and took his degree in Jurisprudence. He gained his Blue for long distance running and afterwards ran for the Thames Hare & Hounds and the Uxbridge AC. He left England for a career as a solicitor in Calcutta.
Worsley returned home in July 1915 to join the army and he went out to France with 3rd Battalion, Grenadier Guards in November of that year. His older brother, Second Lieutenant Evelyn Godfrey Worsley (A 1898-1903), joined the same battalion late in August 1916, but was killed a fortnight later, in an attack at Ginchy on 17th September (see individual entry).
John Worsley was killed in action at Fontaine Notre Dame, near Cambrai, on 27 November 1917. The Battle of Cambrai had been in progress since 20 November, and Fontaine Notre Dame was the closest to Cambrai itself that Allied Forces were to penetrate. It and Bourlon Wood were crucial points to any defence, and the Germans had made strenuous attempts to recapture the village. One Wykehamist, Captain Andrew Knowles Fraser MC (College 1906-1911) had already died in its defence on 22 November 1917.