John William LINTOTT (1880-1962)

John William Lintott (1880-1962), known as Jack, was a colleague of George Sladden in the 15th (County of London) Battalion, The London Regiment (Prince of Wales’ Own, Civil Service Rifles) at the start of the Great War.  He was also the uncle of Rosie Lintott who became engaged to George Sladden in November 1915 (he had introduced the pair the previous year in Watford).

Jack Lintott was born on 17th December 1880 at St Pancras, London, the sixth of eight children of Henry Lintott, a waiter, and his wife, Sarah (née Hyde).

Jack entered the Civil Service on 11th April 1899 as a Junior Clerk in the Ecclesiastical Commission after open competition.  He married Mary Pickworth on 6th April 1904 at Sleaford, Lincolnshire.  They had two children, Kathleen Maud, born at Woodford, Essex, in 1905, and John William, born at Willesden, Middlesex, in 1912.

Jack was in the Civil Service.  At the time of the 1911 census, they lived at 2 Dollis Villas, Dudding Hill Lane, Neasden.  Jack was described as a junior First Class Clerk with the Ecclesiastical Commission.

Both Jack Lintott and George Sladden worked for the Ecclesiastical Commission and both were in the Territorial Force, so knew each other before the war.  During the Boer War, Lintott had served with 51 (Paget's Horse) Company 12 Battalion Imperial Yeomanry.

On the outbreak of the Great War, the Civil Service Rifles were sent to St Albans where Lintott was Sergeant of the infantry Transport Section which comprised 47 men, 15 waggons and 50-60 horses.  In a letter of 23rd September 1914, George indicated that Lintott would probably volunteer for foreign service, depending on what the government decided to do for the widows and children of those who fell.

Jack Lintott left the Civil Service Rifles in the spring of 1915 and took a commission with the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, being appointed Sub-Lieutenant in March 1915 and Lieutenant in May 1915.  In September 1915, Cyril Sladden had the opportunity to meet up with Jack Lintott in Alexandria, whom he had met on an earlier occasion in England.  Cyril described him as “captain and adjutant in the armoured car squadron of the RND, stationed at Mustafa barracks”.  In a letter of 30th September 1915, Cyril gave further details of their meeting and of Jack’s job.  A letter of 28th January 1917 revealed that Jack had broken his arm badly in Egypt and was back home in England.  The RNAS in Egypt had now been disbanded so he did not know where he would go when passed fit. 

On 24th April 1918, Jack Lintott transferred to the newly-formed Royal Air Force, attached to the Records Office at Blandford.  In May 1919, Jack, by now Major Lintott, was made an Officer of the Military Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire “in recognition of valuable services rendered in connection with the war”.

Jack’s wife, Mary, died at their home on Dudding Hill Lane in April 1928.  His daughter, Kathleen, remained living with her widowed father after her marriage in 1931 to Stanley Kent.  By 1939 they were living at 55 King George V Avenue, Harrow.

Jack died at 1 Dickens Road, Broadstairs, Kent, on 14th June 1962.