John Thomas Broom was born on August 1st 1896 in Hartlepool and was the son of Hartlepool born John Broom and his wife Eliza Maria, nee Shipp. Eliza had come to Hartlepool in the late 1870s with her parents Jonathan Joseph Shipp and his wife Arabella who were natives of Bristol. Jonathan was a boilersmith on the 1881 and 1891 census returns and their three children, including Eliza, had all been born in Bristol.
Eliza Shipp married John Broom in Hartlepool in 1895 and the couple had 8 children, John Thomas being the eldest, and all 8 survived young childhood. John Broom was a rivetter and in Alfred Street West Hartlepool in 1911, 14 year old John Thomas was an errand boy.
John Thomas was lost on HMS Queen Mary at the Battle of Jutland in May 1916. His parents at their Albert Street address were informed of their son's death.
