John Howard Banks, born on 11th September 1890, was admitted to King Edward’s School in January 1904. He lived with his father Millward, a manufacturer, at 50, Carpenter Road, Edgbaston. He had four sisters and one older brother.
John was an enthusiastic cricketer during his time at School, playing with the likes of HG Bache in the 1st XI. He was also a keen athlete, coming second in the one mile handicap race and winning the high jump competition in July 1906, jumping 6 inches higher than his winning height the previous year.
John enlisted as a Private Soldier in the 10th Royal Fusiliers, and by December was gazetted to the 13th Royal Warwickshire Regiment as a Second Lieutenant. He died of wounds at Ypres on 15th August 1917, having been an Acting Captain in the Machine Gun Corps for some time, aged twenty-nine. He is commemorated in Canada Farm Cemetery, just outside Ypres.