Source: Michael Doyle Their Name Liveth For Evermore: The Great War Roll of Honour for Leicestershire and Rutland.
He was the son of John Campbell, a ship’s plater, born 1863 in Sunderland, Co. Durham and his wife Isabella Campbell (nee Newton, married in the 3rd quarter of 1888 in the Sunderland, Co. Durham district), born 1865 in Sunderland, Co. Durham. John was a student and was born in the 4th quarter of 1892 in Sunderland, Co. Durham., he had one sibling, a sister, Isabella, an elementary school teacher, born 1890 in Sunderland, Co. Durham, in April 1911 the family home was at 24, Cooper Street, Sunderland, Co. Durham. In the 2nd quarter of 1916, John married Dora Elizabeth Wilkinson in the York, marriage registration district. His service record shows that he was commissioned as a temporary 2nd Lieutenant into the Royal Marines on the 20/12/15 from the Durham University Officers Training Corps. He embarked on the 28/6/16 to join the Royal Marine Brigade. He joined a draft for the British Expeditionary Force, 2nd Royal Marine Battalion on the 8/7/16. Serving from the 12/7/16 until he was killed in action on the 28/4/17. He had been promoted Temporary Lieutenant on the 20/12/16. And promoted to Acting Captain on the 16/3/17. On the 31st January 1920 the Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys in Leicester published a Roll of Honour in which John is shown to have been a Schoolmaster at the school between the years 1913 and 1915.