John Maitland Lauderdale was the son of architect, Thomas Herbert Lauderdale, and his wife, Margaret Anne Lauderdale.

He was a pupil at Westoe Secondary School from 1908 to 1911, when he left to be a clerk in a shipping office.

John is believed to have joined the Northumberland Hussars as a Private, and then promoted to 2nd Lieutenant on 20-Jan-1916 with the 8th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry.

He was killed in action on 17-Sep-1916, and is commemorate at the Thiepval Memorial, just north of Albert, on the Somme.