The youngest of John and Mary's children, John was born in 1851, some six years after his sister Clara. He was baptised 1st June of that year. there is slight confusion in that the 1861 Census records him as being deaf yet there is no subsequent mention of him being so in any records found to date. It also records him as having been born at Timber Lane, Uttoxeter.

By the time he was 19 John was working as a blacksmith, having been drawn by the bright city lights of Stoke upon Trent. In 1871 he was sharing lodgings with his brother Francis in the Sutherland household on Penkhull New Road. He and boilermaker Francis must have been slightly out of place in a house whose occupants were solely involved in the pottery industry. Head of the family John Sutherland described himself as an Earthenware manufacturer though it is not known if he had his own business. All of his six children were also potters of some description except for youngest George who at nine years old was still at school and eldest Mary who was a housemaid. Francis could not have felt that out of place as he ended up marrying Mary Sutherland. John prefered someone from a little closer to home.

On the 28th January 1877 John married Jemima Elizabeth Campion at St Thomas' Church, Penkhull. Jemima was born on 8th June 1859 to Joseph Campion and Mary Wood at Kingstone in Staffordshire. Her father Joseph who was also born in the village of Kingstone worked as a labourer on the surrounding farms, as did the majority of the male population in the area. How John and Jemima met is not known for in 1871 Jemima was working as a domestic servant for Henry Sayer and his family at Burndhurst Mill, near Lower Loxley, whilst we know John was living and working in Penkhull. The dates suggest it might have been something of a sprint down the aisle as Charlotte was born a few months after the marriage.

By 1881 they were living at 23 Richmond Street, Stoke and Elizabeth and Emily had been born. A decade later they had moved to Burslem, occupying 10 Brindley Street where along with all the children up to the new born Francis, with the exception of Charlotte who was working for her grandmother and Aunty Clara at High Wood, they was the 19 year old lodger James C Shaw. James was also a blacksmith and also from Uttoxeter.

Something then happened that prompted John to move the family back to Uttoxeter where Hilda was born in 1893. Kelly's Directory of 1896 has him listed as a blacksmith in Silver Street. This business most have been very lucrative for by the time of the 1901 census he had moved to Loxley Green and was employing 4 other smiths, leaving the Silver Street business in the hands of son in law Reuben Emery. The year before the youngest of their 14 children, John, had been born. Young John had only turned nine years of age when his mother died on the 28th October 1909 due to gallstones.

Whether it was the death of Jemima or indeed her ill health prior to her death that caused John to move yet again is not known as the exact date they left Loxley Green and moved to Lea Heath is still waiting to be discovered. We do know that by the 1911 census he had taken over the blacksmith's and the pub opposite, one Hanging Wicket, also known as the Gate Inn. Kelly's Directory of 1916 lists him as running the Hanging Wicket public house in Stowe by Chartley (Kelly's directory of 1904 lists one Charles Wilson as running the Hanging Wicket so it must have been after this date).

The public house (now closed and converted to a private dwelling) was actually in Lea Heath and had a website of its own www.wicketinn.co.uk which included a brief history of the hostelry, part of which reads as follows;
'By 1912 the pub is in the hands of the Martin family who remained there until at least 1940. At this time a forge situated opposite the pub in what is now the car park was a thriving establishment and attracted the custom of local farmers from a wide area.'

The 1911 census dated 2nd April, shows Clara listed as housekeeper with both Francis and Sidney as Blacksmiths. Son John aged 11 was still at school. Hilda was staying with Emily and Jack Stephens when the census was taken. 5 months later John married Elizabeth Ravenscroft at the church in Stowe. Elizabeth was the mother of Joseph who married Minnie 2 years later. John's second marriage tragically ended quickly as Elizabeth died just a few months later.

Either shortly before the publication of Kelly's Directory in 1916 or very shortly after John left the Wicket and the forge at Lea Heath in the hands of his son Frederick and went to live with daughter Emily at Overton Farm. We roughly know the date for this as it is mentioned as the address on the grave of son Sidney who was killed in action in 1916. It is also the address inscribed on his gravestone which can be found in Uttoxeter cemetery. John died on the 27th October 1925 and is recorded as being 75 years of age at the time.