John was born on 1 March 1905 in Bethnal Green, London, the 7th child of the 11 children of George Henry and Anna (née Clark) Manning, residing in London, Middlesex. Two brothers Edward R (1894), George H (1896) and eight sisters Sarah J (1898), Rose (1900), Alice M (1902), Emily E (1904), Ethel C (1908), Grace I (1910), Dorothy (1912) and Ivy (1917) completed the family unit.

John joined the Royal Navy on 16 July 1921 when he walked through the gates of HMS GANGES, the “Boy Training Establishment” at Shotley, Suffolk, and signed on as a Boy Second Class. On 12 January 1922 he was drafted to HMS MONARCH, and on 29 April  to HMS COURAGEOUS where on 6 May he was advanced to Boy First Class. He then visited HMS VIVID 1, the Royal Naval Barracks in Devonport, for 1 week before joining HMS VALIANT on 9 June 1922.  He was advanced to Ordinary Seaman on 1 March 1923 and on 20 December to Able Seaman, with a return to VIVID 1 on 13 May 1924.

After volunteering to serve in the submarine service, he was drafted to HMS DOLPHIN on 31 January 1925 for the submarine introductory course and then to HMS PEMBROKE on 1 May for HMS M1. On 29 June, M1 was transferred to Portsmouth and the 5th Submarine Flotilla with DOLPHIN as the depot ship.

On 12 November 1925 M1 was working out of Weymouth while on a major naval exercise in the English Channel and, approximately 35 miles South East of Plymouth, M1 was struck while dived by the Swedish cargo ship SS VIDAR and sank without surfacing with the loss of her 69 man crew.

The wreck was found and surveyed in 1999, resting upright on the sea bed, with a large hole in her starboard side just forward of the bridge. The large gun mounting has been torn off and is lying on the sea-bed beside her.

Able Seaman John Manning, Svc No. J103109, had “Crossed The Bar” with 68 of his shipmates on 12 November 1925.