Polygon Wood takes its toll
THROUGHOUT the centenary of the First World War, we have been remembering the soldiers from the Loughborough area who lost their lives while serving their country.
Here, with the help of Marigold Cleeve and a small number of researchers from the Loughborough Carillon Tower and War Memorial Museum, we look back at more of those who made the ultimate sacrifice in September 1917.
James Henry Squires
James Henry Squires was born in Loughborough in 1898, the son of Henry Squires and his wife Harriett (née Higgs) who were married at St. Leonard’s Church, Swithland, on 3rd November 1879.
James’ parents, who both came from Yorkshire, had nine children but by 1911 only two of them were still alive – most had died at a very young age but one, their daughter Julia, had died aged 18 in 1900.
In 1911 James had just one surviving brother Joseph who suffered from epilepsy.
James’ father was a tailor and between 1891 and 1911 the Squires family lived at 82 Cobden Street, Loughborough.
Towards the end of his life James’ father had very limited mobility and he died, aged 58, in 1911.
James’ mother then moved to 38 Regent Street and later to 40 Pinfold Street. James was educated at Church Gate School and afterwards employed as a telegraph messenger at the Post Office.
James appears to have enlisted at Loughborough in late 1916. He joined the 2/4th Battalion of the Leicestershire Regiment as Private 202929, his surname being incorrectly recorded on all army documentation as ‘Squire’.
It is not known where James received his initial army training before being sent to France in August 1917 as his service record has not survived.
What is known is that he had only been in France and Flanders for six weeks when he was killed in action.
The 2/4th Battalion was training in Barastre, south-east of Arras, when James joined them.
The battalion’s war diary records that a batch of ordinary rank reinforcements joined them on 20th August and James is likely to have been in this batch.
On 22nd August the battalion moved by route march and bus to Senlis where training continued until 31st August.
After Senlis there were three more weeks training at Winnezeele before the battalion moved to the Poperinghe area on 20th September.
On 24th September the battalion moved into the Ypres North sector of the front to support the Staffordshire Regiment. On 25th September two companies of the 2/4th Battalion were in the front line, one company was in support and one was providing carrying parties.
On 26th September an attack was launched on the enemy in the Battle of Polygon Wood (a phase of the 3rd Battle of Ypres, or Passchendaele). The enemy responded with a barrage of fire and all-day shelling.
On the 27th September the battalion relieved the 4th and 5th Lincolns in the front line and extended the frontage by 300 yards. On this day James was killed in action, aged 19. In a letter to James’ mother, his captain wrote: ‘He has left behind the memory of a brave lad, liked by everyone and quite prepared to do his bit at all costs, for his king and country’.
James is buried in Tyne Cot Cemetery, Grave XXXVI. F. 2 with his surname being incorrectly engraved on his gravestone as ‘Squire’. He is also remembered on the Carillon War Memorial in Loughborough.
James’ brother Joseph enlisted in London with the London Brigade of the Royal Garrison Artillery on 6th August 1914 but was discharged almost immediately as being unfit to serve because of his epilepsy.
James’ mother, who now had only one of her nine children left alive, was taken to court in March 1923 by the owner of 40 Pinfold Street for nonpayment of rent. She was apparently living in considerable squalor there with a number of cats.
She died, aged 69, about six months later. Three Loughborough soldiers of the 2/5th Leicestershire Regiment killed in the Battle of Polygon Wood 26th September – 3rd October 1917. The 2/5th Battalion of the Leicestershire Regiment had its HQ in Loughborough as part of the Lincoln and Leicester Brigade, North Midland Division.
Herbert Childs.
Herbert Childs was born in Leicester in 1895, the son of Arthur Childs a hosiery trimmer and his wife Hannah (née Collins) who were married on 12th June 1886 at the Church of St. Mary de Castro, Leicester.
Herbert was baptised on 18th October 1895 at St. Paul’s Church, Leicester. Herbert had two brothers Archibald and Frank and one sister Madeline. Two other siblings died in infancy.
When Herbert was born the family was living at 10 Noble Street, Leicester, but by 1901 had moved to No. 26 in the same street and Herbert’s aunt Elizabeth Collins, a district nurse, was living with them.
After Herbert’s father died, aged 37, in 1904 the Childs family moved with Elizabeth Collins to 27 Norfolk Street, Leicester, and in 1911, young Herbert aged 15 was employed as a show card maker.
Herbert’s mother later moved to 17 Buckingham Street, Leicester.
After war broke out Herbert, who was living in Loughborough at the time, enlisted with the 2/5th ( Territorial) Battalion of the Leicestershire Regiment as Private 7393, later being renumbered as 243337.
He was 22 when he was killed in action at the Battle of Polygon Wood on 26th September 1917. Herbert is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Zonnebeke, Panel 50-51.
His brother Frank also served with the Leicestershire Regiment and survived the war.
George Knight.
George Knight was born in Thorpe Acre, Loughbor- ough, in 1880, the son of Robert Knight and his wife Eliza (née Kidger) who were married on 3rd October 1879 at St. Andrew’s Church, Aylestone, Leicestershire. George’s father was a farm labourer and his mother was a hosiery seamer and occasionally a charwoman.
George had one brother Collin and a half-sister Emma Kidger (born eight years before his mother married Robert Knight).
In 1884 both George’s parents were in trouble with the law, his father being fined twice for being drunk and disorderly and his mother being involved in an affray in Thorpe Acre.
After 1884 it seems that George’s parents may have separated.
In 1898 George, who had become a brickyard labourer, married Sarah Emily Holman in Loughborough and by 1915 the young couple had two sons Willie and George and four daughters Lily, Emma, Nelly and Florence. Another child had died young.
In 1911 George and his wife and family lived at 35 Union Street, Loughborough, but later moved to 39 Rosebery Street. By 1911 George was now employed as a hosiery dyer at Messrs. Clarke’s Dye Works.
George enlisted in Loughborough in January 1915 and joined the 2/5th Battalion of the Leicestershire Regiment as Private 241299 while they were stationed at Luton.
George was killed in action on 26th September 1917, aged 37, in the Battle of Polygon Wood.
He had been promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal by the time he was killed.
The officer commanding George’s Company wrote expressing his personal sympathy and that of Lance Corporal Knight’s comrades in the regiment as follows: ‘I have lost a good friend one of whom I could always look for loyal support when things were not as pleasant as they might be.
“The men of the company feel their loss as much as I do, and I trust that this knowledge may do something towards lightning the grief you have to bear in your bereavement’.
George is remembered on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Zonnebeke, Panels 50-51, and on the Carillon War Memorial in Loughborough.
John Newton Jacques.
John Newton Jacques, known as ‘Jack’, was born in Barrow on Soar, Leicestershire, in 1892, the son of Martha Jacques. His father’s identity was not disclosed but it is possible that his surname was Newton.
Martha also had a daughter called Daisy Newton Jacques who may have been Jack’s full sibling and a son called Wilfred Hoe Jacques who may have been Jack’s half-sibling.
In 1901 Martha Jacques was living at 2 Court B, Sparrow Hill, Loughborough, with her three children and a lodger William Hoe (who may have been Wilfred’s father).
Wilfred Hoe Jacques died in 1907, aged 8, and in 1910 Daisy Newton Jacques married Frederick White and went to live in Leicester. In 1911 William Hoe, Martha and Jack were living at 70 Nottingham Road, Loughborough, and Jack was a labourer in an iron foundry.
Jack’s mother Martha died on 29th June 1913.
Jack enlisted at Loughborough and joined the 2/5th ( Territorial) Battalion of the Leicestershire Regiment as Private 3349, later being renumbered as Private 241215. His precise date of enlistment is unknown as his service papers have not survived.
On 27th September 1917 Jack was killed in action, aged 25, in the Battle of Polygon Wood. He had been promoted to the rank of Sergeant by the time he was killed.
Jack is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Zonnebeke, panel 50 - 51, on the Carillon Memorial in Loughborough and on two war memorials in Quorn (the War Memorial at The Cross and the memorial at St. Bartholomew’s Church) where members of his mother’s family lived.