Cartwright, James

Wellington Remembers 1914–1918 021 39895 Private James Cartwright South Wales Borderers Born on 5 June 1881 in Peplow, Hodnet, Shropshire Lived in Peplow; Eaton Villa and No. 12, Eaton upon Tern Died on 22 January 1919 aged 37 at Wolverhampton Buried in Wellington Cemetery; section 3, grave 1671 His story James Cartwright was one of 11 siblings. His parents, Thomas Cartwright and Mary Ann Porter, were married on 5 November 1860 at the parish church in Child’s Ercall. Thomas was a labourer living in Peplow and Mary Ann was a servant from Child’s Ercall. As the years passed the family stayed in the area, and in 1881 they were living at Peplow Cottages in Hodnet. Thomas was still an agricultural labourer, and five of the children were at home. James was born at 12.30am on 5 June 1881; the time is noted on his birth certificate because he was twin brother to Alice. In 1891 Thomas, Mary and seven of the children were still living in Hodnet, at Isle of Want. By 1901 James had left home, and was working as a cowman, living at Eaton Villa, Eaton upon Tern. It was probably here that he met Fanny Buttery, a general servant at the same address, and on 26 December 1906 the young couple married at St Michael and All Angels Church, Child’s Ercall. When the 1911 census was taken, James was living with his parents-in-law at No. 12, Eaton on Tern. He was working as a wagoner on a farm, and Fanny was visiting her sister Elizabeth Dorsett at Hoar Cross, Burton on Trent. At some point in the next few years James and Fanny moved to Wellington, and lived at 6 Orleton Terrace. James became an oil tank driver, and on 27 November 1915, at the age of 34½, presented himself at the recruiting office in Wellington to volunteer for service in the army. He was described as 5’ 4¼” tall, weighing 130 lbs and of moderate physical development. He was initially posted to the Army Reserve and mobilised in June 1916, posted to the Reserve Battalion of the Monmouthshire Regiment with the service number 4386. Whilst serving in this regiment, James spent his time in the UK, but a little over four months later, he was bound for Southampton, where he embarked a ship bound for Rouen ready for active service. 54 Wellington Remembers 1914–1918 On 21 October James was posted to 12th Battalion South Wales Borderers, received the new service number 39895 and joined his new battalion in the field near Loos on the following day. There would be no gentle introduction to life on the front line for James, as the battalion war diary entry for 23 October reported: ‘The enemy’s Machine Guns were extremely active during the whole of last night . One or two enemy working parties were located by our covering parties (for our wiring parties) . The enemy’s Trench Mortars have not been so active today . At dusk, however, his M Guns are very busy ’. As winter approached, and the weather deteriorated, James would soon have been in the routine of time spent between being in the front line, in reserve and resting. On 26 November the battalion moved from poor, crowded billets at Buigny to Pont Remy, a march of about 3 miles. This seems to have been a positive move: ‘Here the billets are excellent, and the Headquarters are billeted in the chateau. A very fine old building with splendid furniture, hangings and pictures . The men are mostly billeted in large stores and factories and are quite comfortable ’. The stay at Pont Remy was quite a long one, giving the opportunity for a lot of training despite cold and misty weather. On 1 December a Field General Court Martial was held whilst the rest of the battalion trained all day, and over the following days the men were trained in gas helmet drill, range practice, revolver shooting, frostbite drill and rapid loading by night. On 10 December, after clearing up the camp, the battalion marched to the station at Pont Remy and entrained for Edgehill, arriving about noon. After a meal the men marched about 5½ miles to Camp 12. This must have been a considerable disappointment after the good conditions of the previous two weeks. As the war diary describes: ‘The camp had been vacated by French troops, who had left the area in a most untidy and unsanitary condition, but in spite of this and of the poor accommodation, and great amount of mud, both officers and men settled down cheerfully to make the best of things ’. By 16 December a bathing room had been set up for officers and men, and two companies of men enjoyed a bath and clean underclothes. There followed another week of training, and on Christmas Day the men were given a special Christmas dinner before being addressed by the commanding officer. Orders were received to move on the next day, and in the afternoon and evening all companies were treated to concert performances. After the relative jollity of Christmas Day, the men spent much of Boxing Day marching, arriving in heavy rain about 1.30pm at Camp 21 which was described to be in an awful state, with the main road being two feet deep in mud. The trenches in the new area were said to be in a deplorable state, and there the men remained until the 18th Battalion Welsh Regiment relieved them on 31 December, by which time they ‘marched out in very good form though terribly exhausted ’. By mid April 1917, the battalion was billeted near Etricourt, receiving orders to relieve the 12th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment on 17 April. This was a relatively quiet period. 55 Wellington Remembers 1914–1918 However, the battalion received orders to move and formed up at 4.20am on 21 April ready to take part in an attack on Fifteen Ravine. It was during this attack that James was wounded, receiving a gunshot wound to his left thigh. He was taken to 48 Casualty Clearing Station, where he would have received initial treatment. On 23 April James was sent from the casualty clearing station to 8th General Hospital, a tented and hutted British military hospital in the north of Rouen. After two weeks of treatment there, James was invalided back to the Torbay Hospital on HMHS Aberdonia. His service record shows that he was officially posted to 3rd (Reserve) Battalion as he was not fit enough to fight. On 28 August after 118 days in hospital the wound was not healing well, and was discharging profusely. James was getting only a slow recovery of power in his leg and had a persistent problem with boils. At this point he was recommended for discharge and was duly discharged on 16 October 1917, his character being described as very good. His service record shows the reason as being no longer physically fit and the report of the medical board stated: Origin April 21 1917 France . Result of Active Service . GSW in Action in France . Permanent Prevents ½ . Out patient treatment not required James came home to his wife, Fanny, who had moved to 4 Linden Avenue, Wellington. In addition to the British War Medal and the Victory Medal he was awarded Silver War Badge number 258467. This was a small silver pin which was designed to be worn on civilian clothing. It was given to men who had been discharged due to wounds or sickness; its main purpose was to prevent men not in uniform and without apparent disability being thought of as avoiding service – it was evidence of having presented for military service. Sadly James was not to live far beyond the end of the war. He died in Wolverhampton General Hospital with his wife at his side, just 15 months after he was discharged. His death certificate gives the cause of death as sarcoma of the chest (usually a malignant Silver War Badge chest wall tumour) and exhaustion, and describes James as an ‘Oil Dealer’s Storeman ex . Private South Wales Borderers a Disablement Pensioner’. His war gratuity payment was paid to his widow. For his service to his country James also earned the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. Fanny was still living in the house on Linden Avenue when the 1939 register was taken. She never remarried, but did later move house to St John Street and died in Wellington on 3 January 1973. Acknowledgements: The picture of the Silver War Badge was donated by Europeana. It is part of the user generated content in the Europeana 1914–1918 collection. In accordance with the Europeana 1914–1918 terms of use, the owner of the object has also released any rights that they may retain under the CC BY-SA 3.0 licence, and this file is displayed as such on the Europeana portal. Photograph This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported licence. Attribution: Europeana 1914–1918 project. 56.

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