James Hall was the third child of William Hall, who came from Dudley and his wife Annie who was born in Newcastle, Staffordshire. In 1891 the family lived at 59 Firbeck Street, Denaby and comprised of William, Annie, eldest daughter May, sons John and James, and finally daughters Lillie and Emily. Lillie, who is 4 was born in Whittington, Derby whilst Emily who is just 7 months old was born in Denaby, which shows the family moved to the area between 1886 and 1891.  William was a miner, whilst the elder children (James included) are at school.

 

By 1901 the family had moved to 27 Cliff View, Denaby. It appears that eldest children May and John, who would have been around 21 and 18 respectively had left home, leaving James as the eldest child still at home at the age of 15, and he is listed as working as a Pony Driver.  Lily (Lillie), by now  14 and Emily (10) have been joined now by youngest children Richard who is 6, and Annie who is just one, bringing the full group of children up to seven. Also living with the family is John Westwood aged 17, who is a nephew of either William or Annie – presumably Annie as he was born in Staffordshire; he too is listed as being a Pony Driver in the colliery.

 

In 1911, James is a married man and is living at 70 Frederick Street, Swinton (which still stands today) with his wife Minnie who was born in Brimington, Derbyshire. The couple have a son, William who had been born in 1908; another child would follow as in 1916 when James died he was recorded as being a father of two. The couple had married five years earlier in 1905 or early 1906 when Minnie was around 17; she was just 22 at the time of the census in April 1911. Living with the couple is Minnie’s father Henry Blakewell, who is 62 and works as a Hewer (miner). James himself is working as a Trimmer in the mine.

 

James’s army service records cannot be found however he joined the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, and died on the 4th July 1916, just three days into the Battle of the Somme. The battalion war diaries for that day put the 1/5th King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry in Thiepval Wood. Newspaper reports from the time state that James had gone to France on 6th August 1915, had survived the battle of Loos and was killed by a ‘piece of shrapnel’ and died instantly which may or may not have been true; it was common practice for letters to the bereaved to state that death came instantly, whether it did or not – it was considered kinder to those reading of their loved one’s demise. A letter to Minnie from company Quartermaster Sergeant H Livesy read,

 

“He died a British hero, facing the foe to the last.”

 

James is buried at Serre Road No. 2 near Beaumont Hamel in France, however he was initially buried elsewhere, and he was brought into Serre Road at a later date. His original grave had no cross, and he was identified by his identity disc.

 

James’s younger brother Richard also fought in WW1 in the Army Service Corps and in August 1916 when James died, Richard was in hospital in Malta, suffering from dysentery however, no record of his death can be found and it can be assumed that he survived. Two brothers in law, John Collingham and Ernest Hutchinson also went to war; presumably these are the husbands of James and Richard’s sisters. John Collingham was reported in July 1918 as being wounded for the second time. He had been wounded early on in the war, and transferred to the reserves following his recovery. He was recalled to the army after 17 months and was then attached to the Machine Gun Corps. He had been back at the front for seven weeks when he was wounded.