James was born in Conisbrough in around 1885. His father was John Hobson, and his mother is unknown. In 1901 John (who came from Armthorpe) is married to Alice, who was born in Walpole, Norfolk, but Alice was born only in around 1871, making her possibly too young to be the mother of James (who was already 16 by 1901). The 1911 census is a little clearer, and shows that John and Alice had been married just 11 years, meaning that they only married in around 1900 (although none of this is definitive evidence that Alice is not James’ mother). James had a total of six full or half siblings; John, Frank, Esther, Harry, Connie and Gladys.
The Conisbrough and Denaby 100 Project
James Hobson
In 1901, the family, at this time comprising of John, Alice, James, John, Frank, Esther and Harry live at 108 Park Road at Conisbrough and both James and his father John are working in Kilner’s glassworks at Denaby; John as a stoker, and James himself was an apprentice glass bottle maker.
In early 1906 James married Florence Maud Hector, who was around six years his junior and was born in Deptford, London. By 1911, the couple are living at 26 Burcroft Hill and their household is quite large. Florence and James have three children of their own; Reginald, Jack and Dorothy, and have a total of five lodgers living with them; Elijah Briggs, who works as a collier, and an entire family; James Lawrence, a labourer and his wife Edith and their two daughters. James by this time is a glass blower at Kilner’s glassworks.
Unfortunately, little can be found on James’ personal military service, however it is evident from his index record that he joined the army as a Private in the York and Lancaster Regiment, as did many of his fellow Conisbrough and Denaby men. At some point during his service, he transferred to the Machine Gun Corps (Infantry) 8th Battalion, which is the unit he was serving with when he died. James’ younger brother Frank also served in the First World War, and was wounded in the right arm at Thiepval in late 1917. Newspaper reports from the time state that James was also in hospital at the time, and returned to service in France just shortly before his death, having been recuperating in hospital in England for a year.
In May 1918, the 8th Battalion Machine Gun Corps were located in France, to the east of Soissons around Fismes and Roucy. On 27th May, the battalion war diaries show that the three brigades in the line came under enemy fire with shelling and gas from around 1am. The Germans succeeded in penetrating the line in several places in the early hours and by early evening, the requirement for more guns at the front was such that several additional had been put into position and were being manned by “personnel which had previously been intended to be kept out of the battle”. Although it is unknown how James died, he was killed on this day, and it is likely that he was killed by the enemy bombardment. Sadly, this terrible loss was made all the worse for James’ family by the fact that he had already outlived his wife Florence, who died in late 1916 at the age of 26 of unknown causes. With the death of James, eldest son Reginald who was just 11 at the time became the head of the Hobson family. It is likely however, that as he was only 9 when his mother died, and with his father away at war, that the children had already been taken in by other family members, or put into care. Sadly it’s not possible to determine what happened to the children.
In 1926, the register of soldier’s effects shows that it was Reginald (who would have been 19 by then) who was authorised to receive the credits due to James’ next of kin. He was authorised to receive 8s 1d.
James’s body was never recovered, or his grave has been subsequently lost, and he is commemorated on the Soissons Memorial. We visited the memorial in April 2015 and laid his tribute.
Soissons Memorial to the Missing (click for larger image)
James (right) and brother Frank (left)