| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Lance-Corporal James Fox, aged 25, was killed in action on 26 Dec 1917 at Passchendaele, Belgium. His Regiment, the 5th Yorkshires (part of 150th Brigade, 50th Division) came up to the front line on 24 Dec 1917. Christmas Day was quiet but after 20:00 hours on the evening of 26 December a heavy German artillery bombardment resulted in two soldiers being injured and two being killed, one of whom was James. He was killed instantly by a shell-blast. His body was never recovered and he is today remembered on the Tyne Cot Memorial at Zonnebecke, near Ypres in Belgium. He was awarded the War and Victory Medals and also the 1914-15 Star.
James was in the Territorial Army before the war and upon mobilisation became a regular soldier in the 5th. He arrived in France on 18 Apr 1915 and was immediately involved in the Battle of St Julien in Belgium. The 5th were later involved in the Ypres Salient in 1915-16, at the Somme in later 1916, at Arras in spring 1917 and then at Passchendaele.
In a letter to James’ mother published in the Beverley Guardian 26 Jan 1918, the CO of “B” Company, Capt E M Robson, himself killed in Apr 1918, said James had “earned the esteem of both officers and men by the way he carried out his duties” and that his was a “severe loss” to the company.
James was born in Beverley 30 Aug 1892 and baptised at St Nicholas Church, the 20 Oct 1892. His father, Albert Edward Fox was originally from Norfolk and worked as a tanner’s labourer; his mother Maria Fox (nee Stephenson) was local. They had ten children and lived at 15 Priory Road, Beverley. James attended Minster Boys’ school and left for employment in 1906. Before military service he worked at R Hodgson and Sons’ Glue Works. He married Ida Pearce in late 1911 and their only child, Dorothy, was born soon after. They lived at 3 Chantry Lane. Ida remarried after his death.
James is remembered today on the Hengate Memorial and on the East Riding Memorial in Beverley Minster. James’ medals were sold at auction in Dec 2016 for the sum of £200.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |