Lives of the First World War

Private James Pearl (Service no. 4394) served with the 1st Battalion, The King’s Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment), 12th Infantry Brigade, 4th Division. James was born at St James, Manchester and before the war he resided with Mrs Woodnett at 3 George Street, Higher Irlam. He had two sisters: Alice and Katherine and a brother: Robert, who all resided in the district. James was a time expired soldier and had seen service with the King’s Own Royal Lancasters during the South African War, and in India. On leaving the Army he worked as a labourer at the Steelworks. He re-enlisted into the Army at Manchester on 3rd September 1914. His description was recorded as 35 years and 129 days old, 5 foot 4¾ inches tall, weighing 123lb, with grey eyes, brown hair and a missing middle finger on his left hand. His religious denomination was Church of England. On 3rd September he was posted to the King’s Own Depot and remained there until 9th October when he was posted to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion. On 19th January 1915 he embarked for France having been posted to the 1st King’s Own. On 3rd June he was placed on board an ambulance train at Hazebrouck suffering from a severe case of enteric fever, and then taken to the No. 13 Stationary Hospital at Boulogne and three days later he was transferred to No. 14 Stationary Hospital at Wimereux, where he spent the next six weeks. On 23rd July he boarded hospital ship Anglia and was taken back to England. Between 23rd and 26th July he was a patient at the 4th London General Hospital at Denmark Hill, London (now known as King’s College Hospital) and diagnosed as suffering from a severe case of typhoid. On 26th July he was transferred to Addington War Hospital. On 27th October he was posted to the 3rd King’s Own, stationed at Fort Stamford, Plymouth. He remained in England until 10th August 1916 when he embarked from 1916 Page 203 Folkestone, for France. He disembarked at Boulogne and joined the 23rd Infantry Base Depot the same day. He was then posted to his old battalion, the 1st King’s Own and joined ‘A’ Company on 25th August. On 13th October the battalion moved into the trenches in front of Le Transloy, Somme and four days later, the battalion was involved in an attack on the enemy trenches, commencing at 8.30am but the attack was not a complete success. On 18th October, the battalion war diary records: ‘The Germans did not counter-attack. There was heavy shelling on both sides all day. Killed 11, wounded 69.’ James was one of those killed in action at Le Transloy on Wednesday, 18th October 1916. He was 40 years old. He is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France.

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