2nd Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment
George Enoch James was one of two brothers who died as result of war service in 1918 and both were their parents’ only sons. He was born in Chipping Campden in 1893.
His parents were Enoch (1852-1927) and his wife, Fanny Letitia , née Howman (1857-1947).
The couple had two daughters as well as the two sons and their home was Watery Lane, Chipping Campden. The father Enoch was an agricultural worker and at the time of the 1911 Census George was employed as a baker’s assistant.
No Army Service or Pension Record has survived for George so the only knowledge of his military service is contained in a piece from the Gloucestershire Echo of 6 June 1918, which reported his death.
He enlisted in 1914 and was posted to the 2nd Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment.
After basic training he was sent to join the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France and Flanders on 20 January 1915 and served there until the 2nd Glosters transferred to Salonika on 12 December 1915.
Here, as part of 81 Brigade (later 82 Brigade), 27 Division, the battalion was part of an Anglo-French force resisting Bulgarian incursion into northern Greece.
The newspaper report previously referred to noted that George did not have any home leave until 4 April 1918, when he returned to the UK in poor health.
The Salonika front was a particularly unhealthy place, where the lines were mostly situated on swampy, mosquito infested ground: malaria was endemic.
George was admitted to the Norton Hall Red Cross Hospital at Chipping Campden, where he died on Monday, 3 June 1918, aged 24 without returning to his unit.
A public members’ tree on Ancestry notes that he died of Bright’s Disease (nephritis or kidney disease) and acute endocarditis (form of heart disease).
The compiler of the family tree may well have had access to his death certificate, as the cause of death cannot be ascertained from any surviving records in the public domain.
Private George Enoch James was buried in the churchyard of St James in Chipping Campden where a standard Commonwealth War Grave Commission headstone now marks his grave.
George’s elder brother, Harry, was killed in action on 23 March 1918, whilst serving as private number 241706 with 2/5th Battalion of the Glosters. He had been reported wounded and missing and his body was never found and he is commemorated on the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme battles of 1918, at Pozieres.
Both brothers are commemorated on the Chipping Campden War Memorial.
At the time when the CWGC Register was compiled the James family lived at The Gardens, Park Road, Chipping Campden.
Researched by Graham Adams 12 September 2020