James William Crates
Memorial: Kingswood High Street Boys School
Regiment: Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regiment)
Medals: 1914–15 Star, British War Medal, Next of Kin Memorial Plaque 1914 - 1921, Victory Medal
Rank and number: Private 16588
Parents: Alice and Frederick Crates
Marital status: Married
Home address: Home Address: Regent Street, Kingswood, Bristol. Lived: 1 Glyngaer Terrace, Gelligaer, Glamorgan
Pre-war occupation: Bootmaker
Date of birth: 1881
Place of birth: Bitton, Bristol
Date of death: 18/09/1915
Buried/Commemorated at: No known burial site but commemorated at Helles Memorial, Gallipoli Peninsula Turkey and Kingswood High Street Boys School Memorial
Age: 34
Further information:
James was born in Bitton, the son of a bootmaker and the second eldest of five children with an older brother and three younger sisters. He attended Kingswood Boys School. James married Edith Maud Crates in 1903 and his eldest daughter was born 2 years later. A second daughter was born in 1913 and a son the following year, who was just 8 months old when James died.
James served with the 8th Battalion, Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regiment), his regiment mobilised to Turkey reaching The Dardanelles on July 10th 1915 where they fought in the Battles of Suvla (6th-21st August 1915). The outcome of the battles was a victory for the Turks, with allied casualties reaching 21,500, and it was followed by a trench warfare stalemate. On the 18th September, just six weeks after arriving in Turkey, James received shrapnel wounds to his left thigh and died that same day.
By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):
This information has been provided by Sarah Hands, Volunteer Researcher for the South Gloucestershire War Memorials Web Site.
By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):
https://www.cwgc.org/
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/
https://www.findmypast.co.uk/
https://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/