James Thorne

Memorial: Thornbury - St Mary's Church

Regiment: Grenadier Guards

Medals: British War Medal, Next of Kin Memorial Plaque 1914 - 1921, Victory Medal

Rank and number: Private 28313

Parents: James and Charlotte Thorne

Marital status: Married

Home address: The Hackett, Thornbury, Bristol

Pre-war occupation: Printer

Date of birth: 1889

Place of birth: Thornbury, Bristol

Date of death: 13/04/1918

Buried/Commemorated at: Ploegsteert Memorial (Panel 1.)

Age: 29

Further information:

Bronze Tablet and Wooden Memorial Board

James Thorne was born in Thornbury in 1889, the son of carter James Thorne and his second wife, Charlotte. He had an older half-brother and half-sister, two stepbrothers and a brother. The family lived at the Hackett. From about 1911 James was employed as a printer. He married Daisy Simmons in 1912 and they had a son, Lawrence, born in June 1913. James was a member of the local platoon of the Gloucestershire Volunteer Regiment

Towards the end of 1916 James enlisted in 4th Battalion Grenadier Guards. In July 1917 the Gazette reported that he was expected ‘to go across shortly’

At the beginning of The Battle of Lys, fought from 7th to 29th April 1918, the Germans made huge advances. The 4th Guards Brigade played a major part in the Defence of Hazebrouck. On 12th and 13th April, the Brigade composed of 4th Grenadier Guards, 3rd Coldstream Guards and 2nd Irish Guards, having been ordered to hold ‘at all costs’ the line around Vieux Berquin, blocked the enemy advance, allowing time for further Allied troops to be brought to the area. The Brigade suffered 80% casualties.The 4th Grenadiers were in action three days and nights without rest, digging trenches and fighting almost continuously under heavy fire. No. 2 Company was under the command of Captain Thomas Tannatt Pryce M.C. and Bar. Overnight on 12th/13th, despite being exhausted, the Company dug slits which held four to five men. Under cover of the fog the next morning, the enemy moved closer and attacked, supported by field guns firing at point blank range. The Company of forty men was surrounded. By the afternoon about 30 men were left. By 6.15 p.m. only 17 remained. Pryce, realising that the situation was hopeless, urged his men to fight to the end and called on them to charge some approaching Germans who were only about 60 yards away. The men cheered and followed him, driving the party back. The Company now had no ammunition. As the enemy advanced again, Pryce called for a final charge with fixed bayonets by the remaining 14 men. They were last seen engaged in hand to hand combat with overwhelming numbers of the enemy. Only one man made it back to the line the next night. Later a few injured men were found to be prisoners in Germany. Captain Pryce was awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously

James Thorne may have been killed in this heroic last stand

In May 1919 the Gazette reported that news had come from his comrade, Corporal Ludlow, who had been seriously wounded losing a foot and an arm, and taken prisoner on the 13th April. He said that at Vieux Berquin, James had been in a ‘fighting patrol’ which had been ‘surrounded by the enemy’. He had been ‘sniping a Hun when he got a bullet through his head and died instantly’. James has no known grave and is remembered on the Ploegsteert Memorial to the missing

By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):

Thornbury Roots Website. Thornbury and District Museum Research Group. Forces War Records and the CWGC