James William Haskins

Memorial: Kingswood Methodist Church

Regiment: Somerset Light Infantry

Medals: 1914–15 Star, British War Medal, Next of Kin Memorial Plaque 1914 - 1921, Silver War Badge, Victory Medal

Rank and number: Private 32566

Parents: Mary Ann Haskins and James Jenkins (step-father)

Marital status: Married

Home address: 21 Lansdown Road, Hopewell Hill, Kingswood, Bristol

Pre-war occupation: Bootmaker

Date of birth: 1887

Place of birth: Mangotsfield, Bristol

Date of death: 04/10/1917

Buried/Commemorated at: No known burial site but commemorated at Tyne Cot Memorial, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium and on Kingswood Methodist Church Memorial

Age: 30

Further information:

James was born in Mangotsfield to Mary Ann, a boot machinist who was a single parent. James initially lived with his mother, his grandparents, an aunt and two uncles until his mother married James Jenkins, a bootmaker, in 1891. James's half-brother was born 2 years later and James temporarily had a change of surname. James married Kate Harris in 1909 and Marjorie Elsie was born the following year. A second child, Harold Howard, was born in August 1916 and was just a year old when his father died.

James' battalion (the 8th) mobilised to France in September 1915 and took part in various actions on the Western Front including The Battle of Loos, The Battles of The Somme and pursuit of the German Retreat to The Hindenburg Line. James was killed in action during The Battle of Broodseinde one of the engagements of the Third Battle of Ypres (31 July - 6 November 1917). The Third Battle of Ypres was also known as The Battle of Passchendaele and resulted in 300,000 allied casualties. James' body was never identified and the Tyne Cot Memorial where he is remembered, is one of four memorials to the missing in an area of Flanders known as the Ypres Salient, which stretched from Langemarck in the north to the northern edge in Ploegsteert Wood in the south.

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/