Remember those of the parish lost to war

Chris Davies of our Verger team has researched the names on the First World War Memorial, which is by the font at the back of the church. At this time of remembrance we list them here (they are below the fold - follow the 'read more' link)

Listed here are the names of the men of the Parish of St James Piccadilly who gave their lives in the Great War 1914-18

The memorial which can be found on the west wall of the church, in the south-west corner, contains the names of 31 soldiers of which 17 were officers and 14 were N.C.O’s or other ranks. The list also includes 5 members of the nobility.

Many of the names included won medals or citations for their actions. Here is a list of the medals mentioned:

• Distinguished Service Order (DSO) – awarded for distinguished services during active operations against the enemy
• Military Medal (MM) – awarded for acts of gallantry and devotion to duty under fire
• Military Cross (MC) - awarded for gallantry during active operations against the enemy
• Mention in Dispatches (MiD) - official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which is described the soldier's gallant or meritorious action in the face of the enemy.

THE MEN OF ST JAMES'S

• Edward William Bailey – Sergeant, Otago Regiment, New Zealand Expeditionary Force. Killed in action 5th August 1917 aged 29. Son of Thomas and Jessie Bailey of Jermyn Street
• John Pengelley Bibby – Lieutenant, 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards. Killed in action 12th October 1917 aged 27. Son of Herbert and Julia Bibby of 7 Hyde Park St, London W2
• George Biggerstaff – Private, Lancashire Fusiliers. Details unknown.
• Charles James Bird - Private, 15th Battalion London Regiment (Prince of Wales’s Own Civil Service Rifles). A member of the numerous volunteer and territorial units used by the British Army during the first world war, Charles died of wounds received in action on 22nd October 1916 aged 21 he was the son of James and Mary Bird of Hammersmith, West London
• Eric Leon Boiling – Private, 8th Battalion East Kent Regiment (The Buffs). Killed in action on 26th September 1915, on the second day of the Battle of Loos, age unknown. One of 20,610 officers and men killed in the area during and around the time of the Battle of Loos who have no known grave
• The Hon. George Edward Boscawen - Major, 116th Battery, Royal Field Artillery, recipient of the Distinguished Service Order (D.S.O) killed in Action on 7th June 1918 aged 29. Son of Major-General Evelyn Edward Thomas Boscawen, 7th Viscount Falmouth and Viscountess Falmouth of Connaught Square, London
• His younger brother: The Hon. Vere Douglas Boscawen – Lieutenant, 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards.  Killed in Action on 29th October 1914 at the age of 24. Vere’s body was never identified and he is commemorated on the Menin Gate, Ypres in Belgium along with 54,896 officers and men of the British and Commonwealth armies who lost their lives in the Ypres Salient and have no known graves
• Lord Alfred Eden Browne – Lt. Colonel, Officer Commanding 186th Brigade Royal Field Artillery. Recipient of the Distinguished Service Order. Killed in action on 27th August 1918, aged 39. Killed whilst in command of his Brigade and supporting a Canadian advance near Vis-en Artois. Youngest of 10 children of Henry Ulick Browne, 5th Marquess of Sligo, and Catherine Henrietta Dicken.
• Horace Jerden Cook – Private, Royal Marine Light Infantry. Details Unknown.
• Ernest William Coster – Captain, 1St/2nd Battalion Royal Welch Fusiliers. Recipient of the Military Cross for gallantry. Killed in action 26th September 1917 age unknown. He is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, near Paschendaele, along with 11,954 other soldiers who have no known grave
  
• John Deal – Private, 19th Battalion, London Regiment. Killed in action 15th September 1916 during the Battle of the Somme, aged 19. He is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial in Northern France dedicated to the 72,195 men killed on the Somme whose grave is unknown. His parents were G. W. And Kate Deal of St John’s Terrace, Kingston Vale, London.
• Frederick Joseph Dilley – 2nd Air Mechanic, Royal Flying Corps. Drowned at sea 30th December 1917 when the SS Aragon was torpedoed outside Alexandria Harbour by the German submarine and minelayer UC-34. She was carrying 2,700 troops of British and Commonwealth Forces bound for conflicts in Palestine. She had arrived in a convoy but had anchored 10 miles offshore awaiting an escort. After being torpedoed the ship sank quickly with the loss of 610 lives
• Albert Edward Drury – Company Sergeant Major, 17th Battalion Middlesex Regiment. Recipient of the Military Medal, killed in action on 15th November 1916 aged 36. His award, along with any others won by non-officers, is not shown on the memorial in St James’s.
• William Curry Godson – Lieutenant, 46th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery. Killed in Action 1st May 1917 aged 25, son of Mr R.J. and Mrs J.A. Godson, of 47 Duke Street, St James, London
• Arthur Frederick Gray – 2nd Lieutenant, Suffolk Yeomanry. On 10th October 1918 he drowned on board RMS Leinster when, en-route to Holyhead, she was torpedoed in the Irish Sea by German submarine UB-123. Of 694 passengers and 77 crew on board, 501 perished
• Leonard Alloway Groves – Lieutenant, 11th Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment. Killed in action on 3rd September 1916
• Charles Herbert Hazell – Gunner, 106th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery. Killed in Action 23rd October 1916 aged 20, son of Mr G.W. Hazell, a widower, of 72 Campbell Buildings, Westminster Bridge Road, London
• Paul Holman – Private, 1st Battalion, Honourable Artillery Company. Killed 15th February 1915 aged 22, son of Herbert and Sophia Hawkes Holman of 4, Whitehall Court, London
• Albert Heyward Jackson – Lieutenant, 10th Battalion Australian Infantry (Australian Imperial Force). Awarded the Military Medal. Killed in Action on 24th April 1918 aged 26. Son of Mrs Ida Mary Jackson, a widow, of 6 St Alban’s Place Haymarket. Albert is one of 106 men by the name of Albert Jackson commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• His older brother Henry Medland Jackson – 2nd Lieutenant, Army Service Corps. Attached to 1st/10 Battalion London Regiment. Died of wounds in Palestine on 19th September 1918 aged 30. Henry was the second of Ida Jackson’s sons to be killed in less than six months. He is buried along with 3501 other casualties in the Ramleh War Cemetery in Israel/Palestine
• The Hon. Arthur Middleton Kinnaird – Lieutenant 1st Battalion Scots Guards. Awarded the Military Cross. Killed in Action on 27th November 1917 aged 32
• His older brother Hon Douglas Arthur Master of Kinnaird – Captain 1st Battalion Scots Guard. Killed in action on 24th October 1914 aged 35. Both were the sons of Arthur Fitzgerald 11th Baron of Kinnaird from Perthshire a Scottish nobleman and President of the Football Association
  
• James Virtue McEntire – 2nd Lieutenant, 14th Battalion, London Regiment (London Scottish). Killed on 3rd August 1915 aged 36. Son of James and Charlotte McEntire of 47, Inverna Court, Kensington.  McEntire was a veteran of the Boer War who had served with the elite cavalry unit “Paget’s Horse” who made up the 19th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry. Paget’s Horse troopers were public-school educated young men who were recruited through advertisements in gentlemen’s clubs
• Albert Ernest Oldring – Rifleman, 8th Battalion Rifle Brigade. Age unknown, killed in action on 15th September 1916, commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial dedicated to the 72,195 men killed on the Somme whose grave is unknown
• Edward Pinnock – Private, 1st Battalion, East Kent Regiment (The Buffs). Killed on 24th June 1917 aged 30. Husband of Mabel Jane Pinnock of 5 York Street, St James’s Square, London. One of 20,616 casualties identified on the Loos Memorial in the Pas-De-Calais, Northern France 
  
• Harry Robert Sauve Pulman – Captain, 3rd Battalion, City of London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers). Captain Pulman was a member of Westminster City Council and was Mentioned in Dispatches for his actions. He was killed on 10th February 1915 at the age of 47 leaving his wife Rosa a widow
• Herbert Benjamin Pratley - Private, 2nd Battalion Grenadier Guards. Killed in action on 28th March 1918 aged 28. One of 34,774 names on the Arras Memorial to men from the UK, New Zealand and South Africa killed in the Arras Sector between spring 1916 and 7th August 1918 who have no known grave. His parents lived in Oxfordshire
• John William Stancer – 2nd Lieutenant, 23rd (Tyneside Scottish) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers. The son of J.H. Stancer of 11, Claremont Grove, Woodford Green, Essex. John Died on 17th April 1918 aged 24.
• Arthur Edward Stehn – Captain, Royal Warwickshire Regiment. Killed in Action 8Th November 1918 aged 24 twice mentioned in dispatches.
• M E Toms – Private, 15th Battalion (1st Central Ontario Regt.) Canadian Expeditionary Force (Inc. Gordon Highlanders) IDENTITY UNCERTAIN. A Canadian national, Toms was killed on 21st May 1915 and is commemorated on the Vimy Ridge Memorial in near Arras in Northern France which is dedicated to the memory of the Canadian Expeditionary Force members killed in the First World War.
• Stanley Muir Toms – Lieutenant 2nd/18th Battalion London Regiment (London Irish Rifles). Killed in Palestine on 8th December 1917 age unknown. His Widow was Mrs Dorothy Toms of Chiswick. Lieutenant Toms is buried in the Jerusalem War Cemetery at the north end of the Mount of Olives 4.5KM from the walled city of Jerusalem. The 2,515 British and Commonwealth casualties buried there were brought from a number of battlefields from the holy land including Bethlehem, Jericho, Jerusalem and Ram Allah