In memory of George Thomas James
George Thomas James was born in Bishton in 1897 and was educated in the village school, writes Ian Long. He was employed as a farm labourer by the age of 14. The 1911 Census records that he lived with his father John, aged 40, and his mother Sarah, 37. John worked as a platelayer (maintaining railway tracks).
The family was large and lived in a four-room cottage in Bishton. George had three brothers and three sisters by the time of the 1911 Census: William, Elizabeth, Mabel, David, Herbert, and Gwendoline. William served in the army in the First World War and survived.
George was not so fortunate. He joined the Royal Engineers in 1915. He died on 1 November 1918, just 10 days before the war ended. He was 22 years old. At the time of his death he was a Gunner in the Royal Horse Artillery and Royal Field Artillery. He is buried at the St Sever Cemetery in Rouen, France.
George’s youngest brother Reginald served with the South Wales Borderers in the Second World War and was lost in action in 1945, shortly before the fighting ended in Europe.