Horace JAGGER

81798, Private. b. 1899, Clayton d. Fri. 13th September 1918 (aged 19).

Horace is shown in 1901 census aged 1, as the first born living with his mother Mary, father Herbert and grandmother Elizabeth at Lower Giles House Farm in Shelf. Herbert’s occupation is a Farm Bailiff. and grandma Elizabeth, 51, is a retired worsted weaver.

By 1911, his parents, now aged 34, have added to their family with a brother and 3 sisters for Horace, who now aged 11 is at school. The family are living at 26 Hunger Hill in Queensbury, His fathers occupation is still a Farm Bailiff. At some point the family moved to Thorn Tree Farm, Northowram and again to White Acre Farm, off Baldwin Lane in Clayton and lived their for many years providing the link to the Clayton war memorial.

Horace was called up and on 2nd November 1917 travelled to Halifax to sign up. His papers show him as aged 18 years and 71 days old, single, working as a scourer.

Horace joined the Duke of Wellington’s who were in training at the opposite end of the country and after completing his training was bundled off to France.  Following several transfers, Horace found himself in the Durham Light Infantry to re-supply the depleted front line force of the 1st/9th Battalion that was attempting to drive the Germans back once and for all in the Summer of 1918.

After living through a continual rolling offensive campaign for nearly two months, Horace’s unit along with several others forced their way into the town of Hermies. A couple of days before Horace’s death the town was eventually taken, but not before Horace had been killed in action on 13th September.

Horace is buried at Hermies Hill British Cemetery, Hermies, France.

A letter is included in Horace’s service records from the Infantry Records Office on 12th April 1920 notifying his family of the re-burial of Horace. Horace had previously been buried alongside one of his comrades, Private S. J. Harmsworth, at map reference K.34.a.2.8. Re-internment was common as grave sites were rationalised. Both men were reburied next to each other in Hermies Hill.

The trench map with the original location of his grave is at https://maps.nls.uk/view/101724045

Reginald Jagger

Horace’s younger brother Reginald just missed the conflict being aged 16 in 1918. Reginald took on the White Acre Farm from his parents at some point as the 1939 census shows him as head of the household as a Dairy Farmer at White Acre Farm, off Baldwin Lane, with his Wife Ida and 2 children. He died in 1977.