James THACKER

201689, Lance Corporal. b. 1894, Clayton d. Sat. 20th July 1918 (aged 23).

Aged 6 In 1901 census James lived at 18 Gaythorne Terrace with his Father James and Mother Eliza, his two elder brothers and four sisters. James Father worked as a Foreman tracklayer for railways, the elder brothers and a daughter all were working in the worsted mills.

By 1911 the family had moved to 17 Aberdeen Terrace and Eliza was now a widower and head of the family. Her son James now aged 16 is shown working as a soap maker. His eldest brother John aged 24 is working as an Insurance Agent and Willie is working for Great Northern Railways as an electrician, leaving the worsted mills behind them.

James was a ‘part-time’ soldier before the start of the Great War, James had belonged to the local West Yorkshire territorials (1st/6th battalion) and was therefore one of the first from Clayton to be sent out to France on active service. James worked at Hewitt Bros. of Great Horton before joining the army full time.

Most territorial battalions were recalled from their summer training camps at the outbreak of the war and mobilised in ready for the trip to France – many set off during September and October 1914.

James managed to have a relatively lucky war for the first three-and-a-half-years of his time in France, because as far as is ascertainable he was not wounded at all even though he survived through all the major campaigns that many of his comrades did not. He would have seen action at the Battle of Loos in 1915, the Battle of the Somme in 1916, the Arras Offensive in spring 1917, the Third Battle of Ypres and Passchendaele in late 1917, and, finally through the murderous German Spring Offensive of 1918.

Unfortunately, his time came in July 1918 during the Battle of the Marne just as the Allies were finally gaining ground (even though at this stage it was still reclaiming the ground they had lost the preceding spring). Like so many others he went over the top and was cut down instantly in a storm of bullets coming from the German trenches. On the day he died the Germans came back on the offensive and managed to re-cross the Marne river, although it was not long before the Allies re-took the lost ground.

The Captain commanding James’ company sent a letter home to Mrs Thacker shortly after James’ death, a section of which read: “He was as staunch a man as I have ever come across. He was always loved and never did anything but his best for me”.

James was buried where he lay. Later he was identified by an unposted field postcard found in his pocket and addressed to his mother dated 19th July 1918. James was re-buried at Marfaux British Cemetery, Marne, France. His headstone is inscribed “Dearly loved”.

Willie Thacker

James brother Willie Thacker joined up on 18th Jan 1915 into the Royal Regiment of Artillery initially as a driver and transferring in 1917 to a Sapper. He survived the war, he married Mary Tillbrook on 3rd April 1920. In 1939 register he is shown as living at 96 Walden Drive with Mary and their son James aged 19 working as a stable boy. Willie died aged 70 in 1962.

I can find no records of James eldest brother John later than the 1911 census. James would have been aged 28 in 1914 and so eligible to attest, if you know of the fate of John Thacker please do let me know via the website contact section.