Pte 15878 James Francis Ignatius Sampson

• Age: 21
• From: Liverpool
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 17th Btn
• K.I.A Wednesday 12th July 1916
• Commemorated at: Peronne Rd Cem Maricourt
  Panel Ref: I.G.15

James Francis Ignatius Sampson was born in Liverpool on 16^th February 1895 to James Hinton Sampson and his wife Margaret Mary (nee Mulholland).  His father was born in Liverpool and his mother in Dundalk, Louth, Ireland.   They were married in Liverpool in 1877 and had six children:  Helena, Margaret, Cecelia, Edith, Thomas, and James, the youngest.  James was baptised in St. Francis Xavier's Church on 24^th February 1895.

In 1901 the family is living at 73 Rowson Street, New Brighton with all six children:  Helena 23, Margaret 21, Cecelia 19, Edith 17, Thomas 14, James is 6.  His father is a butcher.  They have a domestic servant. 

His parents and four of his siblings are still living at Rowson Street in 1911; his sister Margaret is not in the household and may have already entered a convent.  James, 16, is a pupil at Mt. St. Mary’s College, a Jesuit school in Eckington, Chesterfield, Derbyshire.  After his schooling, James returned home and by 1912 was an apprentice with the Bank of Liverpool.

At St. George’s Hall on 31^st August 1914, James enlisted as Private 15878, No.4 Company, 17^th (Pals) Bn, King’s (Liverpool) Regiment.  The 17^th Bn is the first Liverpool Pals battalion to be raised. He gives his age as 19 years and 210 days and his occupation as clerk. He states he is serving an apprenticeship with the Bank of Liverpool, for five years, due to expire in 1917.  He is described as being 5’ 7” tall, weighing 123 lbs, with a sallow complexion, grey eyes, and black hair. He gives his next of kin as his father, James Hinton Sampson, of Mellifont, 73 Rowson Street, New Brighton.

He was billeted at Prescot Watch Factory from 14^th September 1914, he trained there and also at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 17th Battalion alongside the other three Pals battalions left Liverpool via Prescot Station for further training at Belton Park, Grantham. They remained here until September 1915 when they reached Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain. He arrived in France on 7^th November 1915.

James survived the first day of the Battle of the Somme, when the 17^th Bn achieved its objectives, but which cost the British Army nearly 20,000 killed.  On 10^th July the battalion is tasked with taking Trones Wood, still held by the Germans.

The murderous fighting that went on inside Trones Wood rendered it impossible to put specific dates on some of the casualties which is why many of the 17^th Battalion losses have been bracketed as killed in action between 10^th – 12th July 1916. The conditions are best described in the following passage from Everard Wyrall’s book The History of The King’s Regiment (Liverpool) Volume II. 

The remembrance of Trones Wood in July 1916 to those who passed through it is of a noisome, horrible place, of a tangled mass of trees and undergrowth which had been tossed and flung about in frightful confusion by the shells of both sides. Of the ghastly dead which lay about in all directions, and of DEATH, lurking in every hole and corner with greedy hands ready to snatch the lives of the unwary. The place was a Death trap, and although the attacks were made with great determination,   the presence of snipers who could not be detected and often fired into the backs of our men made the clearing of the wood impossible.

James was buried in Maricourt No.3 cemetery, his burial being reported by Rev. P.H. Turnbull, attached to 2^nd Bedfords. He now rests at Peronne Road Cemetery.

Maricourt was, at the beginning of the Battles of the Somme 1916, the point of junction of the British and French forces, and within a very short distance of the front line; it was lost in the German advance of March 1918, and recaptured at the end of the following August.

The Cemetery, originally known as Maricourt Military Cemetery No.3, was begun by fighting units and Field Ambulances in the Battles of the Somme 1916, and used until August 1917; a few graves were added later in the War, and at the Armistice it consisted of 175 graves which now form almost the whole of Plot I. It was completed after the Armistice by the concentration of graves from the battlefields in the immediate neighbourhood and from certain smaller burial grounds.

There are now 1348, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, 366 are unidentified and special memorials are erected to 26 soldiers from the United Kingdom known or believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials record the names of three soldiers from the United Kingdom, buried in other cemeteries, whose graves could not be found.

The cemetery covers an area of 3,787 square metres and is enclosed on three sides by a low red brick wall.

His family evidently were informed of James’ death a couple of weeks later, posting in the Liverpool Echo on 26^th July 1916:  

“Killed in action, aged 21 years, James Francis Sampson (Pals), the dearly loved younger son of James and Margaret Sampson, Mellifont, Rowson Street, New Brighton.  R.I.P.”

His brother Thomas received James’ personal effects in February 1917:  1 wallet cont’g letters, photos & cards, 2 diary’s, 1 metal cig case, R.C. emblems, prayer book, 2 rosaries, purse, 1 pr specks in case, 1 fountain pen.

Probate of £112 2s 10d was granted to his brother Thomas Sampson, meat salesman. 

Liverpool Echo 12th July 1917

SAMPSON - In loving memory of James Francis, 17th K.L.R. (Pals), the dearly-loved younger son of Margaret and the late James Sampson, Mellifont, New Brighton, killed in action July 12, 1916. R.I.P. (On whose soul, sweet Jesus, have mercy.)

His father died nine months after James, aged 63.  In 1919 when his mother provided the Army with information on James’ living relatives, she and daughters Helena and Cecelia were living at Rowson Street, Margaret and Edith were both Sisters in the Convent of Notre Dame, Mount Pleasant, Liverpool, and Thomas was married, living at 33 Russell Street, Liverpool.

James earned his three medals which Thomas signed for on 23^rd June 1920, and 16^th September 1921.  His mother died in 1934, aged 81.

After the war, when graves were concentrated, James was reburied and now rests in Peronne Road Cemetery, Maricourt, Somme, with a headstone inscription that reads,

“MY JESUS MERCY MARY HELP R.I.P.”

James is also commemorated on the following memorials:

Wallasey Civic Memorial and Roll of Honour,

St. Francis Xavier RC Church, Everton,

Bank of Liverpool and Martins Ltd. Tablet (now housed in Barclays Bank, Water Street, Liverpool).

Mount St Mary's College, Eckington.

Mother died 1934. Probate of Margaret, 13 Allerton Rd, Wallasey, died 2nd Sept 1934 at Talbot House, Neston. Effects £6350 to Helena Josephine and Cecilia Sampson.

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