Serjeant 24881 James Hamilton

• Age: 25
• From: Annalong, Co. Down
• Regiment: 12th KLR
• Died on Tuesday 2nd April 1918
• Commemorated at: Pozieres Memorial
  Panel Ref: Panel 21 - 23

James was born on 12th February 1893 in Moneydara, Annalong, Co. Down, the son of Samuel Hamilton and his wife Mary Jane (nee Orr). The youngest of six children, his siblings were; Samuel, Marjorie, Jane Orr, Needham and Isaac.

James' father, Samuel died on 12th March 1899, aged 66, and James' mother, Mary Jane, was present at his death.

The 1901 Census shows the family living in Moneydorraghmore, County Down. James who is 8, could read and write and lives with his widowed mother Mary Jane aged 46 and a farmer, and his siblings; Samuel, aged 22, also a farmer, Margaret, aged 20, and married, Jane Orr aged 14, Needham aged 12, and Isaac aged 9. All of the children were born County Down and their religion was Church of Ireland. 

His mother remarried on 21st January 1909 at Kilhorne Church, Annalong to widowed farmer William Gordon.

By 1911 James had moved to Liverpool where he was living as a boarder at 39 Cullen Street, Smithdown Road. He is now 18 and is described as a grocer's assistant.

He enlisted in Liverpool joining the 17th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment with the Service No. 24881. His service records show that he was Acting Serjeant by the time he transferred to the 1st Battalion of KLR and he was subsequently transferred to the 12th Battallion.

James was killed in action on 02nd April 1918, aged 25, his body was not recovered from the battlefield or his grave was subsequently lost as he is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial in France.

The POZIERES MEMORIAL relates to the period of crisis in March and April 1918 when the Allied Fifth Army was driven back by overwhelming numbers across the former Somme battlefields, and the months that followed before the Advance to Victory, which began on 8 August 1918. The Memorial commemorates over 14,000 casualties of the United Kingdom and 300 of the South African Forces who have no known grave and who died on the Somme from 21 March to 7 August 1918.

The cemetery and memorial were designed by W.H. Cowlishaw, with sculpture by Laurence A. Turner. The memorial was unveiled by Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien on 4 August 1930.

He was posted as Missing in the Liverpool Echo on  29th October 1918

MISSING SERGEANT 

Sergeant James Hamilton (24881) of the K.L.R., has been missing since March 21. Information will be gratefully received by Mrs Hamilton of 96 Lawrence Road, Wavertree. [Electoral register for this address is for John and Jane Ann Hamilton].

His death was eventually and officially presumed to be 02nd April 1918.

James is commemorated in the Hall of Remembrance inside Liverpool Town Hall at Panel 55 Right.

His brother Isaac also served in the War, he enlisted in January 1916 in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers eventually transferring to the Cheshire Regiment.

We currently have no further information on James Hamilton. If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.