In Memory of

Private James Gaskell

202285
2nd/4th Bn., South Lancashire Regiment
Killed in Action 6th November 1917 Age 26

James lived at 9, Vista Road, Haydock. Before joining the army he was an agent for the Refuge Assurance Company, Earlestown section. He was associated with the Weslyan Mission, Church Road, Haydock for many years and where he held various offices.

He enlisted in the early part of 1916 and went to France in March 1917. He was killed as the result of a bursting shell and, according to his obituary published in the NEG of 7th December 1917, “he was buried near the place he fell – a wooden cross marking the place where his body was laid to rest.”

The obituary included a long letter to James’s mother from one of his chums, Private W. E. Ladd. He wrote: “I can truly say that I have missed a sincere Christian friend, for at any time when I felt lacking in good spirits I always knew where to go for help. In our little dug-out, we spent many a grand evening together. Your dear son would have his Bible out to read a portion of the scripture most appealing to us, and so we were able to enjoy ourselves to such an extent that it became a habit to search the scriptures whenever time was available.”

James’s grave must have been destroyed in subsequent fighting and shelling as his name is on the Tyne Cot Memorial which commemorates nearly 35,000 officers and men who died in the Ypres Salient after August 15th 1917 and who have no known grave.