Sam Jackson

Sam Jackson enlisted into the Sherwood Foresters on 4 January 1902 aged 20 years and 10 months. He was already serving in the 4th Battalion Militia at the time. Sam was 5 feet 5 inches tall with brown eyes and hair, listing St Andrews Nottingham as his birthplace. His first year of service was in the United Kingdom and with the 2nd Battalion before being posted to 1st Battalion on 24 January 1903. It is known that he was in Singapore with 1st Battalion on, 7 December 1904 and after 2 years, the battalion moved to India. Sam and the battalion would spend the next 8 years in India before returning to England on the outbreak of World War One. Sam was appointed Lance Corporal on 11 September 1906 and Corporal on 23 February 1909. On 29 June 1909 he extended his service to complete 12 years with the colours. On 23 April 1912, Sam was appointed paid Half Sergeant and a year later a full Sergeant. On 29 August 1913 he also re-engaged to complete 21 years of service and was appointed Colour Sergeant the same year. On the outbreak of war, the 1st Battalion were ordered to return from India, which would take a month, seeing them arrive on 3 September 1914. The battalion refitted, added more men and trained hard prior to moving to France on 4 November 1914. Life in the early trenches during the winter, were intolerable, especially for men who had just returned from many years in India. In March 1915 the battalion took part in the Battle of Neuve Chapelle, an attack which initially went well on 11th. At 5 am on 12th, the Germans shelled battalion headquarters and advanced in overwhelming numbers to attack. The right flank of the battalion was forced to retire for fear of being outflanked. The battalion inflicted heavy losses on the enemy before retiring to the support trench some 150 yards to the rear. The enemy continued to advance but was thrown into disorder by the company bomber Private Jacob Rivers (VC) and counter attacks from the battalion. By 7 am the battalion had retaken its former line and things settled somewhat until at 3 pm the battalion suffered casualties from its own artillery. At 9 pm the battalion withdrew to the support trench, which became the new defensive line. At some point during the day Sam was killed and he has no known grave. Research by John Morse

Obituary published in the Nottingham Evening Post dated 12th March 1917 : - “JACKSON. - In loving memory of Acting-Company-Sergt.-Major Sam Jackson, 1st Sherwood Foresters, late 79, Holgate-road, died at Neuve Chapelle March 12th, 1915. Although two years have passed away, his memory's as dear in our thoughts to-day. - Mother, sisters, Ethel, Dollie, brother Sydney (in France). Above obituary courtesy of Jim Grundy and his facebook pages Small Town Great War Hucknall 1914-1918