James Rimmington
- Family History
- Military History
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James was born at Arnold in 1887 at Arnold and was the son of William a colliery banksman and Elizabeth Rimmington née Stone of Church moor cottages, Calverton Road, Arnold. His father William was born in 1867 at Arnold, his mother Elizabeth Stone was born in 1866 at Burton upon Trent, they were married in 1886 their marriage was recorded in the Basford registration district. They had the following children, Lilly b1888 James b1889, Edward b1891 and Percy b1897 all were born in Arnold. He was raised in Arnold and attended the local British School. In the 1911 census he and his family are shown living at Church Moor Cottages, Calverton Road, Arnold, he is shown as being 22 years of age and together with his younger brother Edward 20 years are engaged as scavenging contractors his father William 44 yrs is a colliery banksman.
Corporal James Rimmington enlisted at Nottingham whilst residing at Daybrook he served with the South Staffordshire Regiment at Nottingham and after receiving his initial basic training he was posted to their 2/5th Battalion. He was killed in action on 1st December 1917 and is buried in Orival Wood Cemetery, Flesquieres, France, Plot II. Row C. Grave 16.
On November 20th 1917, the British opened the battle of Cambrai, led by 476 tanks which were used for the first time en masse during the war. The initial attacks were very successful indeed and the German line was pierced to a depth of some six miles. That is, except at Flesquieres, where the German defenders fought with great courage and knocked out quite a number of the tanks in the area. This, along with the poor coordination between the tanks and the infantry caused the advance at this point to falter and ever increasing resistance is met with and the battle concentrated around Bourlon Ridge to the west of Cambrai. The battle continued into December, and the Germans launched many successful local counter-attacks. On the 1st December, one such counter attack was made by the Germans using a short bombardment which was quickly followed up by their new units of Storm-Troopers. It was during this attack that James was killed in Action when aged 30 years.
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