James Walker
- Family History
- Military History
- Extra Information
- Photographs
James was born in Nottingham in 1874, the son of William and Mary Walker (née Holmes). His father William was born in Nottingham in about 1841 and his mother Mary in Arnold, Nottingham, in about 1840. They were married in 1860 and had at least nine children. The family lived in Nottingham apart from the period of the 1891 Census when they were living in Leicester. Mary died in 1908 and William in 1919. James married Flora Susan Barnes (b. Dec. 1873 Bow, London) in 1901 and they had three children, Harold James b. 1901, Evelyn Norah b. 1908 and Wilfred Gordon b. 1911. In 1911 they were living at 17 Selbourne Street, Nottingham: James a metal polisher (telephone), Flora a blouse machinist and Harold (7), Evelyn (2) and Wilfred (2 months). Flora, a lace hand, was still living at the same address in 1939 when the England & Wales Register was compiled. She died in 1941.
Royal Marine Light Infantry, Portsmouth Bn. Royal Naval Division. Formerly 16455 Private, Sherwood Foresters (Notts & Derby Regiment). James enlisted on 10 September 1914 and was posted to the Sherwood Foresters. However, he was transferred to the RMLI on a short-service engagement on 16 September 1914. Portsmouth Battalion was drafted to the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, 28 February 1915, for the Gallipoli Campaign. The campaign, from February 1915 to January 1916, was planned by the Allies to weaken the Ottoman Empire by gaining control of the Turkish straits. An attempt by the Allied fleet to force the Dardanelles was unsuccessful and was followed by an amphibious landing on the Gallipoli peninsula in April 1915. Portsmouth Battalion ('Gloucester Castle') arrived at Lemnos, Greece, from England along with Deal Battalion ('Alnwick Castle') on 11 March 1915, the Plymouth and Chatham Battalions RMLI having preceded them. The Royal Marine Brigade later sailed for Egypt then re-embarked in April for Gallipoli, arriving off Cape Helles on 27 April. Portsmouth Battalion disembarked at Gaba Tepe the following day. James was transferred to hospital in Cairo suffering from enteritis (dysentry), probably at the end of July, and died from dysentry at the Red Cross Hospital, Giza, on 18 August 1915. He is buried in Cairo War Memorial Cemetery, Egypt (grave. ref. D.37) Walker became one of 'Kitchener's Marines' who were transferred from the Sherwood Foresters to the RMLI. Des Turner notes '600 RMLI transfers came from 2 regiments - 200 from the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (KOYLI) and 400 from the Sherwood Foresters. They were predominantly ex-miners and labourers, fit men wanted for their ability to dig trenches and tunnels. The 200 KOYLI recruits were transferred to Plymouth Division RMLI and were given service numbers PLY/1(S) to PLY200(S). This was also the case for the Sherwood Foresters 200 who were dispatched to Portsmouth where already 30 men were recruited and so they became PO/31(S) to PO/230(S). 200 remaining Foresters went to Chatham and were numbered CH/1 to CH/200(S).' CWGC - History of Cairo War Memorial Cemetery (extract): 'At the outbreak of the First World War, Cairo was headquarters to the United Kingdom garrison in Egypt. With Alexandria, it became the main hospital centre for Gallipoli in 1915 and later dealt with the sick and wounded from operations in Egypt and Palestine. Cairo War Memorial Cemetery ... was formerly part of the New British Protestant Cemetery, but plots B, D, F, H, K, M, O, P and Q were ceded to the Commission in 1920. Some graves were brought into these plots from elsewhere in the Protestant cemetery.' (www.cwgc.org)
CWGC: 'Son of William and Mary Walker; husband of Florence (sic) Walker, of 17, Selbourne St., Pym St., Nottingham.' CWGC: age 43. Birth registered 1874 (O/N/D Radford, Walker/Holmes), 1911 Census aged 36 (corresponding ages on previous census records), so age about 40. Nottingham Evening Post, ‘Deaths’, 8 April 1941: ‘Walker. Flora Susan. 5th April, 17 Selbourne-street. Funeral Carlton 2.30. Tuesday.’ (www.britishnewsaperarchive.co.uk)
