Pte 58676 James Rimmer

• Age: 25
• From: Liverpool
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 20th Btn
• K.I.A Tuesday 20th March 1917
• Commemorated at: Arras Memorial
  Panel Ref: Bay 3

James was born in Liverpool on about the 09th March 1892 the son of James Rimmer and his wife Jane (nee Howard). Both his parents were born in Seaforth.  The marriage certificate, in St. Nicholas Church, on 05th June 1882, shows James Rimmer, age 26, married Jane Rimmer, age 24, father Thomas Rimmer.  Birth records are misleading, as the mother’s maiden name in a number of births is given as Rimmer instead of Howard.  He had an older brother Robert, born in 1882, and an older sister Esther, born in 1886.

Jane re-married 24th July 1898 to Frederick Robertson - She was a widow and daughter of Thomas Howard. 

James enlisted in Seaforth giving his residence as Seaforth.  Based on the amount of the War Gratuity, he served less than a year before he was killed. He was serving with the 20th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment as Private 58676 when he was killed in action on 20th March 1917. 

In February 1917 the 20^th Bn were in trenches near Agny, south of Arras, when the Germans began their withdrawal to the Hindenberg Line to consolidate their lines, burning villages and devastating the land they evacuated.  Fighting patrols were sent out to determine the location of the enemy.  Casualties were incurred from machine gun and sniper fire and booby traps. 

The battalion War Diary records casualties during the period 18^th-21^st March 1917: 1 Officer and 5 OR taken prisoner, 7 OR killed and 18 wounded, 1 OR missing, believed POW. 

James was one of the Other Ranks referred to as killed, he was 25 years of age.

His body was not recovered from the battlefield and his name is on the Arras Memorial in France. 

The ARRAS MEMORIAL commemorates almost 35,000 servicemen from the United Kingdom, South Africa and New Zealand who died in the Arras sector between the spring of 1916 and 7 August 1918, the eve of the Advance to Victory, and have no known grave. The most conspicuous events of this period were the Arras offensive of April-May 1917, and the German attack in the spring of 1918. Canadian and Australian servicemen killed in these operations are commemorated by memorials at Vimy and Villers-Bretonneux. A separate memorial remembers those killed in the Battle of Cambrai in 1917. Both cemetery and memorial were designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, with sculpture by Sir William Reid Dick. The memorial was unveiled by Lord Trenchard, Marshal of the Royal Air Force on the 31 July 1932 (originally it had been scheduled for 15 May, but due to the sudden death of French President Doumer, as a mark of respect, the ceremony was postponed until July). 

His death was announced in the Liverpool Echo on 7th April 1917: 

“March 20, killed in action, Private James Rimmer (K.L.R.), the dearly-beloved son of Jane Robertson, 58 Arthur Street, Seaforth. (Sadly missed by his Brothers and Sisters, Bob, Fred, Ett, and Nell.)”

SDGW shows he was in the 12th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment, however his Medal Roll shows only service in 20th Battalion.