Pte 24975 James Roberts

• Age: 21
• From: Liverpool
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 17th Btn
• K.I.A Monday 10th July 1916
• Commemorated at: Bernafay Wood Brit Cem
  Panel Ref: G.47

James Roberts was born in Liverpool on 17th January 1895, the son of Robert Roberts and his wife Annie (née Blundell) who married in St. Peter’s Church in 1886. Robert was a 29 year old plasterer of Lawton Street, father, Robert a carter, whilst Annie was aged 22, also of Lawton Street, father, Joseph a shipwright. Both his parents were born in Liverpool. They had nine children, of whom five sadly died. James’ surviving older siblings were Robert and Annie, and younger sister Ethel.     

He was baptised in St. Peter's Church, Liverpool, on 26th February 1895; his parents were living in Kinmel Street (one of the Welsh Streets), and his father’s occupation is plasterer.   

James enlisted in Liverpool as Private 24975, 17^th (Pals) Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment. He would have been 19 years old. 

The battalion was billeted at Prescot Watch Factory from 14^th September 1914, he trained there and also at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 17th Battalion alongside the other three Pals battalions left Liverpool via Prescot Station for further training at Belton Park, Grantham. They remained here until September 1915 when they reached Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain.  

James arrived in France on 07th November 1915. 

James survived the first day of the Battle of the Somme, when the 17^th Bn achieved its objectives, but which cost the British Army nearly 20,000 killed. 

On 10^th July the battalion is tasked with taking Trones Wood, still held by the Germans.

The murderous fighting that went on inside Trones Wood rendered it impossible to put specific dates on some of the casualties which is why many of the 17^th Battalion losses have been bracketed as killed in action between 10^th – 12th July 1916. The conditions are best described in the following passage from Everard Wyrall’s book The History of The King’s Regiment (Liverpool) Volume II;  

The remembrance of Trones Wood in July 1916 to those who passed through it is of a noisome, horrible place, of a tangled mass of trees and undergrowth which had been tossed and flung about in frightful confusion by the shells of both sides. Of the ghastly dead which lay about in all directions, and of DEATH, lurking in every hole and corner with greedy hands ready to snatch the lives of the unwary. The place was Death trap, and although the attacks were made with great determination,   the presence of snipers who could not be detected and often fired into the backs of our men made the clearing of the wood impossible.

After this action in Trones Wood James was declared Missing.  It is not known when his parents learned of their son’s fate, but a month later, on 09^th August 1916, they placed a notice in the Liverpool Daily Post: 

 “Private James Roberts has been posted as missing after an engagement on July 11-12.  Any news of him would be gratefully received by his parents, who live at 147 North Hill Street, Liverpool.”

James earned his three medals.

James probably had a sweetheart as her photograph was found on the battlefield. His being still Missing two years on was reported in the Liverpool Weekly Courier on Saturday 10 August 1918;   

LOST ON THE BATTLEFIELD. 

One of the photographs published last week has been claimed by Mrs Devine of Dingle, Liverpool, as the property of her daughter. It was given to Private J. Roberts, who was in the Pals, and who has been missing two years on July 10th last. 

James earned his three medals. His Soldiers Effects, Army Pay of 4s 9d and War Gratuity of £6 went to his father Robert, and pension went to his parents, at 24 Lothian Street and 147 North Hill Street. 

James was buried in place and later, when graves were concentrated, his body was removed and buried in Bernafay Wood British Cemetery, Montauban, Somme, where he now rests.

The cemetery was begun by a dressing station in August 1916 and used as a front-line cemetery until the following April. It contained at the Armistice 284 burials but was then increased when graves were brought in from Bernafay Wood North Cemetery and from the battlefields immediately east of the wood.  Bernafay Wood British Cemetery now contains 945 burials and commemorations of the First World War, 417 of which are unidentified.

On the 1921 Census his family are still living at 147 North Hill Street, Toxteth Park. Father Robert is aged 63, mother Annie is aged 57, Ethel is 18. 

His mother died, aged 65, in 1931, and his father, aged 74, in 1933. 

We currently have no further information on James Roberts, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.