Name
James Knox Hart
14 January 1895
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
31/10/1917
22
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Rifleman
302338
London Regiment (London Rifle Brigade)
2nd/5th (City of London) Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
TYNE COT MEMORIAL
Panel 150.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
Berkhamsted - Berkhamsted Collegiate School, Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial, Leverstock Green Village Memorial
Pre War
James was born in Leverstock Green on 14 January 1895, the son of James and Christine Knox-Hart, and baptised there on 28 March 1911 at the age of 16. He was one of seven children.
James' father had moved from Scotland as a result of ill-health, looking for a better climate and change of profession. He had previously been a tweed merchant and had a business in Hawick but bought Leverstock Green Farm and became a farmer in January 1885. On the 1901 and 1911 Censuses the family were living at Leverstock Green Farm and his father was a Farmer.
He was educated at Berkhamsted Grammar School for 7 years and on leaving went to Chelmsford Agricultural College, with the intention that he should follow his father into agriculture.
Wartime Service
Shortly after the outbreak of war, the 1st Battalion, Queen's Westminster Rifles arrived at Leverstock Green where the Battalion's HQ was established in the village school with the men billeted at farms in the area. F Company stayed in a barn on Leverstock Green Farm. One soldier later recalled that "the horses slept downstairs and we slept in the loft above".
James enlisted in London in October 1915 and joined the 5th (City of London) Battalion, London Rifle Brigade, (initially under reg. no. 3871, and later reg. no. 302338) being called up for service on 20 January 1916. After basic training he went to France with the Battalion and arrived at Le Havre on 25 January 1917.
In March the Battalion were in pursuit of the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line, capturing enemy prisoners, but James saw his first serious action at the Battle of Bullecourt. He also fought in the Battles of Menin Road Ridge and Polygon Wood, where heavy casualties were sustained.
His next major action was the Second Battle of Passchendaele (Third Battle of Ypres), notable for the atrocious weather and waterlogged ground, when he was killed in action on 31 October 1917, aged 22. He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium.
Additional Information
His father received a war gratuity of £10s and pay owing of £6 8s 2d.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, google.com/site/leverstockgreenwarmemorial, www.dacorumheritage.org.uk, www.hemelatwar.org., www.hemelheroes.com.
