Name
James Martin
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
04/09/1920
37
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Serjeant
39574
Royal Field Artillery
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
ABBOTS LANGLEY (ST. LAWRENCE) CHURCHYARD
460. (N.W. Plot).
United Kingdom
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Not on the Abbots Langley memorials
Biography
James was another one of the men from Abbots Langley that served in the Great War, only to return home and die from illness or wounds received whilst serving.
The National Roll of the Great War recorded that James volunteered in October 1914, and after training was sent to the Western Front. The Abbots Langley Parish Magazine Roll of Honour first listed James Martin serving with the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) in December 1915. The National Roll continued to explain that James was gassed whilst in action at Noyon. It is likely that this took place either during the German Spring Offensive of May 1918, or in the Allied counter-offensive in August, later in the same year. For both possibilities the actions took place in and around the town of Noyon, some fifteen miles to the south-west of St Quentin. When the Germans advanced in a series of surprise attacks they did so through clouds of mist mixed with poison gas, so the battles of March 1918 might be when James was gassed.
James Martin was recorded on the Absent Voter Lists in Autumn 1918, Spring 1919, and Autumn 1919, where it was indicated that his home residence was at 4 Adrian Road, Abbots Langley. This address was also recorded in the National Roll of the Great War when the book was compiled after the War.
James served through to the end of the War, and was demobilised in May 1919.
He was born in 1883 at Abbots Langley, the son of a Butcher’s Shopkeeper, James Martin (Senior), from Adrian Road, Abbots Langley. James (Senior) and his wife Emily lived this address at the time of the 1891 and 1901 Census with three daughters and one son – James. James married in 1910, and in 1911 was recorded living at 2 Breakspeare Road, Abbots Langley with his wife and six year old daughter. He worked as a Cab Driver.
James died from his wounds nearly two years after the Armistice was signed to end the Great War, in November 1918. He had been back at Abbots Langley for sixteen months when he passed away. He died the day before John Windmill, another man from Abbots Langley who served in the Great War also died.
James Martin was buried in the Churchyard at St Lawrence Church, Abbots Langley, but was not commemorated on the Abbots Langley War Memorial.
Acknowledgments
Roger Yapp - www.backtothefront.org
