Name
James Albert Rae
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
04/09/1915
19
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Second Lieutenant
Bedfordshire Regiment
10th (Service) Bn., attached 3rd/1st Bn. Cambridge Regiment
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Searched but not found
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
WATFORD CEMETERY
Plot H, Row 2, Grave 807.
United Kingdom
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Watford Borough Roll of Honour,
St Michael and All Angels Church Memorial, Watford,
Watford Grammar School Memorial, Watford,
Watford Grammar School Book of Remembrance
Pre War
Son of James and Elizabeth Catherine (nee MITCHELL) RAE of Watford.
His parents married 24 September 1892 at St Paul’s, Bow Common, London. James possibly died 1911 in the Farnham, Surrey, district aged 42; Elizabeth died 29 March 1949 in Faygate, Sussex, aged 82.
James was born 3 or 5 March 1896 in Bow, and baptised 12 April 1896 at St Paul’s, Bow Common. He attended Alexandra School, Watford, from 11 January 1904 to 30 July 1908; then Watford Grammar School from September 1909 to June 1910. He was buried 8 September.
On the 1901 Census, aged 5 he lived in Watford, with his parents and two siblings. On the 1911 Census, a cardboard box cutter aged 15, he still lived in Watford, with his parents and four siblings.
Wartime Service
He attested 17 August 1914 for 3 years with the Colours: a joiner aged 19, C of E, next-of-kin his father of Watford.
He was discharged as Private 12081 from D Company, 6th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, 7 April 1915, on being appointed to a Commission in the 9th Battalion: aged 19, 5’9″ tall. He served at Home from 17 August 1914 to 7 April 1915, and has a medal card but no medals are listed thereon. He died at King Edward VII Hospital, Windsor, Berks, following a motor accident. An inquest was held at the hospital 6 September 1915.
Additional Information
James is buried in a family grave (not CWGC) which bears the inscription:
JAMES A. RAE, 2ND LIEUT. 10TH BATT. BEDS. REGT.
DIED 4TH SEPT. 1915, AGED 19 YEARS.
DIED 4TH SEPT. 1915, AGED 19 YEARS.
The published Watford Grammar School Book of Remembrance entry reads:
“RAE, JAMES ALBERT. School period: September, 1909, to June, 1910. Second Lieutenant, Cambridgeshire Regiment. Killed in a motor accident at Windsor, 3rd September, 1915.”
There are articles about James in the West Herts and Watford Observer dated 10 April 1915, 7 August 1915 and 11 September 1915, as well as a Grammar School In Memoriam in the issue dated 25 December 1915; also in the Watford Illustrated dated 11 September 1915. There is an account of his funeral in the St Michael’s Parish Magazine dated October 1915.
Acknowledgments
Sue Carter (Research) and Watford Museum (ROH on line via www.ourwatfordhistory.org.uk)
