Name
James Henry Moss
1881
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
29/11/1915
34
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Serjeant
3718
Hertfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
BETHUNE TOWN CEMETERY
IV. G. 20.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
4 Co' Hertfordshire Reg' Territorials’ Memorial, Hitchin, St Mary's Church Roll of Honour (Book), Hitchin, Stevenage Old Town Memorial, St Nicholas' Church Memorial, Stevenage Old Town, Holy Trinity Church Memorial Roll of Honour, Stevenage Old Town, Hertfordshire Regimental Memorial, All Saints Church, Hertford, We are not aware of any Aston End memorial
Pre War
James Henry was born in 1881 in Aston End, Stevenage, Herts. and christened on 13 February 1881 in Aston End . His parents were father also James Henry and Martha (née White). They married in Aston in 1875.
In 1881 the family were living at Aston End, Stevenage, Herts. Present were both parents: James and Martha – both 27, with James (senior) working as an agricultural labourer. Their children were: Sarah A (5), Alice (3), James Henry (3 months), A boarder, William Hornett (21) was also present.
In 1891 the family were living at Coreys Mill, Graveley. Present were both parents, with James still an agricultural labourer. Their children were now listed as Alice, James and now Hannah (6), Florence (4) and Ellen (2).
James (junior) enlisted into the Grenadier Guards in 1898 with the service number 7723 and was found in the 1901 census as 21, a Private in the Grenadier Guards at Victoria Barracks, Windsor, which included the guard on Windsor Castle.
He married Susan Fanny Taplin in 1904 and they were the first couple to be married at the Bunyan church in the High Street and one assumes that he was no longer a soldier.
They had three children before the next census: James Frank (b 1/3/1905) and twins, Violet Maggie and Daisy Ellen (b 21/3/1908).
By 1911 they were living at 8 Venables's Yard, Church Path, Stevenage. James (30) was a straw tyer for a forage contractor. The census recorded they had been married for 7 years with 3 children, all living.
Officially James was recorded as living in Stevenage, Herts., was living there when he enlisted in Hertford.
Wartime Service
James would have been time expired as an Army Reservist, so presumably he volunteered for the Hertfordshire Regiment and had the service number 3718 meaning that he enlisted between 5 November and 13 December 1914. He was posted to France on the 16th February 1915.
The Hertfords were in the vicinity of Bethune and spent the time in the front line, on reliefs and in billets, with shelling, sniping, snow, mud and rain creating a steady toll of casualties.
On the 29th November 1915, James returned from a long march with his company to their billets in an orphanage in Bethune, and he soon fell asleep. Sadly, he did not wake up and he died as a result of heart failure. Consequently his death was recorded as between 29 November 1915 and 30 November 1915
He was buried in Bethune Town Cemetery in Plot IV, Row G, Grave 20 in France.
Additional Information
After his death from £3 2s 0d pay owing was authorised to go to his widow, Susan Fanny Moss, on 30 March 1916. Later, a war gratuity of £6 10s was authorised to be paid to her on 28 July 1919.
His pension cards record, his widow, as his dependant, living at Pratts Farm, Walkern Road, Stevenage. She was awarded a pension of £20s 6d from 19 June 1916, increased to 21s 6d from 3 November 1916 and then to 28s 9d from 4 April 1917 6s 6d. Their children were listed as James Frank (b 1/3/1905) and twins, Violet Maggie and Daisy Ellen (b 21/3/1908). Susan re-married becoming Burnage of Titmore Green, Herts.
Acknowledgments
Adrian Dunne, David C Baines, Jonty Wild, Paul Johnson
