Name
James Lawrence
1882
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
06/11/1917
36
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lance Corporal
G/28306
The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment)
15th Bn
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
SALONIKA (LEMBET ROAD) MILITARY CEMETERY
1263
Greece
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
Kimpton Village Memorial, Wood Green War Memorial, Haringey, London
Pre War
James Lawrence was born in Kimpton, Herts in 1881, the son of Charles and Mary Anne Lawrence, and was baptised on 20 November 1811 at St Peter & St Paul Church, Kimpton.
On the 1891 Census the family were living at Church Lane, Kimpton, where his father was working as an agricultural labourer and his mother was a straw plaiter. He was one of nine children.
In 1901 he was living at High Road, Radlett, Aldenham, Herts with his employer, Henry Cole, his wife and family and was working as a baker. Whilst there he met Annie Margaret Simmons (she was also living in Radlett in 1901). They married in 1903, probably at Radlett (Watford registration district) and on the 1911 Census they were living at Flat No. 3, Grosvenor Road East, St Albans with their two children, Charles William (aged 4) and Winifred Margaret (aged 2) when James was working as a baker. His parents remained living in Kimpton Village.
Wartime Service
He initially enlisted in Wood Green, Middlesex and initially joined the Middlesex Regiment, later being transferred to the Queen's (Royal West Surrey) Regiment under reg. no. 28306, and transferred again to the 98th Company Labour Corps under no. 58469.
He died in hospital of sickness (perityhphilitis - inflammation of the cecum, often secondary to appendicitis) on 6 November 1917, aged 36 and is buried in Salonika (Lembet Road) Military Cemetery, Greece.
Additional Information
His widow Annie received a war gratuity of £5 10s and pay owing of £2 16s 8d. She also received a pension of £1 5s 5d a week for herself and her children. She gave her address on pension records as 79 Dagmar Road, Wood Green, London.
N.B. James was not one of the 28 names on the Kimpton memorial when it was erected in 1920 but was one of the two extra names added by the Royal British Legion, Kimpton Branch in 2000.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild
