William Thomas James - died at Home 23 Oct 1918

[Greensleeves]

William Thomas James, born 1895 Rotherhithe, was in the 22nd Btn, London Regiment, his number being 1252.  At some point he transferred to the Labour Corps where his number was 659568.  He is listed amongst the 'Soldiers died in the Great War' as having died at 'Home', whilst on the CWGC site he is listed under his original regiment, which I believe is standard procedure.

It appears that the officers and men who served in the Labour Corps were generally either judged not sufficiently fit to serve at the front, or they had been previously wounded and subsequently transferred to the Labour Corps.  However, I can't see any way of finding out why he was in the Labour Corps and indeed whether or not he had been wounded in action.  I was therefore wondering if anyone has any suggestions as to whether this kind of information might be available somewhere.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Kind regards
GS

[myluck!]

William Thomas JAMES was baptised on Jul 01 1894 at St. Crispins
Birth 1894 St. Olave Southwark London V1d P274
Father William JAMES; Mother Charlotte Ann VICKERS

Shown on 1901 and 1911 at 36 Ayton Street, Bermondsey with his family
Married May 24 1914 Ada Valentine HUNT

His medal card is available to view LINK

Possibilty that one of these is his death, which the certificate of could provide further details
William T JAMES Dec 1918 Lewes Sussex V2b P387
or William Thomas JAMES Q4 1918 Norwich Norfolk V4b P197
There is a burial in Lancing Sussex on Dec 04 1918 of a William Thomas JAMES

[Christine53]

The Register of Soldiers' Effects says he died at the Military Hospital , Norwich 23.10.18. which ties with the Norwich registration , given by myluck.

[MaxD]

As noted by Christine - he died in the Military Hospital in Norwich while serving with Eastern Command Labour Centre, a Labour Corps training centre at Thetford which suggests that after perhaps some service overseas with the Labour Corps, he had been sent back, perhaps unfit, to UK to serve out the war there.  The record (Soldiers'Effects register) doesn't give the cause but if wounded, it usually says so.

Unfortunately, without his service record, chances of knowing whether he was wounded in France are slim indeed.  However, wounding, sickness and lack of fitness were not the sole reasons for transfer.    Often men with a particular skill useful to the Labour Corps would be transferred.    So a number of possibilities for each move and, as you have acknowledged little hope of finding out the reasons.

The Norwich death would be him although he is buried in Manor Park Cemetery.

MaxD

[Greensleeves]

Thank you all so much for this interesting information.  I hadn't realised that he died in hospital in Norwich, as the only record I could find in respect of his military service cited that he died at 'Home', which I assumed was London (he was born in Rotherhithe).

I am particularly interested in the fact that whilst the war dead are commemorated, often those who died of wounds - both physical and mental -  are not so easy to enumerate.  However, I was very pleased to find him on the CWGC site, as I mentioned previously.

I must confess I hadn't even heard of the Labour Corps until today's research so I can see I'll be pursuing that as another avenue of research henceforth.

Once again, many thanks for your help.

GS

[jim1]

He may have served in his Regiment's Labour Battalion. These were transferred to the Labour Corps on it's formation in 1917.

[Greensleeves]

Thanks for that info Jim - much appreciated.

GS