Blencowe James W 1895

James William (Willie) Blencowe [4485]
1895-1946

Known as James Willie.

Father Nm: Walter Blencowe,   b. 1849, Souldern, Oxfordshire died Apr 1925, Sheffield, Yorkshire West Riding: Oldest known ancestor John Blencowe 1778 Burnby, Northants.

Mother Nm: Elizabeth Ann Fisher,  22 Oct 1866 Huddersfield, Yorkshire died Mar 1943, Rother Valley, Yorkshire West Riding,

Marriage Dt:1917, Blencowe James W Houghton Sheffield 9c 1130, Houghton Fanny Blencowe Sheffield 9c 1130.

K comments:

WW1: Brother Reginald Lionel served with K.O. Yorks LI.

Ireland Uprising. Brother Albert Edward served with Kings Own in Ireland in the 1920s

WW2: Nephews; James Thomas served in the Royal Artillery; James Walter with 5th East Yorkshire Regt., Niece Fanny Elizabeth served with Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserve, and Dorothy and Florence served as Nurses in the Reserve Nursing Force.

Spouse comments: Fanny Houghton [8190] 1897-1964. Died Dec quarter 1964 Sheffield aged 67

Children: James Thomas Fisher 1915, George R 1918-1918,

(Research): GR[B] Wortley March 1895

Birth 21st Jan. 1895
1906- Brightside Nursery First School (Boys) Sheffield

Living at 33 Hayland St. Brother Reginald at the same school.

1911 Census Sheffield Yorkshire West Riding
  1. Walter Blencowe 61
  2. Elizabeth Ann Blincowe 41
  3. Richard Fisher Blincowe 27
  4. James Willie Blincowe 16 Forge Labourer
  5. Evelyn Ida Philomena Blincowe 14
  6. Reginald Lionel Blincowe 11
  7. Albert Edard Blincowe 9
  8. Emily Mariam Blincowe 4
Kings Own Yorkshire LI
WW1

Blencowe James Willie, 1895, Wortley, Private, 13698, 7th Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (KOYLI), 61st Bde, 20th Division.

Note: Known as Willie and recorded as Blencoe on Medal Card and Medal Roll sheets.

Synopsis

Willie had a long run of service on the western front without it seems injury or major sickness, he was lucky in this respect casualties for the battalion is that they suffered 456 deaths (or equivalent to 50% of its normal serving strength) in the war period. His time from landing in France in July 1915 until February 1918 is well documented, however, he disappears as far as records are concerned between March and the Armistice in 1918. Discharged in early 1919

1914
  • Jun/Jul. Enlisted in this period most likely (SN 13018 enlisted 9 Jun 1914 and SN 13782 enlisted 26th Aug 1914). Enlisted in the 7th KOYLI which was formed at Pontefract on 12th September 1914 as part of Kitchener 2nd recruitment and came under command of 61st Brigade in 20th (Light) Division. Moved to Woking and then on to Witley in February 1915, going on to Salisbury Plain in May. 24th July 1915: landed at Boulogne. (James Willie medal card date of entry to BEF).
1915
  • 22nd Jul. Larkhill Entrained to Southampton and embarked on the Monas Queen to France. Landed at Le Havre on the 23rd.1
  • On the 26th of July 1915, the Division completed a concentration in the Saint-Omer area, all units having crossed to France during the preceding few days. Early trench familiarisation and training took place in the Fleurbaix area.
  • 28th Jul. Marched to billets at La Kruele.1
  • 29th Jul. Marched to Steenwerck. Most of August was spent at Bac St Maur working under the supervision of the Royal Engineers (digging trenches etc.). Billets were at Estaires. 1
  • 5th-22nd Sept. Croix-Blanche (South of Fleurbaix). Moved to the front line and completed spells in trenches.
  • 22nd Sept. Loos. The 7th KOYLI attacked along with the 20th division in general support of the Battle of Loos. Casualties were killed for the month 16. 1
  • 8-10th Oct. Rouge -de-Bout, Loos. In the trenches, casualties were taken on both days. One man was wounded and 2 killed on the 8th.

    The Rouge de Bout line circled on this trench map
  • 13-14th Oct. Rouge -de-Bout, Loos. Enemy explodes mine near trenches, enemy gunfire and mortar bombs, one man killed and two wounded. One officer was shot and killed the next day standing on the parapet. Casualties for the month 10. 1
  • Nov – 2nd Dec. Rouge -de-Bout, Loos. Continued to man trenches but quiet period. Bn. relieved on the 2nd and went to Sailly to Billets. 1
  • Nov – 16th Dec. Sailly on the 16th moved to Fleurbaix. 1
  • 18th-22nd and 26th-30th Dec. Fleurbaix. In the trenches, an officer was killed on the 27th. 1
1916
  • 1st-22nd Jan. Fleurbaix. In billets and trenches. 3 killed on trench relief on the 7th and 4 more died on the 9/10th. 1
  • 22nd Jan. Marched to Bavinchove (10kms north-west Hazebrouck). 1
  • Mar.To Ypres Sector.  Elverdinghe and Poperinghe. Spells in the trenches more hostile-casualties for the month 20 killed.
  • 1-16th Apr. Poperinghe. Spells in the trenches. 1
  • 17th Apr. The Bn. entrained for Calais to spend time at a rest camp. 1
  • 26-28th Apr. The Bn. left Calais and marched 13 miles to Zutkerque, then the next day to Bollezeele 15 miles. Finally on the last day of the march arriving at new billets at Herzeele. 1
  • 20th May. Wieljte. In the trenches. 1
  • 24-26th May. Ypres. In Billets. 1
  • 27th-31st May Poperinghe. In Billets. Casualties for the month 13 killed. 1
  • Jun. Poperinghe. a fairly quiet month in preparation for the upcoming battle. 1
  • 10th Jul. Poperinghe. While in their billets the 7th KOYLI were shelled heavily. The war diary doesn’t explain the casualties, but an examination of CWGC records shows 39 men killed that day plus those not mentioned who were wounded. 2 Time spent in the trenches before and after this incident.

Note for the year 2nd Jul 1915 -22nd Jul 1916 the battalion casualties were;

Casualty type Officers Other Ranks
KIA 5 45
Died of Wounds 2 21
Wounded 6 209
Died natural causes 2
Sick evacuated off Battalion 6 145
  • Aug. To the Somme  Mailly Maillet. Spells in trenches. 1
  • 23-27th Aug. Ginchy. Relieved the Buffs in the front line in front of Ginchy and told them to dig a new trench closer to the enemy for an attack the next day. The enemy saw and bombarded the new trench stopping the digging. One officer was killed, a total of wounded and killed about 50. 1 Records show 23 men died in this period of a few days. 2
  • 3rd Sept.The Battle of Guillemont.
    Map shows trenches on 3 Sept. 1916 Sherwood trench blue Map 57c SW.3
    The map shows trenches on 3 Sept. 1916 Sherwood trench blue Map 57c SW.3

    The Bn. goes into trenches at Trones and Bernafay Woods for an attack on Guillemont. Ordered to move into the Sherwood trench, two medical orderlies (stretcher-bearers) were killed. Guillemont was captured by the British forces other deaths were recorded for the Bn but 50 slightly wounded are reported in the diary.

  • 15th-17th Sept. The Battle of Flers Courcelette. The Bn after a few days in Billets came back to Trones Wood with the objective of attacking the Quadrilateral (see map).
    Map from F C Grimwade - THE WAR HISTORY OF THE 4th battalion THE LONDON REGIMENT (ROYAL FUSILIERS) 1914-1919 (1922).
    Map from F C Grimwade – THE WAR HISTORY OF THE 4th Battalion THE LONDON REGIMENT (ROYAL FUSILIERS) 1914-1919 (1922).

    The Bn. was attached to the Guards Div. and while the attack didn’t achieve all objectives the 3rd objective (west of Leboefs) was achieved. Casualties 30 plus with 13 recorded killed on the 16-17th. There were also 13 killed on the 19th/20th but the war diary details the 19th as a quiet day and just mentions heavy shelling on the 20th. 2

  • 26-28th. The Battle of Morval. Maltz Horn Valley. 61st Bde. sent to relieve the 95th Bde. east of Morval. On the 27th pushed forward to Morval, but several attempts to gain ground were unsuccessful and relieved by the French (from Combles) on the 28th. 1 Casualties for the period 11 killed. 2
  • Oct. The Battle of La Transloy. The involvement of the Bn was limited, they were close enough to get bombarded by artillery so a trickle of casualties over the month. On the 20th the Bn. marched from Meaulte stayed 5 days then south-west onto Corbie for one day Cardonnitte one day and to St Vaast by 20th Oct. stayed here until to end of the month. 1
  • 1st Nov. The Bn. continued to move again further away from the frontline. The route St Vaast to La Montange (22kms west of Amiens) via La Chaussee-Picquigny-Cavillon-Riencourt. Through the month movement to Bourdon and Airaines (north-west of Amiens), Then on the 28th Nov. moved 30 km by train back to where it started its travels to Corbie . 1
  • Dec. The Bn. was in Guillemont, Carnoy and Mealte areas. 1
1917
  • Jan. Feb. and Mar. Spells in Trenches at Combles and Carnoy and late in Mar. Bertincourt. Billeted in the areas of Mealte and Guillemont for this period. Casualties for the three months 13 killed (a lot less than previous times) and a consistent pattern of trench spells without any great movement in the frontline.
  • Mar-Apr. The Germans retreat to the Hindenburg Line. While this retreat was on the 7th KOYLI were not in great pursuit rather nibbling away at the front line. at the end of March a small unsuccessful operation at Bertincourt (3 casualties). The balance of April was mostly spent in Havrincourt Wood (under RE supervision) improving the front-line trenches.
  • 4th Aug. Entrained for Elverdinghe, then by road to Fifth Army front BossingheKlein Zillebeke. 7th KOYLI relieved Welsh Regt at Pilckem. In trenches until 8th then Camp C until 14th Aug. then to the front line Langemarck . 1
  • 16-18th Aug.The Battle of Langemarck**
    The map show KOYLI halted at the blue line. Ahead another Blencowe, Thomas 1899 from the 7th DCLI. who also survived this battle. See a larger map

    The 7th KOYLI were tasked to advance and capture enemy positions to their front, unfortunately for them, besides trenches, they also contained concrete blockhouses from which the battalion was lashed by machine gunfire. This caused the death or injury of all his company’s officers, thereby creating confusion and halting the advance at the blue line the first objective. At this time Pvte Wilfred Edwards, without hesitation and under heavy machine gun and rifle fire, ran forward and threw grenades (‘bombed’) through the loopholes; he then, with enormous risk to himself, actually climbed on top of the construction and waved to his company to advance. Continuing aggression on his part was rewarded by the three German officers and 30 other ranks who occupied the blockhouse and surrendered to him. Later during the advance, he did most valuable work as a messenger(‘runner’) and eventually guided most of the battalion out through very difficult ground, again a most dangerous task. For this Wilfred Edwards was awarded the Victoria Cross. 3
    Casualties for this day were extremely high 46 of the battalion’s men died.

  • Sept. Spells at the Langemarck front line was relatively quiet.
  • Oct. The Division was moved south over 60 miles and the 7th KOYLi were at Villers Guislan in the trenches by the 9th Oct. A spell in the trenches at Gonnelieu later in the month but relatively quiet time.

The battles marked ** are phases of the Third Battles of Ypres

  • 1st-19th. Nov. Started the month in the front at Gonnelieu but by the 9th at Bray and training with Tanks for the upcoming Operations at Cambrai. Returned for more front-line trench duty at Gonnelieu and Villers Guislain then on the 19th received battle orders to move to assembly point 2 km west of Villers Plouich for an attack on the Cambrai front.
  • 20th-28th Nov. The Cambrai Operations.
  • 20th Nov. 0300 hrs the Bn. assembled at Fifteen Ravine west of Villers Plouich. The 7th KOYLI were to be the third wave of attack and had three tanks leading them into battle. The Bn. reached the Hindenburg support line with little casualties but the tanks got ahead of them by some distance and in making there was to the second objective the Brown line (reached at 12:30 hrs) they suffered heavy casualties. 21 men were killed on the 20/21st of Nov.
  • 21st-25th Nov. The Bn. held a line slightly east of the Brown line directly south of Marcoing for 4 days taking some casualties.
  • 30th Nov. The German Counter-Offensive. The Bn was in a reserve line position when attacked, the war diary counts 9 killed incl 1 Officer, 19 wounded and 3 missing. Bn. relieved in the line on the 2nd Dec.
  • Dec. The Bn. were embussed to Fins and then onto Bouzincourt. By the end of Dec., they were in a rest camp at La Belle Hotesse.
1918
  • 20th Feb. The 7th KOYLI was detached from the 20th Light Division in 1918 and disbanded. the entire battalion was moved to no.14 Entrenching Battalion which was a holding unit so that men could be assigned to other Infantry units. No records exist to show where Willie was assigned, we can only assume given the discharge date that he served until the end of the war in a field of combat.
Sources
  1. War Diary 7th KOYL 1915-1918, Parts One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten.
  2. Hut-six.co.uk CWGC death records search engine.
  3. Jeremy Arter
  4. The History of The Duke of Cornwalls Light Infantry 1914-1919
  5. Ancestry tree Blencowes in WW2
1919
  • 11th Jan. James Willie was discharged (as per medal card).
Medals

British, Victory and Star medals. Medal Card index and medal roll show the entry to France on 22 July 1915 and the initial (until it was disbanded) regiment the 7th KOYLI.

After the War

Children born before 1916 were seemingly out-of-wedlock but to Fanny Houghton who he married in the 1917 Dec quarter This leads to some speculation on that Willie received home leave after the battle of Cambrai Nov 1917.

Further Children were born in Sheffield district (likely Wortley) in the 1920s.

1921 Census

21 Washington Road, Wortley

First name(s) Last name Relationship to head Sex Birth year Age in years Birth place Occupation Employer
James Willie Blencowe
Head
Male 1895 26 Sheffield, Yorkshire, England Slaters Labourer Yorkshire Engine Companys Meadaw Hall Works Sheffield
Fanny Blencowe
Wife
Female 1897 24 Sheffield, Yorkshire, England Home Duties
Walter John Houghton
Boarder
Male 1895 26 Sheffield, Yorkshire, England Slater Yorkshire Engine Company Meadow Hall Works Sheffield
Edith Elizabeth Houghton
Boarder
Female 1896 25 London, London, England Home Duties
Edith Ellen Houghton
Boarder
Female 1920 Rotherham, Yorkshire, England
1939 Census

Still living in Wortley in a household wife Fanny Blencowe.

Death Sheffield 1946 Age 51

Sheffield, Yorkshire West Riding, Volume: 9c Page: 506.

GALLERY

Note: there are 3 records that exist for this man that is not shown in the Gallery for copyright reasons.