PRIVATE 307602 JAMES WILLIAM WRIGHT, 1/6TH BATTALION WEST RIDING REGIMENT. KILLED IN ACTION 1st NOVEMBER 1918 AGED 34.


PRIVATE 307602 JAMES WILLIAM WRIGHT, 1/6TH BATTALION WEST RIDING REGIMENT. KILLED IN ACTION 1st NOVEMBER 1918 AGED 34.


In the final days of the war the Allies continued their relentless attacks against the weakening German Army and all along the front line British troops were called upon to prevail against an enemy still desperately defending their trenches.


The 1/6th West Riding Regiment had fought on the Western Front for over 3 years and now prepared for one last attack against the well defended enemy lines along the River Rhonelle to the south east of  Valenciennes. By this stage of the war British assaults against German positions were thoroughly planned and involved complex coordination of infantry, artillery and air attacks.

At Zero Hour, 5.15am the West Riding battalion rose from their trenches behind a creeping artillery barrage designed to protect them from observation by the ever vigilant enemy. After advancing across No Man’s Land the battalion reached the River Rhonelle where they used specially prepared wooden bridges to cross the running waters. Dashing across the Rhonelle the West Ridings entered the enemy trenches where a fierce battle took place. Gradually the British troops gained the upper hand, German resistance waned and many took the opportunity to surrender. The West Ridings achieved all their objectives that day but this success had come at the cost of over 190 casualties, including James Wright who was killed.

James Wright was born in the Cambridgeshire village of Swavesey in 1884 the son of an agricultural labourer. Before the war he seems to have led something of an itinerant life and moved about the country working on farms. In 1908 he married Millicent Storey in Bishop Auckland, County Durham and then moved to Ilkley to lived at 17 East Parade and where their two children were born. James was conscripted into the army in June 1916 and after training arrived in France in January the following year.

James’s commanding officer wrote to his wife, “I am sorry to inform you that your husband was killed in action on November 1st. He was a splendid fellow, always cheerful, even in the face of danger and never shirked on hard or dangerous duty.”

The death of James Wright left his wife a widow and two young children without a father. Today he lies in the British Military Cemetery at Maing and is remembered with pride on our war memorial here in Ilkley.





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