10773 James Patrick Wright. Private, 1 Battalion Scots Guards

 

James was born at 1pm, on 16 April 1892 in Easter Glentore, Airdrie .

He was the 2nd son of 8 children born to James Wright and Mary Wright (Nee Flynn). The family had recently arrived from Banbridge Co. Down. c. 1891

On leaving school, James continued to live with his parents in Longrigg End at Moss Vale. The home had just 2 rooms with windows, according to the census of 1911, and housed all 10 family members. James was working as a Colliery Horse Keeper, working underground.

Following the outbreak of war, at the age of 21, James took his oath and attestation becoming a Pte in the Scots Guards in 1914. (It is believed his father James had also served as a soldier previously. TBC)

(Pte soldiers in GDS regiments where not termed GDSM until 1920. Title granted as a mark of respect from King George V)

It is believed that his initial training took place over three months in Aldershot before he was deployed to join 1 Battalion Scots Guards in France on 23 Feb 1915. (His Bn had been part of the initial British Expeditionary Force and seen service in 1st battle of Ypres.) Little did he know then, that he was about to spend the rest of his all too short life in the trenches along a 60 mile strip of the Western Front. 

It is believed he saw initial action, supporting the French, in the small village of Laventie. The taking of this strategic village essential in preparations for the subsequent, disastrousBattle of Aubers Ridge, 19 May 15

(In August 1915 the 1st Bn had become part of the 2nd Guards Bde. of 1Div. of infantry.)

He was listed on the casualty list of the War Office as “Wounded” on 17 April 1915.

The timeline indicating, that he was probably injured at the Battle for Laventie. Anecdotal evidence suggests that he may have return to Scotland to convalesce for a short time, speaking little, if at all about his experiences in the trenches, before returning to France.

He was awarded the “Wound Stripe” retrospectively under Army Act 204, 6 July 1916. He would worn this award on his left sleeve of his service tunic.

(The battle of Aubers Ridge is considered an unmitigated disaster, with the initial battery having little or no effect on German defences. The subsequent battle gained no ground with no tactical advantage and between 11,619 – 32,000  British casualties depending on which report is believed.

The poor effect of the artillery shells, which used anti- personnel shrapnel, to attack the defences, was reported to the British press In the aftermath of the Aubers Ridge failure. The war correspondent of The Times, Colonel Charles à Court Repington, sent a telegram to his newspaper highlighting the lack of high-explosive shells, using information supplied by Sir John French; The Times headline on 14 May 1915 was: "Need for shells: British attacks checked: Limited supply the cause: A Lesson From France". This precipitated a political scandal known as the Shell Crisis of 1915) No lesson was taken from the event and similar tactics and shells where subsequently employed unsuccessfully in The Battle of the Somme.

On re-joining his battalion James would have found himself in a cycle of training and recuperation in the rear echelon some 15 miles behind them and spells of trenched warfare on the front line. War diaries describe such training as route marches and drill, interspersed with the routine of physical training such as football matches between mess’s and Church Parades. It would have been a chance for him to get a hot shower and to launder his uniforms, freeing the cloth from the mud, ticks and lice that were a constant feature of trench life.

Later that year, he may have been involved in Battle of Loos 25 Sept – 8 Oct 1915. Loos was a small mining town of importance tactically, as it was fuelling the German war effort.  James’ battalion was dug in on Hill 70 overlooking the region in conditions described in the battalion’s war diary as, very wet and under heavy shell bombardment.

 (The battle is also remembered for being not only one that inflicted heavy casualties on the allies but for the 1st use of chlorine gas by British forces. Royal Engineers who had been burrowing under No Mans Land, had warned against its use in unpredictable winds but were overruled.  As predicted the gas returned on the wind onto the Allies own lines.)

This cycle of weeks in the front line and a few weeks in the rear echelon camps at La Gorge, Merville and  Neuve Chapelle continued for James’ battalion before the preparations began for the biggest offensive of the war thus far, the Battle of The Somme.

The Somme offensive was not one single battle but a series of several battles fought between 1 July and 18 November 1916. The battle ground covered both sides of the upper reaches of the river Somme and covered some 16 miles in length. The battle was intended to hasten a victory for the Allies. More than three million men fought in the battle and one million men were wounded or killed, making it one of the deadliest battles in human history. The total advance of the allied forces was just 6 miles.

Following the attritional battles of Delville Wood and Guillemont, the heavily defended town of Ginchy was taken on 9th September.  By the 15th September, James and his unit, 1 Bn Scots Guards took up their positions on the battlefield to the North East of Ginchy. for what became known as the Battle of Flers-Courcelette. The battalion had the objective of taking the town of Lesboeufs some two and a half miles away.

The fighting was fierce with the newly deployed tanks breaking down, getting bogged down and becoming easy targets for the Germans who had heard them coming and prepared to engage them.

The Guards division fought well, taking more ground than other units that flanked them but despite them gaining 1500 yards they fell short of their objective.

On 20 Sept 1916 James succumbed to the wounds he had received a few days earlier. He died at the Main Dressing Station at Bronfay Farm, Bray-sur-Somme. He lies in the Commonwealth Military Cemetery there.

 

Thank you for making the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom James P Wright. Rest In Peace.

 

Catherine Burnett