J Reynolds Pte KSLI

James Reynolds was born in Moseley Village, Heath Town, Staffs and was baptised at Wednesfield Heath on 1st November 1888. He was the son of Amos Reynolds, puddler in an iron works, and his wife Mary Ann. Amos died in 1895 and Mary Ann remarried in 1899. James' new stepfather, Richard Brown, was a coal miner.

When he had left school, James became a miner. He married Alice Windsor at Bushbury on 21st December 1908. The couple settled in Essington where they had two daughters, Doris May (1909) and Alice Louie (1912). At some time after Alice's birth the family moved to Highley where they lived at 57 Woodhill Road.

Soon after the outbreak of war, James volunteered for the Army. On 23 January, 1915, he went to Bridgnorth and enlisted in the Horse Transport section of the Army Service Corps. He was discharged after five days as 'not likely to become an efficient soldier'. Undaunted, he travelled to Ironbridge, where he joined the King's Shropshire Light Infantry. After a brief spell in an entrenching battalion he was transferred to the 1st Battalion KSLI.

James went to Belgium on 17th July, 1915. During December, 1915, the 1st KSLI suffered many casualties, mostly from shelling and from phosgene gas. James was amonst them - he died of wounds on 28th December, 1915 - probably at a Casualty Clearing Station in Lijssenthoek. He is buried in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery.

Private James Reynolds 17254 KSLI (formerly T4/056049 ASC) was awarded the Victory and British War Medals and the 1915 Star.