James ‘Jim’ Butler was one of the 12,000 men and women from Walsall who joined up for military service during World War I. He was also one of the 2,000 locals who never returned.
The following information was gathered as part of a genealogy project looking at the life of a Walsall family, and we have kindly been given permission to print this information courtesy of Jim’s great, great niece.
James Butler was a typical working-class Walsall man. Born in 1890, he spent his early life at Mill Street with his parents James and Mary, and his five siblings, before moving to North Street. He attended the Butts School as a child.
His father was a saddle maker and James would soon enter the same trade becoming a bridle cutter in his late teens at the iconic Walsall leather factory, Jabez Cliff & Co, right up until the point he joined the army.
Jabez & Co leather works. Picture courtesy of derelictbuildings.co.uk
In December 1915, aged 25, Jim signed up for service and was enlisted in the 2nd Battalion of the Grenadier Guards as a private. He first arrived in Le Havre in 1916 to assist with the British efforts.
We know from the movements of his battalion that Jim was involved in the Battle of the Somme. His division moved to the Somme area at the beginning of September and they held the northern section of the Ginchy line for three days where they suffered great losses
It was during this part of the campaign that Jim was initially wounded.
Tribute in the Walsall Observer – October 14, 1916 to wounded and killed soldiers. James is shown in the bottom left as wounded.
Thanks to information provided on the British Empire website, we know what Jim was doing in the lead-up to getting wounded:
“The battalion under the command of Lt-Col de Crespigny was in support of the Coldstreams with their right flank on the Ginchy-Lesboeufs road. Their advance was made through heavy rife fire and a constant barrage of heavy shells, and when they reached the enemy trenches they found them in the full control of the enemy, because the Coldstreams had lost direction and gone too far to the left. They had to form in line for the attack on the German trenches and at this time had no artillery support.
The division on their right had failed so that flank was exposed, and a gap had become apparent on the left so that flank also was in danger. Machine-gun sections were sent out to cover these gaps while the centre rushed the trench in front with bayonets.
Once in the trench they were threatened by German bombers but Sergeant-Major J Norton led a bayonet charge against them. However the attack was beginning to fail and the battalion was forced back.
At this point Captain G C FitzH Harcourt-Vernon and Captain the Hon W R Bailey, who was armed with an automatic pistol, led another bayonet charge over the top of the trench and overcame the enemy bombers, killing many and taking others prisoner. The first objective had been achieved by the 2nd Battalion with one of their companies having also reached the second along with other Guards units. The casualties suffered by the battalion were 108 killed and 235 wounded.”
On the day that Jim was wounded on the 25 September 1916, he was involved in a specific objective to capture Lesboeufs in a ‘thoroughly well planned and admirably conducted feat of arms which reflected the greatest credit upon every unit in the Division.’
Things, however, didn’t go quite according to plan. It was during this section of the mission that Jim was shot in the right leg.
“They went through a field of standing crops which concealed uncut wire. The men were ordered to lie down while four officers took the very great risk of going forward to clear the way with wire cutters. They were Capt A K S Cunninghame, 2nd Lt G A Arbuthnot, Lt W A D Parnell and Lt A F Irvine. Cunninghame, Arbuthnot and Parnell were killed and Irvine was wounded. But the way was clear for the battalion to charge the first objective.
The enemy position was strongly held and the Grenadiers were badly mauled. Lt H G Wiggins was killed by a shell and also Lt M A Knatchbull-Hugessen after he had operated a Lewis gun with great effect while wounded and covered in blood.
For the second objective there were only two company officers left and the leadership was mostly down to the sergeants who carried out the work with great efficiency and were highly praised later by the CO Lt Col Champion de Crespigny. Many Germans emerged from their subterranean passages and surrendered, enabling the battalion to move on to the third objective which was taken with comparative ease. They established themselves 100 yards east of Lesboeufs, with the Irish Guards on their left and the 1st West Yorks in the 5th Division on their right.”
Extract from the Walsall Observer on October 14, 1916
James was sent home back to Walsall and spent some time with his family to recover before returning to war in November 1916. Just eight days after arriving back to the battlefield, Jim lost his life.
On December 1, 1917, 28-year-old Jim was fatally wounded in what became known as the ‘Attack on Gonnelieu and Gauche Wood’. This was part of The Battle of Cambrai (the Cambrai counter).
The following report from the National Archives is from his battalion on the exact day that he was fatally shot.
“In the 2nd Battalion the attack was undertaken by No. 1 Company under Lieutenant Cornforth on the right, and No. 3 under Lieutenant Acland on the left, each in two lines of two platoons, followed at a distance of 250 yards by No. 4 under Lieutenant Westmacott, and No. 2 under Lieutenant Browning, in similar formation. Lieut.-Colonel Rasch went on ahead with the Company Commanders to reconnoitre the forming-up ground, whilst the Battalion followed after breakfast, and picked up tools on the way. At 6.30 the artillery support, which was most attenuated, opened and searched the wood and the ravine behind it. No tanks had yet put in an appearance, and, after giving them ten minutes’ grace, the attack was launched without them.
The enemy retaliated with a heavy barrage, most of which fortunately fell behind the advancing troops, but the machine-gun fire made it doubtful whether any one would ever reach the wood. When the attack opened, all four companies advanced at a great pace over the intervening grass land, which rose in a gentle slope up to the wood. It is difficult to understand why, 334with the machine-guns posted at the edge of the wood, the enemy did not wipe out the whole Battalion. Ignoring all regulations about short rushes, both officers and men went straight for the wood as fast as they could. They instinctively felt that the only chance was to cover the mile of naked slope in the shortest possible time. In all probability the German machine-gunners in the half-light of the morning became flurried, at seeing this formidable attack sweeping over the ground, for, although the fire was very hot, the bullets passed over the men’s heads, and it was not until they had nearly reached the wood that casualties occurred. Here the fringe of German machine-guns, established at the edge of the wood, began to take heavy toll, and then began perhaps the fiercest fighting of all.
When the leading companies reached the wood, it became a struggle of man to man. But the Germans soon found that with the bayonet they were no match for the Grenadiers. Back into the wood they were forced, and then-down into a hollow in the centre of it. Their machine-guns were all captured, and, although some fought stubbornly, most of them were driven slowly up the incline on the far side into the corner of the wood. Second Lieutenant Pearson was killed as he went through the wood, and Second Lieutenant Harbord, whilst most gallantly rushing a machine-gun, received wounds from which he died later in the day. Lieutenants Cornforth, Drummond, Dent, Kendal, Acland, and Magnay were all wounded, and the Battalion lost many valuable N.C.O.’s.”
Extract from the Walsall Observer
James was buried at St Sever Cemetery in Rouen in France.
St. Sever Cemetery contains 3,082 Commonwealth burials of the First World War. Photo courtesy of WW1 Revisited.
Sadly, James wasn’t around to experience the victory of World War I, but he’d played a valiant part in it. In 1918 with news that war had ended, the people of Walsall gathered in the town centre. Flags were flown, factory hooters sounded and church bells chimed.
With the celebrations was also a deep sadness of all the lives that had been lost; 2,000 young men and women of Walsall who never returned back to their families.
Lest we forget the sacrifice and courage of Private James ‘Jim’ Butler and all the soldiers who played their part.