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James P Law
22900, Lance Corporal, 7th East Lancashire Regiment
Killed in action, 26 October 1916, aged 37
Buried at Mill Road Cemetery, Thièpval, Somme, France
CWGC registered (Son of John Joseph and Mary Ellen Law, of 39, Harris St, St. Helens, Lancs; husband of Emily Ellen Law, of 19, Dryden St, Padiham, Burnley)
NOT MY WILL BUT THY WILL BE DONE, O LORD
According to his baptismal record, James Law was the son of John Joseph Law and Mary Ellen Law (née Helsby) of 2 Newton Street, Pendleton. He was born on 22 March 1879. John Law was a stonemason. The 1891 Census records the family living with Mary Ellen Law’s widowed mother at St. Helens; James (12) is described as a scholar. The Marriage Index for Prescot in Lancashire records the marriage of James to Emily Ellen Sims (b St. Helens 1879). The 1911 Census of Wales records the couple plus three children, Clara (b 25 July 1902), Violet Ellen and Alice, living at 8 Victoria Avenue, Craig-y-Don, Llandudno, James being described as a bricklayer.
Sadly, James Law’s service record no longer exists. Soldiers Died in the Great War tells us that he enlisted at Llandudno, his service number was 22900 and that he was in the East Lancashire Regiment. His service number indicates that he joined the regiment in July or August 1915 and it was almost certainly to the 10th (Reserve) Battalion. The 10th ELR started life at Plymouth in October 1914 as a Service Battalion in K4 but became a Reserve Battalion in April 1915, training subalterns and men for the front line battalions. James Law disembarked in France on 17 December 1915 and joined the 7th (Service) Battalion ELR.
James Law was killed in action on 26 October 1916 aged 37. On that day, the battalion had repulsed a strong German attack near Thièpval. A newspaper report of the time tells that he was a member of a patrol sent out to locate the German line. He was shot in the neck helping a wounded man. He was buried near where he fell but now rests at the nearby Mill Road Cemetery.
Emily Law married Samuel Basnett in 1935 and died in 1975.
Known memorials:
- Llandudno Roll of Honour
- Llandudno War Memorial
- Memorial Chapel, Holy Trinity Church, Llandudno
- Padiham War Memorial
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