Private. Y Company, 8th Battalion, Duke of Wellington’s West Riding Regiment. Regimental number 11892.
Early life:
James’s parents were James McParland and Mary McParland née Sheridan who were married at a Roman Catholic Church at Halifax on 10th July 1891.
James was born at Wigan in 1895 and his birth was registered there in the first quarter of the year.
In the 1901 census he was aged six and living at 1, Brunswick Yard in Halifax with his mother Mary aged 33. The children were Daniel, aged eight, James aged six, Mary aged three and John who was the youngest at just ten months old.
We assume Brunswick Yard was located somewhere near to Brunswick Street and Upper Brunswick Street which are now gone altogether, but were just a short distance to the West of the Bull Green and George Street junction in Halifax. James (senior) was not present in the family home at this census.
During the 1911 census James senior and Mary had been married for 20 years and had eight children, one of whom had died. Six of them were living with them in the census at number 27 Commercial Street in Oakworth.
It’s likely that all the working aged family members were employed at the Oakworth Mill, which was a very short distance from the family home.
Father James aged 50, was a labourer on gas stoking; Mary aged 43, was a wool comber; Daniel aged 18, was a jobber mechanic; James aged 16, was a warp dresser; Mary Elizabeth aged 14, was a doffer and all of them were in the worsted weaving and goods trade.
John and Margaret Ann were aged eleven and eight respectively and were at school and the youngest was Thomas at just three years of age.
War service:
There are no Army service records for James, however we believe he enlisted early in the war as the war gratuity amount and length of Army service suggest an enlistment date of less than 12 months. As he died on the 9th of August 1915, this means he’s likely to have enlisted right at the start of the war.
Strangely he is not named in either Keighley’s Gallant Sons nor the Keighley Town Clerk’s 1914 enlistment records, although his father and brother Daniel are mentioned.
His father was over age for field service, but enlisted with the Royal Engineers at Keighley on 21st August 1914. His home address was 29, Prospect Place in Keighley and he was discharged after one year.
His brothers Daniel and John also served and survived the war.
James was killed in action on 9th August 1915 at Suvla Bay on the Gallipoli Peninsula when they were engaged in heavy fighting against the Turkish Army. There is scant information in the war diary which only had very brief entries for each day. Sadly James is not mentioned in the local newspaper. His medal records show that he disembarked in the Mediterranean war theatre on 12th July 1915, which is the day after the 8th Battalion West Riding Regiment landed at the island of Lemnos. They had left Liverpool on the S.S. Aquitania on 3rd July, bound for the Mediterranean.
WO-95/4299. War diary:
11th Division, 32 Infantry Brigade. includes the 8th Battalion war diary for Gallipoli:
August 1915.
IMBROS.
1/8/15
In bivouac, uneventful.
2/8/15
In bivouac, uneventful.
3/8/15
In bivouac, uneventful.
4/8/15
In bivouac, uneventful.
5/8/15
Orders to proceed tomorrow to Peninsula.
6/8/15 4.30.
PENINSULA
Embarked for, landing unhindered at Suvla Bay.
7/8/15
Heavily engaged in night and during day. Heavy losses.
8/8/15
On beach, resting.
9/8/15
In action, heavy losses. Lieutenant Colonel H. J. Johnston wounded & missing.
10/8/15
In reserve, in action at noon. Losses few.
11/8/15
In reserve, 17.00 relieved.
12/8/15
On beach, resting.
James was killed on the 9th of August.
Keighley News Saturday 27th April 1918, page 3:
KEIGHLEY AND DISTRICT.
Private Daniel McParland, West Riding Regiment, has been wounded in the recent fighting in France and is in hospital in Chester. He has only been able to send a field card to his wife, who resides at 11, Nelson Street. Keighley.
Prior to the war he was a member of the Keighley Territorials, and he has been three years and four months at the front He has taken part in many of the great battles and has only been a few weeks in hospital during that time.
His brother, Private James McFarland, West Riding Regiment, was killed in action in Gallipoli, and his father, Private James McParland, Royal Engineers, after serving one year in France, has been discharged as the result of an accident.
James’s body may have been lost on the battlefield, or been recovered and buried by his comrades, but the location was subsequently lost after the war. He is remembered on the HELLES MEMORIAL, panel 118 to 120 with the rest of the West Riding Lads.
Remembrance:
James is remembered locally in the Borough of Keighley roll of Honour book at Keighley Library.
He is also named on the St. Anne’s Church war memorial panel in the church which is on North Street in Keighley.
He is also named on the Oakworth Great War Centenary roll of honour on display at Oakworth Community Hall.
Post war:
James was awarded the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory medal for his war service. These would have been sent to his next of kin mother Mary along with a bronze war memorial plaque and memorial scroll inscribed with his name. Any personal effects would also have gone to his parents.
James also received a payment of £2 18s 10d on 5th February 1916 and a war gratuity of £3 on the 30th July 1919.
His mother Mary also applied for a dependant’s pension but none of the record cards indicate she received anything.
In the 1921 census James and Mary were living at 65, Devonshire Street West in Keighley along with their large family which included two sons, one daughter, a daughter in law and three grandchildren.
Information sources:
England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915.
1901 England Census.
1911 England Census.
WO-95/4299. War diary.
Keighley News archives at Keighley Library.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Soldiers Died in the Great War, 1914-1919.
World War I Pension Ledgers and Index Cards, 1914-1923.
British Army World War I Medal Rolls Index Cards, 1914-1920.
World War I Service Medal and Award Rolls, 1914-1920.
Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, 1901-1929.
1921 England Census.
