COMMEMORATED IN PERPETUITY BY THE

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

The 2nd Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment were attached to the 25th Infantry Brigade and joined the newly formed 8th Division in October 1914. 8th Division provided badly-needed reinforcement to the British Expeditionary Force. They embarked to France in November as part of the Fifth Army and remained on the Western Front throughout the rest of the war. One of the biggest tests for 8th Division, towards the end of the war, was their involvement in The First Battles of the Somme, 1918. This was a major last offensive by the German Armies, but luckily, it did not all go the German way.

The Pozieres Memorial relates to the period of crisis in March and April 1918 when the Allied Fifth Army was driven back by overwhelming numbers across the former Somme battlefields, and the months that followed before the Advance to Victory, which began on 8 August 1918. The Memorial commemorates over 14,000 casualties of the United Kingdom and 300 of the South African Forces who have no known grave and who died in the area of the Somme from 21 March to 7 August 1918.

It is very likely that Joseph Henry James was born at 19 Castle Street, Steventon. He was the second eldest of 9 children - 5 brothers, 3 sisters. Joseph worked for the Great Western Railway at Didcot Railway station as an engine cleaner from July 1910 until 14th October 1911, when he moved to Llanelli, Wales. This is where he met Frances Hanna James, whom he married in Llanelli in 1914. Their first child Thomas David Victor was born 24 August 1915. Frances was pregnant again at the time of Joseph's death, Mary A was born on 4th October 1918. The last recorded address of the family before Joseph died was Barry Port, Carmarthenshire.

Joseph’s parents were still living at No.19 Castle Street in the survey of 1939. The cottages of 15 to 31 Castle Street were parochial dwellings belonging to the Church. They were eventually demolished and replaced with the local authority social housing that is on the site today.

For some additional information regarding this soldier. Please click here