Pte. James Gardiner
The following has been supplied by Philip Gardiner, his grandson:
James was born in County Durham in 1886, lived in Tanfield (near Stanley County Durham) and like many young men he found employment at one of the local coal mines.
He married Ann Moat on 9th April 1910 and they lived with Ann's parents and family at 101 Victoria Road, The Teams, Gateshead.
His first son Joseph was born on 27th February 1911, but he sadly died on 13th September 1911 aged 6 months.
On the 26th March 1913 their daughter Catherine was born, but she also died very young at 5 months on the 5th September 1913.
His third child James (my dad) was born 8th April 1915, he was obviously conceived prior to James (senior) enlisting into the army following the outbreak of war.
James enlisted into the army on the 28th October 1914 with the rank of Private, 24/988 and was added to 4th Northumberland Fusiliers 1st Tyneside Irish, C Company, but is recorded as Jas Gardner and not Gardiner.
At the first Somme offensive on the 1st July 1916 he was part of the 24th Battalion, 34th Division that set off into 'Sausage Valley' following the order to go 'over the top'. It was reported to my father James (junior) that James was killed by a mortar explosion, but this is unclear.
What is clear is that Ann was left with one child to raise, (my father James) thankfully with the support of her mother. He was the only child of the three to outlive his parents to the age of 73, passing away in 1987.
I have no information about what sort of person James was as my dad never knew him, and of the people who did, none of them were alive for me to speak to as I was not born until 1955.
My dad kept all of the memorabilia that was given to his mother, and later, following his response to a letter in the Gateshead Post the son of someone who knew James contacted my dad and gave him a postcard and letter that had been sent prior to him being sent to France.
It is not a subject my dad spoke of in any detail: I feel that he felt some pain that he never met his dad or had the opportunity to grow up knowing his brother and sister.
James, like 513 others from the Tyneside Irish Brigade, is listed on the Thiepval Memorial to the missing. Many of the men were coalminers who, when working underground were given tokens which they attached to their braces. Out of habit they wore their army identity tag on their braces rather than round their necks. When killed in action the recovery party tried to identify the bodies, but in many cases they could not find the identity tag when they opened the tunic at the neck. The body would then be put into an unknown soldier’s grave. This latter information and his service history I gleaned from John Sheen’s book Tyneside Irish.
James Gardiner's name is recorded as "Gardner" in the CWGC files.
