On Chatham Naval Memorial is the name of 3280S Stoker James Gyere, serving on H.M.S. Inflexible with the Royal Naval Reserve, who died 18/03/1915.

In Blyth (Cowpen) Cemetery is a family headstone which reads:
In loving memory of
Charles Gyere
beloved husband of
Elizabeth Jane Reveley
drowned at sea Oct. 13th 1905
aged 53 years.

Also of the above
Elizabeth Jane
died Aug. 31st 1936 aged 75 years.

James Gyere
their son killed in action
March 18th 1915 aged 23 years.

Colin Boyd has provided the following:

James was born on 6th February 1892 to Charles Gyere, a native of Heligoland, who was a naturalised British citizen, and his wife Elizabeth Jane.  By 1901 Charles was a lodging house keeper at the Tower Lodging House in Cowpen, living with his wife, two sons, two daughters, three servants and 36 lodgers!

By 1911 everything had changed and James was living with his mother, step father, one brother and two sisters at 19, Wensleydale Terrace, Blyth. Charles had died and Elizabeth had married William Learmouth, who was also a lodging house keeper, in 1908.

James married Helen Sinclair in 1913 and the couple set up home at 3, Disraeli Street, Cowpen Quay.  James was employed as a fireman on a trawler.

James joined the Royal Naval Reserve on 22nd September 1914 and was described as being 5 feet 5 inches tall with brown eyes and a fresh complexion. He was posted to HMS Inflexible as a stoker on 5th November 1914. James was killed in action on 18th March 1915 when HMS Inflexible was damaged by a mine during a shore bombardment in the Dardanelles.

His widow, Helen married a Mr. Longstaff in July 1918 and the couple set up home at 19, Wensleydale Terrace in Blyth – the address where James was living in 1911.

James Gyere is remembered at Blyth on B42.21 and B42.24 and in our List of Ships’ Crews.