James Edward Pearce





Lily's Walk, off St Mary Street (picture from SWOP website)

James Edward's grave in High Wycombe Cemetery



James Edward Pearce 1881 - 1918

I am James Edward Pearce and I was born in 1881 in High Wycombe. My parents were William and Maria Pearce. By the time I was nine my family was living at 10, Lily’s Walk and my father was working as a “stone mason’s labourer”. I was the middle child of a large family: William was eleven years older than me, then Charles who was nine years older, then Lizzie who was three years older, then me, and then my younger sister Annie and my brother Frederick.

I married Mary Ann Aldridge in 1900, in High Wycombe, and by 1901 we were living at Lacey’s Yard, 4, Crown Lane with our baby son, James, named after me. I was a “house painter” and my wife Mary worked as a rag cutter in the paper mills.

By 1911 I was following a different career and was working as a “gardener /domestic” for Earl Carrington. We were living at 6, Lily’s Walk by then, back to my roots, and we had four children aged ten and under.

In 1908 I joined the Bucks Battalion (Territorials) in High Wycombe although I enlisted in Aylesbury. My pension service record shows a total of 6yrs and 215 days service as number 327. The Soldiers Who Died In The Great War record gives a previous service number as 3250 for Ox & Bucks Light Infantry.

I was re-engaged at the start of WW1 on 5th August 1914 but was discharged on 27th November 1914 as being medically unfit for War Service. I was however deemed fit for the Royal Defence Corps which was formed in 1917 from Garrison battalions which were composed of soldiers too old or medically unfit for active front line service.

Men in the Royal Defence Corps were responsible for security and guard duties inside the UK without overseas service. They guarded important locations such as ports and bridges. They also provided independent companies for guarding prisoners of War camps.

Sadly I died in the V.A.D hospital in High Wycombe on 12th July 1918. The service number on my gravestone is 922.

I am remembered on the High Wycombe Hospital Memorial Plaque and my name appears on the Bucks Roll of Honour. My widow Mary Ann re-married in 1919 to Richard Scutchings. I hope she had a happy life.



Researched by Ruth Bowler, Flackwell Local Area History Group

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