SKELTON - IN - CLEVELAND
IN HISTORY
"WE WILL REMEMBER THEM"

Private JAMES E. HART.

25020, 13th Bn., Durham Light Infantry.

who died on the 17th September 1916.


The Thiepval Memorial.

Private James E Hart.

J E Hart appears on the Skelton War Memorial, but not on the plaque in the Church.
Address and family not traced.

The 13th (Service) Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry were formed at Newcastle in September 1914. They were attached to the 68th Brigade of the 23rd Division.
The Battle of the Somme began with a massive bombardment at the end of June 1916 and a series of offensives were continued into the winter of that year.
James Hart appears to have lost his life in one of these, the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, which commenced on the 15th September and lasted until it was called off on the 22nd of that month.
It was notable for the introduction of tanks, 49 in all, by the British.
Only 15 made it to No Mans Land, but they were considered to have had a devastating effect on German morale.
The British forces made initial gains of some 2 km within the first three days, something of an achievement at the time, and particularly during the Battle of the Somme.
Led by tanks the villages of Martinpuich, Flers and Courcelette fell to the Allies, as did the much sought-after High Wood.
Nevertheless, a combination of poor weather and extensive German reinforcements halted the British and Canadian advance on 17 September; the Allies had again suffered heavy casualties, including Raymond Asquith, the son of the British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith.
The Thiepval Memorial commemorates more than 72,000 missing men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died on the Somme battlefields before 20th March 1918 and have no known grave.
Most were killed between July and November 1916.