Additions will be checked before being published on the website and where possible will be forwarded to the person who submitted the original entries. Your contact details will not be forwarded, but they can send a reply via this messaging system.
please scroll down to send a message
Pte. James Spilsbury
British Army 10th Btn. A Coy. Cheshire Regiment
from:Mobberley, Cheshire
(d.17th Feb 1917)
James Spilsbury was the eldest of 9 siblings and living at Halfway House in Mobberley with his family at the outbreak of War. He was employed as a chauffeur, though he claimed to be a Groom on his enlistment papers.
He went missing, presumed killed during a trench raid by the 10th Cheshire Regiment on the morning of Sunday 17th February 1917. The raid is believed to have been in the area to the East of Ploegsteert Wood, around the area where the Ultimo and Factory Farm mines (trench 122 Left and 122 Right) were exploded on 7th June 1917 commencing the Messine Ridge offensive. The raid of the 17th February may have acted as cover for the start of the tunnelling operation for the mines which began on or around the 15th February. The raid has become known as the "Meeanee Raid" which commemmorates the Battle of Meeannee in India (now Pakistan) on 17th Feb 1843 in which the Cheshire Regiment played a key role. It is currently not known if James was killed outright during the raid or captured by the enemy. Like many others, his body was never recovered. James in remembered on the Ploegsteert Memorial to the missing.
.jpg)
