James William Neild was born in Stretford, Manchester, in late 1894 or early 1895, the son of John William Neild and his wife Alice Elizabeth (née Hitchings). His father, born in Stretford, and his mother in Devon, married in 1892. The surname appears in records with different spellings. His father signed the marriage certificate Nield, but a witness, a relative Elizabeth, signed Neild.
They had five children; Jim had an older brother John Alfred, born in 1893, and younger siblings Elizabeth Ellen (Lizzie) 1897, George 1899, and Alice, born in 1904.
He was baptised in St. Matthew's Church, Stretford, as James, with no middle name, on 30th January 1895, his parents’ residence 14 Pinnington Lane, and his father’s occupation listed as cab driver. His birth registration gives the middle name William.
The 1901 census finds the family at 14 Pinnington Lane, Stretford. His father, 33, is a horsekeeper/groom. They have four children; James W. is 6.
He attended Victoria Park Council School.
His father appears to have died in a County Asylum in Prestwich in 1909, at the age of 41, when Jim was 14.
In 1911 the family is still in Pinnington Lane. His widowed mother Alice is 42, a charwoman, with five children and a boarder. John, 17, and James, 16, both work in an iron foundry, John as an apprentice and James as a driller, Lizzie is 13, George 11, and Alice 6.
His mother died in early 1912, aged 42. It is not known whether the children stayed together after her death. The eldest, John, would have been 18, and the youngest, Alice, 7.
Jim married Alice Heywood in the December quarter of 1915 in Bucklow district, which includes Baguley and Timperley, Cheshire.
Their only child, James William Heywood Neild, was born on 26th April 1917.
Before enlisting, Jim worked at the Vickers Electrical works (formerly British Westinghouse). Their factory in Trafford Park, Manchester was at the time one of the biggest and most important heavy engineering facilities in Britain and the world. They were known for their industrial electrical equipment such as generators, steam turboines, switchgear and railway traction equipment.
Jim enlisted in Manchester (the amount of the War Gratuity suggests that he enlisted in about October 1915). He served overseas as Private 33036, with the 14th Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment, which was then in the Balkans. The battalion fought at Horseshoe Hill in August 1916 and Machukovo in September 1916. In 1917 they were in action during the Battles of Doiran (April-May 1917). The 14th left the Balkans in June 1918 via Itea in Greece and Taranto in Italy, for the Western Front. On 13th August they were amalgamated with the 18th K.L.R., becoming the 18th (Lancashire Hussars Yeomanry), the King’s (Liverpool Regiment).
The 100 Days Offensive, the Allied push that would bring the war to an end, began on 8th August 1918, and the 18th King’s, having moved rapidly forward in the new war of movement, arrived at the Hindenburg Line on 7th October in the region of Bony.
It is not known when Jim was wounded or evacuated to the U.K., but he died on the 13th November 1918 at Lord Derby Hospital in Warrington of gunshot wounds and pneumonia contracted on active service.
Jim was laid to rest on 16th November 1918 in Timperley (Christ Church) Churchyard, Cheshire. His headstone gives his age as 25, but based on birth and census records, he would have been 23 or just turned 24.
The epitaph on his headstone reads:
“NOTHING IN MY HAND I BRING SIMPLY TO THY CROSS I CLING”
There are 20 First World War burials in the Churchyard.
He was reported as died in the Weekly Casualty List on 14th January 1919.
His son was one year old when Jim died. His widow Alice received Jim’s Army effects, including a War Gratuity of £17-10s. The pension card, giving Alice’s address as 2 Baker Street, Stockport Road, Timperley, shows that she was awarded a pension of £1-0s-5d a week from May 1919 for herself and child.
His medal card shows that Alice requested assistance in the recovery of Jim’s medals and memorial plaque.
Alice remarried in 1921 and later lived at 10 Beech Avenue, Baguley.
His younger brother George served in the R.A.S.C., and was transferred to the 7th Bn. Leicester Regiment. George was killed in action on 23rd October 1918, three weeks before Jim. He was 19 years old. He now rests in Amerval Communal Cemetery Extension, Solesmes, 5 km north of Le Cateau. George’s effects were shared between his brother John, sisters Elizabeth and Alice, and Jim’s widow Alice, for his nephew James.
Alice died in 1974, aged 77, and his son James died in 1984, aged 67.
James is commemorated on the following memorials -
Metropolitan Vickers Electrical Company (Neild)
Christ Church Parishioners, Timperley (Nield)
James and his brother George are both commemorated on -
St. Matthew’s Church, Stretford (Neild)
Borough of Stretford Memorial (Nield)
Borough of Stretford Book of Remembrance (Nield)
Victoria Park School (according to Stretford Local History Society, the memorial was in disrepair and was disposed of).
