Pte 26663 James William Crowe

• Age: 30
• From: Dublin
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 17th Btn
• K.I.A Wednesday 12th July 1916
• Commemorated at: Bernafay Wood Brit Cem
  Panel Ref: H.59

James William was born 13th November 1885 at 23 Queens Terrace, South Dublin. He was the son of Moses Crowe and his wife Philomena (née Shea). His parents married in 1879 and had at least seven children: James had older siblings Anne and William and younger siblings Mary, John Joseph born in Dublin 27th June 1890, Aiden, and Josephine. Father Moses is described as a Van Man.

James Crowe (no middle name) was baptised in St. Andrew’s, Dublin, on 8th October 1885, his parents then living at 23 Queen’s Terrace.  

His mother died early in 1896 and his father remarried to Mary Theresa Edlington later that year. They had five children. 

James William is mentioned as living in Sefton Park and Anfield in WW1 records and born Dublin. His brother John married on 10th March 1915 at St Clare’s R. C. Church, Liverpool to Ethel McGowan. John was living at 61 Avondale Road and Ethel’s address was Columbia Road, Dublin. His father was named as Moses. John and Ethel had a son John Frederick in 1915. 

James William shipped to France with his battalion, disembarking at Boulogne on 07th November 1915. He was serving with the 17th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment as Private 26663 when he was killed in action at Trones Wood.

The murderous fighting that went on inside Trones Wood rendered it impossible to put specific dates on some of the casualties which is why many of the 17^th Battalion losses have been bracketed as killed in action between 10^th – 12th July 1916. The conditions are best described in the following passage from Everard Wyrall’s book The History of The King’s Regiment (Liverpool) Volume II. 

The remembrance of Trones Wood in July 1916 to those who passed through it is of a noisome, horrible place, of a tangled mass of trees and undergrowth which had been tossed and flung about in frightful confusion by the shells of both sides. Of the ghastly dead which lay about in all directions, and of DEATH, lurking in every hole and corner with greedy hands ready to snatch the lives of the unwary. The place was a Death trap, and although the attacks were made with great determination,  the presence of snipers who could not be detected and often fired into the backs of our men made the clearing of the wood impossible.

James was declared Missing between 10th-12th July.  He was buried near to where he fell, and after the Armistice, when graves were concentrated, his body was exhumed and reinterred in Bernafay Wood British Cemetery, where he now rests.

The cemetery was begun by a dressing station in August 1916 and used as a front-line cemetery until the following April. It contained at the Armistice 284 burials but was then increased when graves were brought in from Bernafay Wood North Cemetery and from the battlefields immediately east of the wood. Bernafay Wood British Cemetery now contains 945 burials and commemorations of the First World War, 417 of which are unidentified.

James' death was reported in the Liverpool Echo on 10th November 1916:

SEFTON PARK MAN KILLED

Private J. W. Crowe, K.L.R., who was posted as missing since July 10, is now reported killed. He was 28 years of age and the eldest son of Mr M Crowe, Drumcondra, Dublin. He joined the army in early 1915 and was drafted to France in October in the same year. He was formerly in the employ of Cooper and Co. Church-street, and resided with his brother in the Sefton Park district.