Name
James Alan Pearson
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
09/12/1917
18
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Second Lieutenant
Royal Flying Corps
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
DOCKING (ST. MARY) CHURCHYARD
North-West part.
United Kingdom
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Bushey Town Memorial
Pre War
Born in Chesterfield on 9 March 1899 and baptised on 31 May 1899 at St Thomas’ Church in Brampton, Chesterfield, James Alan Pearson was the only son of James (Snr.) and Harriet Helen (nee Towlson) Pearson. His parents were married in 1885 in the registration district of Belper. His father was an earthenware manufacturer, and the family was living at Brampton Manor.
At the 1901 Census, James was 2 years old and living with his parents and his 2-year-old sister, Doris Christine, at The Manor House in Chesterfield, where they employed three servants. His father and mother were aged 47 and 38 and their birthplaces were Newbold in Chesterfield and Nottingham respectively. Chesterfield is also given as the birthplace for both children. Also present is Harriet’s mother, Christiana Towlson, who is ‘living on her own means’. Her birthplace is also Nottingham.
James (Snr.) died in 1905, aged 51, in Chesterfield and in 1907 Harriet married James Anderson Goodfellow, a medical practitioner, in the Uppingham registration district.
At the 1911 Census, James was twelve years old and a boarder at Edgbaston Preparatory School in Birmingham. His new family were living at Grove House in Ashover, near Chesterfield and employed two servants, a housemaid and a cook. James Goodfellow is 48 years old. Doris is 14 years old and a scholar.
When Harriet died in 1929, she was recorded as a widow. It is not certain when James Goodfellow died, but there is a death registered in Warrington in 1915 for a James Goodfellow, aged 52, which appears to be the best fit based on the age given for him in the 1911 Census record.
Wartime Service
James trained with the Royal Flying Corps and qualified as a 2nd Lieutenant on a Caudron Biplane at Ruffy-Baumann School in Acton. His certificate, dated 11 September 1917, shows his address as ’Myoora’, Grange Road, Bushey, which is the last house before Manor Field.
A pilot in 110 Squadron, James died, aged 18, in a flying accident on 9 December 1917 at Sedgeford airfield. He was buried in the north west part of St Mary’s Churchyard in Docking, Norfolk.
There is an entry for James in The National Probate Calendar for 1918, which reads: "PEARSON James Alan of Myoora Grange-road Bushey Hertfordshire died 9 December 1917 at Sedgeford Norfolk Administration London 6 February to Harriett Helen Goodfellow (wife of James Anderson Goodfellow). Effects £373 12s. 11d."
There is some uncertainty about the exact nature of the accident in which James died, but the following is an extract from the information available about fatalities at Sedgeford on the aviationtrails.wordpress.com website:
“110 Squadron was formed on November 1st from the nucleus of 38 Training Squadron at Rendcomb, and stopped off at Dover on their way to Sedgeford.
Within days of 110 Sqn’s arrival, pilot James Alan Pearson was killed following a flying accident at Sedgeford. Pearson, who was from Chesterfield, had only joined the RFC in August that same year, transferring from South Farnborough, to Winchester, Oxford and then Hendon, where he joined No. 19 Training Squadron on September 19th, 1917. On November 19th, he completed his probationary period and was confirmed as a Temporary Second Lieutenant upon which, he was posted to No. 110 Sqn, at Sedgeford, just after the main squadron arrived at the busy Norfolk airfield.
His death came within a matter of days of his arrival, some references stating he ‘blacked out’, whilst other say his aircraft, a Martinsyde Elephant (#B866), broke apart. No doubt, both actions resulted from a steep dive from which Pearson never recovered. During the dive, and probable breakup of the aeroplane, Pearson was thrown out of the cockpit, unaided or not conscious, he failed to survive the fall. His official service record (AIR 76/396/34) simply states ‘Killed as result of aero accident‘, the short few entries showing how limited, at 18 years old, his experience was.”
The record for James in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission database gives the address for his mother as The Hall, Bushey, Herts. and his name is included on the Bushey Memorial.
However, she later returned to the Stockport area as the entry in the National Probate Calendar for 1930 reads: “GOODFELLOW Harriet of Grange-cottage Heald Green Cheshire widow died 4 July 1929 Probate London 10 April to Joseph Hibbert solicitor Cecil Hibbert physician and Mary Frances Hibbert spinster. Effects £11185 4s. 4d.”
Additional Information
Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, Jonty Wild, aviationtrails.wordpress.com website
Acknowledgments
Andrew Palmer
Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, Jonty Wild
