Name
James Henry Philby
6 May 1884
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
16/04/1918
33
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
72419
Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby Regiment)
16th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
POZIERES MEMORIAL
Panel 52 to 54.
France
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial, St Mary's Church Memorial, Hemel Hempstead
Pre War
James Henry Philbey was born in Hemel Hempstead on 6 May 1884, the son of Edward and Mary Ann Philbey, and one of three children, although his sister Lucy died in 1904 aged 16. He was baptised on 9 April 1893 at the age of nine, with his younger brother William.
James left school in 1897 and followed his father into the building trade and became an apprentice bricklayer.
He met Caroline Raggett from nearby Piccotts End, who worked in Apsley Mills and they married on 27 October 1906. They lived at 1 Astley Road, Hemel Hempstead and their first child Sydney George was born the following year. They later had two daughters, Lucy and Constance.
Wartime Service
James enlisted under the Derby Scheme, by which service could be deferred, and he was transferred to the Army Reserve with a possible recall in April 1916, but he went to Whitehall on 14 January 1916 and joined the Royal Flying Corps. He was immediately posted to Farnborough as an Air Mechanic 2nd Class and, after a short training period, was sent to France on 19 March. He was assigned to a Balloon Section on 1 July and promoted to Air Mechanic 1st Class and during the next year was engaged in deploying observation balloons over enemy territory.
In early September 1917 he was sent for infantry training with the 63rd Royal Naval Division, followed by a compulsory transfer at the end of the month to the 16th (Chatsworth) Battalion, Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby Regiment. He was granted two weeks home leave from 1 November when he returned home to see his family.
On his return to the front, the Battalion were in the Somme Sector and in March 1918 James experienced his first serious action at the Battle of St Quentin. They suffered 317 casualties in ten days and then were in action again at the Battle of Lys when the Battalion again suffered many casualties.
James was killed in action on 16 April 1918 aged 33, during the fierce fighting near Amiens. He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial. France.
Additional Information
His widow received a war gratuity of £10 and pay owing of £13 17s 8d. She never remarried and died in 1965 in Hemel Hempstead. His brother William also fought in the war but survived.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.hemelheroes.com
