Battery Sergeant-Major James Henry Jemmett 18249, 184 Siege Battery RGA

[Ivor Anderson]

Battery Sergeant-Major James Henry Jemmett 18249, 184 Siege Battery RGA

 

 

Birth: July 1886, (Q3 1886) Favesham, Kent. Parents Thomas & Emma

Baptism: 30 July 1886, Favesham, Kent.

Parents: Thomas Sandy (1854-31/10/1924) & Emma Frances Cheesman (1857-28/04/1927).

                Married 25 December 1875, Faversham, Kent.

 

1891: Aged 4

1901: Father Brickmaker, James (age 14) labourer in brickyard

1911 Census: In Malta as acting Bombardier with no. 5 Co. RGA. Aged 25, Married.

 

Parents emigrated to Montreal, Quebec August 1912.

 

 

Arrived in France 11 July 1915 as a Sergeant

 

184th Siege Battery was formed at Portsmouth on the 16th June 1916. After training they left Folkestone on the 12th October 1916. Battery information here: https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/190806-184-siege-battery-rga/

 

 

Death of brother George William Ewart Jemmett – b. 24 March 1897.

Private, 38th Battalion, Canadian Infantry (Eastern Ontario Regiment). Killed in action March 26, 1917 • Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France. Buried: Villers Station Cemetery Villers-au-Bois Departement du Pas-de-Calais Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France Plot: VII. F. 26.

 

MSM in London Gazette 17 June 1918, supplement 30750

 

Died 1930 Hampshire?   MSM Inex Card - FREE off Ancestry:

 

Edited 26 September , 2020 by Ivor Anderson

[Acknown]

1 minute ago, Ivor Anderson said:

Died 1930 Hampshire?

Very interesting, Ivor. Is this your question?

Acknown

[Ivor Anderson]

Sorry - Yes, thanks Acknown. You were quick off the mark! .

If he went to France in July 1915 and 184 SB only arrived in Oct. 1916 he must have gone to France with another unit?

I cannot find his marriage or be sure of his death date. There is another JHJ b.1886, m.1911, on 1939 census? There is a family tree on Ancestry:

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/person/tree/71799306/person/42356689612/facts?_phsrc=JTS352&_phstart=successSource  MSM:

 

 

Edited 26 September , 2020 by Ivor Anderson

[Ivor Anderson]

MIC - FREE off ancestry:

 

[Acknown]

Ivor,

This is a challenging one! You will have noticed that James's wife doesn't appear on the Malta 1911 Census, unlike some other wives, so it may be that the Jemmetts were quite newly married and she had stayed at home. I've had a look around to try to find a married, unaccompanied Jemmett female in Kent to no avail. There is a JHJ at 34 Queen's Road, Egham in 1919 married to a 'Kate', but other details are incorrect. I've tried to find the 184 Battery War Diary for Jul 15 to see if his arrival was recorded, again without success, so all in all abject failure.

I hope someone else can throw more light.

Acknown

[clk]

Hi Ivor,

 

6 hours ago, Ivor Anderson said:

Arrived in France 11 July 1915 as a Sergeant

6 hours ago, Ivor Anderson said:

If he went to France in July 1915 and 184 SB only arrived in Oct. 1916 he must have gone to France with another unit?

 

It might be worth downloading part 4 of WO 95/5494 from the National Archives, which shows the unit allocations of Siege Batteries. In the absence of other records I don't know quite how you would do it, but if you could establish that he only ever served overseas with a SB, and wasn't sent over as a reinforcement to a unit that was already there , then for example 15 SB may be an option.

 

Image sourced from the National Archives

 

Regards

Chris

 

 

[corisande]

7 hours ago, Ivor Anderson said:

If he went to France in July 1915 and 184 SB only arrived in Oct. 1916 he must have gone to France with another unit?

 

The actual Medal Roll says he first went to France with "Base Details" rather than with an actual Battery

[Ivor Anderson]

Thanks Acknown & Chris. Artillery workings are a maze to me.

The 2 JHJ marriages were one in 1896 to Kate Stone in Wandsworth (obviously too young), and another to Edith Clara Dutiliaul in Walthamstow in 29/7/1911.

JHJ & Edith were at Hornsey on the 1939 census (b.23/01/1886), so that JHJ is not the one who died in Hampshire in 1930.

He may have got married abroad and died at home in 1930?

 

Thanks Corisande too. What does 'base details' mean? He was certainly a key member of 184 battery.

Edited 26 September , 2020 by Ivor Anderson

[corisande]

 

Have a look at this thread and see if you are any the wiser

 

 

[Ivor Anderson]

Thanks. So he was in transition between batteries. I notice that his 1914-15 star does not mention a RGA unit, as well as his BWM & VM roll saying 'base details'.

Might he have been employed as part of a team organising the setting up of siege batteries in 1915 and coordinating the decommissioning of them at the war's end?

BWM & VM roll off Ancestry:

Edited 26 September , 2020 by Ivor Anderson