James Benjamin Howard

A Private with 2nd Bn., died on 2nd of March 1916. 

James, who was often known as Benjamin, or Ben, was born at Lowestoft on 1 March 1882, a son of Benjamin and Mary Emily Howard. He was baptised at Saint Margaret's Church, Lowestoft, on 2 April 1882. The 1891 Census shows James and his father with James' grandmother, Mary Howard, at 1 Laundry Lane, Lowestoft. 

James was working as a fisherman, with Mr. E. Utting, of Lowestoft, when he joined the 3rd (Militia) Battalion Norfolk Regiment, at Lowestoft, on 29 January 1900. He completed his 49 days training but no other details of his service are known. 

James married Annie Florence Daines at Lowstoft in 1903. In 1911 James, Annie, and children, lived at 8 Victoria Road, Oulton Broad, Lowestoft, and James worked as a fisherman. 

James volunteered to join the Army and he is named in a list of men who had joined 'Lord Kitchener's Army' and who had enlisted at the Arcade Offices, Lowestoft, under Colonel Cubitt (Lowestoft Journal 16 January 1915). James enlisted in the Suffolk Regiment. On 9 August 1915 he arrived in France to serve with the 2nd Battalion. 

It is not possible to say exactly when James was wounded, but is is likely that he was wounded while the 2nd Battalion were serving at The Bluff, near St. Eloi, south-east of Ypres. James was evacuated to 10 Casualty Clearing Station at Abeele (Remy Siding) near Lijssenthoek, Belgium, where, on 2 March 1916, he died from his wounds. 

Note that on Commonwealth War Graves records James is incorrectly listed as 'B S Howard'. On Saint Margaret's War Memorial (Roll of Honour gives his first name as Ben)