BORN HULL 1881. SON OF JOHN ECCLES (1833-1898) & ELIZA JANE ECCLES, OF 2. RIFLE TERRACE, WALKER STREET, HULL (WAR PENSION ADDRESS).
HIS WIFE, ANNIE (FISH) ECCLES, LIVED AT 35 STANIFORTH PLACE, HESSLE ROAD, HULL (HIS CWGC ADDRESS). THEY HAD SIX CHILDREN. THEIR LAST TWIN DIED IN 1918 AGED TWO YEARS.
A FORMER SOLDIER WHO SERVED IN THE BOER WAR. RECALLED AT THE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR AND SENT TO FRANCE. HE SERVED AS A SERGEANT WITH THE 2ND THE EAST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT (EYR). HE WAS WOUNDED AT YPRES, AND HAD THE UNIQUE EXPERIENCE OF READING ABOUT HIS OWN DEATH IN THE NEWSPAPER, WHILE LYING IN A LIVERPOOL HOSPITAL.
HIS THREE BROTHERS, GEORGE, JOHN AND THOMAS, ALSO SERVED WITH THE EYR. ONE BROTHER PIONEER, JOHN ECCLES, 6TH EYR, LIVED AT 12 STAVES BUILDINGS, PORTER STREET.
JAMES ECCLES TRANSFERRED AS CORPORAL, TO THE 7TH EYR. HE WAS TO LOSE HIS LIFE AT OPPY WOOD ON 13TH MAY 1917. HE WAS AGED 37. HE IS COMMEMORATED ON THE ARRAS MEMORIAL. HE LEFT A WIDOW, ANNIE (1882-1959) AND CHILDREN, SARAH ANN FISH; MARTHA LENA FISH (1905-1984); THOMAS HENRY FISH; AND NORAH. THEIR WEEKLY WAR PENSION WAS REDUCED TO 30 SHILLINGS WHEN HIS TWO TWINS DIED IN 1918.
HIS PHOTOGRAPH WAS PRINTED IN THE HULL DAILY MAIL ON THE 7TH APRIL 1915. *
