BORN HORNSEA 1880. SON OF MARGARET DANDY AND WALKER ROUTLEDGE PRESTON, HORNSEA. SON OF A FARM LABOURER. HE HAD FIVE SIBLINGS. HIS ARMY ADDRESS WAS 9 BECONSFIELD AVENUE, CORNWALL STREET, HULL AND HE WAS RECORDED ON THE WILMINGTON ROLL OF HONOUR. BEFORE JOINING THE ARMY, HE WAS EMPLOYED AT EARLE’S CEMENT WORKS.
HE ENLISTED IN HULL, ON 30/11/1914. TRAINED AT BEVERLEY AND RIPON. SERVED WITH THE 4TH HULL PALS, IN EGYPT AND FRANCE.
HE WAS KILLED IN A BOMB BLAST THAT KILLED THREE OTHER HULL MEN, ON 25/05/1916, AGED 35.
HE WAS A WIDOWER. HIS WIFE, MARY JACKSON, WHO HE MARRIED AT HORNSEA, IN 1901, DIED IN 1911. THEY HAD THREE CHILDREN WHO WERE CARED FOR BY JAMES’S SISTER, ELIZABETH CARDELL.
HIS DEATH WAS REPORTED IN THE HULL DAILY MAIL WITH HIS PHOTOGRAPH ON 14TH JUNE 1916. * HE WAS RECORDED ON THE HORNSEA WW1 MEMORIAL AND ALSO ON HULL’S WILMINGTON ROLL OF HONOUR.
NB: PTE, A. PRESTON, EYR, 10 CLAREMONT AVENUE, NICHOLSON STREET?
