BORN HULL 1889. SON OF JAMES WRIGHT (1847-1905)AND EMMA WRIGHT (1857-1918), OF 97 NEWLAND AVENUE AND 62, ALEXANDRA ROAD, HULL (WAR PENSION ADDRESS).
HE HAD FIVE BROTHERS AND TWO SISTERS. PRIOR TO ENLISTING, HE WAS A BARMAN FOR TEN YEARS AT THE CRITERION PUB, HESSLE ROAD, HULL AND ALSO WORKED AS A MOTOR DRIVER. UNMARRIED. LIVED AT 62 PULMAN STREET AND 97 NEWLAND AVENUE, HULL (ARMY ADDRESS).
HE SERVED WITH THE HULL PALS. ARRIVED IN FRANCE, ON 16/06/1916. KILLED IN ACTION, ON 20/08/1916, AGED 27. HIS DEATH WAS REPORTED IN THE HULL DAILY MAIL, ON 29/09/1916, WITH HIS PHOTOGRAPH.
HIS BROTHER, LANCE CORPORAL, JOHN HENRY WRIGHT, 44578, NORTHUMBERLAND FUSILERS, DIED OF WOUNDS ON 17/05/1917, AGED 26. THEIR MOTHER,EMMA DIED SOON AFTER IN 1918.
Hull Pals Memorial Post. PRIVATE JAMES WRIGHT 21709. Born April 1889, one of eight children to James and Emma Wright of 62 Alexandra Park, Hull. His father had died when James was a teenager, and the family all worked to help make ends meet. James originally earned his keep as a hotel Barman, but when war broke out he was a Motor Driver and living at 97 Newland Avenue, Hull. He did not rush to enlist, and did not join up until December 1915 when the dreaded Conscription Bill cast its shadow over any young man of military age not yet in uniform. It was a time of casualty figures mounting daily and printed in newspapers across the land; a time of women waving white feathers at men who had yet to sign up to serve; of accusations of cowardice or a lack of pride in King and Country. James originally joined the 8th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment, but was transferred to the 11th on 4th July 1916. He was killed in action on 20th August 1916 during the Somme Campaign and buried at Le Touret Military Cemetery; he was 27 years old.
