HOSKINS James

Appears in the Worcester/Worcestershire Roll of Honour Book for army casualties located in Worcester Cathedral.

James Hoskins was baptised in St Peter’s Church, Martley on 10th September 1897, the son of Thomas and Catherine Agnes Hoskins, Church Lane, Martley.

On the 1901 census the family reside at Church Lane, Martley: Thomas Hoskins, head, age 56, Agricultural Labourer, Catherine Hoskins, wife, age 45, Catherine Hoskins, daughter, age 10, Helen E. Hoskins, daughter, age 7, James Hoskins, son, age 3, Gertrude Hoskins, daughter age 1, Albert E. Hoskins, son, age 1 month.

James entered Martley School on 1st August 1906, leaving the school on 28th March 1907 when he was admitted to Worcester Orphanage, his father having died in 1903.  His mother died in 1911.

James left Liverpool bound for Halifax, Canada on 11th April 1913 on board the Virginian, arriving in Canada on 18th April 1913.

James Hoskins enlisted in the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force on 13th March 1916 at Lindsay, Ontario, Canada.  On his attestation paper he gave his date of birth as 1st August 1897 in Martley, Worcestershire, his profession as a farm labourer and his next of kin as his brother, Thomas William Hoskins, Church Lane, Martley, Worcestershire. James was 5ft 2¼ins tall with brown eyes, brown hair and a swarthy complexion.  James sailed from Halifax, Canada on S.S. Olympic on 23rd July 1916; he disembarked in Liverpool, England on 31st July 1916.  He was posted overseas on 4th December 1916. On 20th January 1917, James was admitted to the No 7 General Hospital at St Omer, France suffering from mumps.  He returned to duty on 9th February 1917.  Two months later he was reported killed in action on 9th April 1917.

National Archives of Canada Reference: RG150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 4519 – 45

The Canada War Graves Registers (Circumstances of Casualty) records the following information on Private James Hoskins:
“Killed in Action”
He took part with his Battalion in the successful attack on Vimy Ridge, in the course of which he was instantly killed by enemy shell fire.

Berrow’s Worcester Journal, 12th May 1917:
WORCESTER ORPHANAGE HEROES
James Hoskins, Canadians, a native of Martley, who is reported to have been killed on April 9th, was brought up at the Royal Albert Orphanage, and went to Canada in April 1913.  He has been two years in the Army, and would have been 20 years of age in August.

Thomas Booton, Canadians, another Martley soldier, who was also brought up at the orphanage, was wounded on April 9th, and is now in hospital at Gosforth, Newcastle.  He went to Canada at the same time as Hoskins, under the charge of Mr H O Knight, the late schoolmaster of the Institution. He is 20 years of age.

A photograph of Private J. Hoskins of Martley can be found in Berrow’s Worcester Journal Supplement, Saturday 19th May 1917, available at Worcestershire Archives.