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267848 1st/7th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales’s Own)
James Chinery was born in 1897 in Sudbury. At the age of 3 he was living with his grandfather Edward Chinery at Hale’s Yard, North Street. His mother Sarah Ann was a yarn winder in a local mat factory and she married James Sillitoe in 1900. James lived with his mother and stepfather, a labourer for Sudbury Borough Council and his five siblings and two half siblings at 4 French’s Yard, Gregory Street. By the age of 13 James was employed as a baker’s boy.
James enlisted in Sudbury, serving with the Suffolk Regiment (formerly 1861) before transferring to the West Yorkshire Regiment (formerly 6122). His battalion formed part of 146th Brigade, 49th (West Riding) Division.
On 21 March 1918 the German Army launched Operation Michael (also known as the Spring Offensive). This was a vast attack along the whole Somme sector front with the aim to destroy the British Army. The Germans advanced quickly and deeply with heavy losses for the Allies. In April at the Battle of Lys (9 – 29 April) the Germans attempted to capture key railway and supply roads and cut off the Allies at Ypres. The 49th Division saw action at Bailleul (13 – 15 April) where the enemy drove forward taking Bailleul. It is when General Haig issued his famous statement ‘With our backs to the wall, and believing in the justice of our cause, each of us must fight on to the end’. Finally reinforcements arrived and it was the last gain made by the enemy during WWI. It is estimated that the both sides lost 120,000 killed, missing or wounded.
James was killed in action on 16 April 1918. There is no known grave and he is remembered on the Tyne Cot Memorial, near Ypres, Belgium. A Cross of Remembrance was laid at the Tyne Cot Memorial in April 2006 and on April 2009.
James was awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal.
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