Sleddon, James Richard
50601 Private, 'D' Company, 12th (Service) Battalion (Pioneers), Sherwood Foresters
50601 Private, 1/5th Battalion, Sherwood Foresters
695202 Private, 18th Company, Labour Corps
Born 13th August 1880 at Althorpe; birth registered at Tranmere
Son of James Alexander (a mariner from Tranmere) and Ann Rebecca (nee Popplewell of Althorpe)
1891 census listed him as visiting the Sharp family at Crowle
In 1901 he was a blast furnace man, lodging at The Screeds, Ashby
His mother and siblings lived at Toxteth, Liverpool where she died in 1902
Became a farm labourer
Worked at Bunkers Hill, Haxey, West Butterwick and Blyton
Came to Scotter and lived at The Green
Enlisted on 31st May 1916 at Lincoln
Next of kin was his sister, Beatrice Anne Cheesman of Old Brumby Road near Scunthorpe
Joined the Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment)
Arrived in France on 26th September 1916
Wounded in action with a gun shot wound to the face on 20th October
Sent to Wimereux Hospital and then home to Northern Command Depot at Ripon
Returned to France on 15th July 1917
Hurt his ankle on 31st July while ration carrying in the trenches
Suffered with osteoarthritis of the right knee
Returned via Boulogne on 15th November and admitted to Horton Manor Hospital at Epsom
Went back to Ripon in January 1918 and posted to 8th (Reserve) Battalion at Sunderland
Again sent overseas on 31st March 1918
Demobilized and transferred to Class ‘Z’ Army Reserve on 6th March 1919
Re-enlisted on 28th May 1919 and joined the Labour Corps at Pontefract
Volunteered to work on grave exhumations
Was one of 8000 volunteers sent overseas that managed to re-inter some 200,000 soldiers
Enjoyed Christmas leave in the U.K.
Discharged on 28th April 1920 ‘character very good’
Described as Church of England, 5 foot 6 inches tall, fresh complexion, blue eyes and light brown hair, ‘top of left ear missing’
Letters sent to Scotter were returned to the Army with ‘whereabouts unknown’
He was living at Temple’s lodging house, 70 Marshgate, Doncaster near the railway station
Died in 1971 aged 91 in the Doncaster registration district