Service Life:

Campaigns:

• The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.

22 April - 25 May 1915. On the 22nd April 1915 the Germans used poison gas at Ypres. This was the first 'official' use of gas and took the Allies by surprise. After initial success capitalising on the confusion and horror of this weapon, a heroic stand, initially by the Canadians and then supported by British and Indian Battalions, held the German advance. However it became clear that the Germans had achieved a tactical advantage and eventually the British were forced to retire to more a more defendable perimeter closer to Ypres. These positions were on the last ridges before Ypres and their loss would have resulted in the loss of the town and possibly open the Channel coast to German occupation with disastrous consequences for the re-supply of the BEF.

Detail :

JAMES BLADES SERGEANT, 2nd KINGS OWN ROYAL LANCASTER REGIMENT James Blades was killed in action on 8th May 1915 near Ypres. His battalion war diary reads as follows: May. HUTS WEST OF YPRES. 4th. The Bn. were resting in the huts. The following reinforcements arrived on the 3rd May: Other Ranks 240. 7 p.m. Orders were received to march out to the trenches and relieve the 5th Bn. The King’s Own Regt. 8.30 p.m. The Battalion marched out and took over trenches in front of FREZENBERG. The trenches were new trenches and had not been completed. “A” and “D” Coys. were in the first line. “B” and “C” Coys. in support. “B” Coy. acting as support to the 3rd Monmouths. 5th -7th. Battalion in the trenches. Enemy shelled trenches intermittently. 8th. 7 a.m. Enemy shelled trenches blowing them in, and rendering them untenable. The enemy advanced and captured the front line trenches; they then advanced against the support dugouts. The O.C. 3rd Monmouths called for one company to support the line and “B” Coy. under Captain Forwood at once moved across the road and occupied some old trenches east of the burial ground in the rear of the Monmouth’s trenches. 10 a.m. Enemy commenced attack in the support dugouts but were held in check when 200 yards from them. The enemy were observed moving in a westerly direction on both flanks of the position. Major Clough assumed command on the death of Colonel Martin. 11.35 a.m. Message received to retire on POTIJZE. “B” Coy. was ordered to retire first followed by the 3 platoons of “C” Coy. on the North of the YPRES - ZONNEBEKE Road. After the retirement regiments got mixed up. Some of the Bn. retired through the POTIJZE line and some remained in the trenches till the 9th May. 9th. The remainder of the Battalion were withdrawn from the front line and sent back to the huts. The total casualties during this last tour in the trenches from 4th May till 9th May were:- Officers: Killed 4, Wounded 5, Wounded and Prisoners 2, Wounded and Missing 1, Missing 4. Other Ranks: Killed 36, Wounded 110, Wounded and Missing 31, Missing 721. This last entry gives some indication of the extreme pressure that the 2nd Kings Own had been under: most of the battalion were recorded as casualties. The Official History adds that “at 08.30hrs the German infantry rose and assaulted the exposed front on Frezenberg Ridge and the attack was driven off. After another half hour bombardment a second attempt failed in like manner, but by this time practically all the men in the front line trenches had been killed wounded or buried. It was impossible to send reinforcements and a third assault at about 10.00hrs succeeded. The Kings Own on the left, its front line having held out until overwhelmed, and Lt Col AMS Martin killed, now also defended its support trench”. As a footnote it records that only 4 officers and 94 other ranks remained of the battalion nominal strength of about 1000 men, Sergeant James BLADES was one of the men killed that day. He died with brother freemason Lt Col Aylmer MARTIN, his commanding officer. Both names are on the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing.

Masonic :

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• The (UK) National Archives
• Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
• ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry

Additional Source:

• Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
• Researcher : Bruce Littley