My Great x3 Half Uncle James (1874 - 1936) was a grocer's porter, sergeant in the Boer and First World War, telephone lineman, father of thirteen, and a young half brother of my Great Great Grandmother Emma Wright (nee Bennett) (1871 - 1944).
James was born around 1874 in Exeter, Devon, to James Clapperton (about 38), a Scottish veteran of the Crimean War and a draper's porter, and Sarah Ann Clapperton (formerly Bennett, nee Andrews) (about 30), a housewife.
I cannot find a record of marriage between Sarah Ann and James Clapperton, though they would live for years as husband and wife. We assume James junior was the son of James Clapperton, though no birth or baptism record for James junior can be found, which is not rare if a child is illegitimate.
James had two old half siblings from his mother's first marriage to railway labourer James Bennett, who died after an accident at work:
- William 1868 - 1942 (73)
- Emma 1871 - 1944 (73)
James was the eldest of his full siblings (four boys, four girls):
- James 1874 - 1936 (61)
- George Henry 1876 - 1952 (75)
- Albert 1878 - 1878 (0)
- Walter John 1880 - 1913 (32)
- Lily/Lillian Maude 1882 -
- Minnie 1884 -
- Ada 1886 - 1888 (1 year and 9 months)
- Florence 'Florrie' Mabel 1889 -
1881 Census:
On the evening of 27th August 1885, James, eleven, set a firework cannon off in Paris Street. He was summoned and fined 1s, but warned he was liable to a fine of £5 for setting off fireworks in the street.
From the Express and Echo of 1st September 1885:
James alas turned to stealing. And not being a fast runner, he was twice caught. On 31st August 1885, James, 11, acted as watch-out, as his young friend Charles Henry Green, 9, stole threepenny worth of sweets from a shop at 54 Richmond Road, the property of a Miss Osborn. Their crime was witnessed by a William Kerslake, who subsequently caught James. Charles said James, the older lad, had told him to steal the sweets.
From the Western Times of 5th September 1885:
Only a week later, on 7th September 1885, James attempted another steal with Charles, and another lad, Frederick Charles Hookaway, 10. They stole 50 prawns, worth 1s 6d, from a fish shop at 15 Paris Street, the property of a Mrs Smith. She ran after the boys down the street and once more James was caught. He was sentence to three weeks in prison, to be followed by five years in a Reformatory/Industrial School.
From the Express and Echo of 8th September 1885:
On 11th April 1888, when James was about fourteen and likely away from his family, at a Reformatory/Industrial School, his younger sister Ada tragically passed away, aged only one year and nine months, after being knocked down by a tram outside the family home. In 1904, James would name his fourth daughter, Ada Florence, likely after two of his younger sisters.
Assuming James stayed at the Reformatory/Industrial School for five years, he would have returned to the family home in Exeter, in late 1890, aged about sixteen.
As a teenager, James worked as a grocer's porter.
1891 Census:
James, the one who stole the sweets and prawns as a boy, served in both the Boer and First World War. Unfortunately I cannot find his service record for the Boer War, but his service record from the First World War gives us some information of his previous service. It informs us he served in the Devonshire Regiment for ten years, leaving around 1903, meaning he must have joined around 1893, aged about nineteen.
Aged twenty-two, James was acquitted of assaulting Rosanna Fordham, thirteen, on 1st August 1896. She was a domestic servant at the Victoria Hotel, Ilfracombe; whilst James was employed by the Ilfracombe branch of the National Telephone Company. She told the court, she had informed James she was under sixteen; a witness, Mrs Ellen Williams, said she heard the girl tell James she was nineteen. James told the court that Rosanna approached him, whilst he was having a drink at the hotel. She represented to him that she was nineteen. That they had gone out together on three occasions and he gave her money on each occasion.
From the Western Times of 18th November 1896:
In Oct/Nov/Dec 1897, James (about 23), a general labourer, married Elizabeth Vinnicombe (19), in Exeter.
Their eldest daughter May was born in Apr/May/Jun 1897, before the young couple married. Meaning she would have been conceived between Aug - Oct 1896. There is a possibility that James was seeing Elizabeth in Exeter and Rosanna in Ilfracombe at the same time.
James and Elizabeth had thirteen children (seven daughters and six sons):
- May Victoria 1897
- Frederick 'Fred' James 1899
- Irene Eveline 1901
- Lillian Maud about 1903
- Ada Florence 1904
- Violet Hilda 1906
- Vera Dorothy 1908
- Albert Alexander 1909
- George Henry about 1910
- Stanley Charles 1912
- Walter John 1914
- Hilda Grace 1916
- Male 1920 -1920 (0)
The couple seem to have registered the births of all their children, apart from Lillian, who was born about 1903, and George, who was born about 1910.
James's parents' relationship fell apart around 1898. They had been living apart for fifteen months, when James senior was charged with assaulting Sarah in 1899. By then, Sarah was living with her future husband, stone mason William Luscombe.
1901 Census:
The couple baptised their sixth child, baby Violet, on 6th April 1906, and baptised their toddler daughters, Lillian and Ada, together on 11th May 1906 in St Mary Arches, Exeter. At the time, the young family lived at 43 St Mary Arches Street, and James' occupation was given as 'wireman'. They don't seem to have baptised the rest of their children.
On 18th January 1907, James's father passed away, aged seventy-one, in Exeter. His death was reported in the Western Times on 23rd January 1907:
His funeral took place on 24th January 1907 at Exeter's Higher Cemetery. Owing to his military service, his funeral was highly attended and reported in the Western Times on 25th January 1907:
Around 1909, the family moved from Exeter, where the oldest seven children were born, to Taunton, Somerset, where the younger five children were born.
1911 Census:
In 1913, James' younger brother passed away, aged thirty-two. He had served in the royal marines for thirteen years, serving on many ships, and had been invalided out about eighteen months before he passed away. James named his son, born the following year, Walter, likely after his brother.
James, who rose the rank of Sergeant like his father before him, reenlisted on 19th November 1915, aged forty-one, serving in the First World War as a Sapper and Line Telegraphist.
From the Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser of 1st December 1915:
He then served in the Royal Engineers on the British Eastern Front from 29th May 1916 to 14th December 1916.
He was discharged on 28th May 1917, suffering from gas poisoning.
His conduct in the war was described as "very satisfactory" and his character "very good". In appearance, James seems less the viking Clapperton and more perhaps like his mother Sarah Ann: he had a fresh complexion, hazel eyes, dark brown hair, and was 5'4''.
James' life unraveled after the war, as documented in newspaper articles. He drank, was disorderly; abused his wife (legal separation followed). His experiences in war - likely leading to trauma and suffering - may explain, but not excuse, his behaviour.
From the Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser of 14th November 1917:
From the Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser of 3rd September 1919:
Hearing James's own voice is important:
"I get these fits and cannot help it. I had sunstroke in the South African war, and was gassed in this war. My nerves are shattered. I have been to a sanatorium, and I want to go away again to somewhere quiet. I am appealing to the pension people to send me away. It is all put down to drink, but it's not drink."
Sadly, James and Elizabeth's youngest child, a baby boy, died before he could be named, in 1920.
1921 Census:
From the Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser of 14th September 1921:
From the Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser of 6th September 1922:
From the Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser of 13th December 1922:
From the
Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser of 30th May 1923:
The tragic statement: "it was unsafe for his wife and children to live with him".
From the Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser of 17th June 1925:
From the Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser of 4th August 1926:
From the Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser of 27th October 1926:
Here we get further insight into Elizabeth's experience.
James "knocked her front teeth out because she had asked him to go to bed quietly. He had hit her hundreds of times before, and she did her best to get out of his way... On one occasion he threw a kettle of boiling water at her".
We hear her voice: "I had him back because I thought he was ill, and that I could do him good."
From the Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser of 9th February 1927
After their separation, James was repeatedly charged with failing to pay child maintenance to Elizabeth.
From the Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser of 9th March 1927:
From the Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser of 5th October 1927:
A decade after he first appeared in the newspapers for indecent language, James appears destitute.
"I have nothing at all except what I stand in now... I don't want to go there [prison], I am very nearly in my grave now, tramping about the roads with nothing in my pockets."
From the Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser from 8th October 1930:
By 1933, James was an inmate at the 'Public Assistance Institution' - the workhouse.
From the Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser of 18th January 1933:
In Jan/Feb/Mar 1936, James passed away, aged sixty-one, in the district of Wellington, Somerset.
James came from a military family, and many of his children and grandchildren went on to serve in the Second World War.
From the Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser from 31st July 1943:
Elizabeth never remarried. She outlived James by nearly thirty years. She passed away, aged eighty-six, in Oct/Nov/Dec 1964, in Taunton.
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