Captain James Godfrey STOCKTON
B Company, 2/4th Battalion Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry

Date of birth: 4th May 1892
Date of death: 22nd August 1917

Killed in action aged 25
Commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial Panels 96 to 98
He was born at Banbury on the 4th of May 1892 the eldest son of Oliver James Stockton, solicitor, and Caroline Emily (nee Page) of 15 Marlborough Road, Banbury in Oxfordshire, later of Porthnabe, Mornan Smith near Falmouth in Cornwall. He was christened at St Mary's Church, Banbury on the 3rd of July 1892.

He was educated at Dent de Lion, Westgate and at the King’s School Canterbury from September 1905 to March 1909 after which he became an articled clerk to Arthur Edward Eves, solicitors of 7 Mark Lane, London EC3. He rented a room at 23 Wynell Road, Forest Hill in South London.

He enlisted at 10 Stone Buildings, Lincolns Inn as Private 532 the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps on the 11th of January 1911 where he joined C Company. At a medical examination, which was held on the same day, it was recorded that he was five feet eleven inches tall. He was posted to C Company and was mobilised on the 5th of August 1914. He applied for a commission and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry on the 31st of August 1914. He was promoted to Lieutenant on the 26th of July 1915 and to Captain in June 1917 and served in France from the 24th of May 1916 when the battalion landed in France at Le Havre.

They spent much of the rest of 1916 on the Somme front although mostly holding various parts of the captured lines. He was away in hospital for a short time at the end of 1916 but re-joined the battalion in early January 1917 while they were at Hedauville. They spent February in trenches at Ablaincourt and in March, followed the German retreat towards St Quentin.

By April James Stockton was commanding B Company and according to the battalion history "was ill, but refused to leave the trenches and carried on in a most determined manner under shocking weather conditions."

On the 18th of August 1917 the battalion arrived near Ypres and on the night of the 20th they moved into trenches to the east of Wieltje. On the night of the 21st they assembled for an attack near the village of St Julien with their objective being the Winnipeg-Kansas Crossroads. For the attack B Company was in support of the flanks of the other three companies which were in the vanguard. They advanced behind a creeping barrage and took their objective after just thirty minutes and all four companies dug in 150 yards to the west of the crossroads.

Unfortunately an old German gun pit which was to the battalion's left had been cleared but not garrisoned. The enemy filtered back into this position and opened fire with a mixture of rifle and machine gun fire, killing James Stockton, Lieutenant William Douglas Scott and 2nd Lieutenant William Elhanan Gascoyne.
Holme House

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