2nd Lieutenant James Stanley YATES
3rd (Reserve) Battalion Queen's Own (Royal West Kent Regiment) attached to No. 4 Platoon, A Company, 6th (Service) Battalion

Date of birth: 12th January 1889
Date of death: 8th October 1915

Killed in action aged 26
Commemorated on the Loos Memorial Panels 95 to 97
He was born at Stoke Dameral in Devon on the 12th of January 1889 the son of James Alfred Yates and Hannah Eliza (nee Malpas) of Newhouse, Claygate, Esher in Surrey.

He was educated Portsmouth Grammar School and at the King’s School Canterbury from January 1903 to July 1908, being appointed a school monitor in 1906. He achieved his Higher Certificate in 1908 with a distinction in Latin.

He went on to Hertford College Oxford on an Open Classical Exhibition gaining a 3rd Class Classical Mods in 1910 and a 2nd Class Lit Hum in 1912. While at Oxford he served as a Cadet in the Officer Training Corps from September 1910 to June 1912.

He went to work as an assistant master at St Bees College in Cumberland where he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Officer Training Corps on the 7th of December 1912. He passed Examination A for Officer Training Corps officers at Devonport in April 1913 and attended the Corps annual camp in 1913 and 1914.

On the 19th of February 1915 he applied for a commission in the Special Reserve of Officers which was supported by the Head Master of St Bees. He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant the 3rd Battalion Battalion Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment)on the 3rd of April 1915. On completion of his training, he was attached to the 6th Battalion and crossed to France in July 1915, joining the 6th Entrenching Battalion on the 28th of July.

On the 8th of October 1915 the 6th Battalion Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment) was at Loos and were given orders to attack the part of “Gun Trench” which was occupied by the Germans. The attack was to be preceded by an artillery barrage lasting two hours but at about noon the German artillery opened fire on the British positions and between 3pm and 4pm this became very heavy, doing great damage and causing heavy casualties. The shelling disrupted the preparations for the attack by cutting signal lines and it was unclear whether the British artillery which was firing, was doing so in support of the attack or firing as a counter barrage. There was no thought of cancelling the attack and at 6.16pm the British artillery lifted on to the second German line and the assault began. As soon as the attacking men emerged from the protection of their trench they came under heavy fire from German machine guns which had not been silenced by the artillery and Captain Margretts, who was leading the attack, fell badly wounded in the first moments. James Yates was killed on the parapet of Gun Trench and only five men managed to get into the trench itself and join the battalion bombers under 2nd Lieutenant Meyrick H. Carré (OKS). Eventually they were forced back to their own lines and the attack was a costly failure.

His father received a telegram dated the 10th of October 1915:-

"Deeply regret to inform you that 2 Lieut. J.S. Yates 3rd attd 6th West Kent is reported missing believed killed 8th October. Lord Kitchener expresses his sympathy."

In order to establish what had happened to James Yates a number of interviews were undertaken over the following weeks with men from his battalion.

Testimony of 57 Sergeant Saunders taken at the Lahore General Hospital at Calais on the 20th of November 1915:-

"This officer was killed and a Sergeant of mine called Sergeant Ward saw him lying dead. He was out in the open having been knocked over during the attack. We took the Gun Trench then lost it because we could not get the reinforcements up. We gained the trench the following night and held it, but Lt Yates was killed when we first made the attack and took the trench but could not hold it. Dead men were lying in heaps along the parapet, so I could not see whether he was buried or not. I know he was lying behind the Gun Trench when he was shot down."

Testimony of 3653 Private W. Jerrard 6th Battalion Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent) Regiment taken at No. 2 General Hospital (Casino) at Le Havre on the 8th of November 1915:-

" Lieut. Yates commanded the 4th Platoon of A Coy. I was in No. 3 Platoon. The bombers of A Coy advanced against the German trenches and five minutes after that the No. 4 and No. 3 Platoons followed them. It was dusk. I saw Mr Yates go over the top of our trench and he would be about two dozen yards from me. There were four machine guns in the German trench and we lost in killed and wounded about 70 men out of 100 in our two platoons. Lance Corporal Jones of the 3rd Platoon No. 8295 and several other men told me that Mr Yates was killed on the edge of the German trench. Lance Corporal Jones was still with the regiment on November 2nd."

His father was sent a letter from the Military Secretary dated the 16th of November 1915:-

"The Military Secretary presents his compliments to Mr J.A. Yates, and begs to inform him that a report has been received from the Officer Commanding battalion that Second Lieutenant J.S. Yates was reported by Lance Corporal Avis to have been hit in the head and apparently killed 10 yards from the German parapet."

Testimony of 271 Corporal Wright taken at No. 1 General Hospital, Etretat on the 17th of November 1915:-

"The Went Kents were reinforcing the East Kents on that date. Lieut. Yates was hit by machine gun fire at 100 yards range. He was hit in the wrist and his hand was severely damaged. Our officers had been killed and as he was next to us he took command of us. He gave me the orders to take six men for a digging party to refill a gap from which the Germans were bombing us. On my return I found him lying wounded in the trench. He could walk but seemed in a dazed condition and not conscious of what was going on around him. I was the only NCO near there at the time and I did not think it advisable to let him go to the dressing station alone in the condition which he was. I and Private Johnson therefore carried him as far as "Crown Prince" Trench and I then handed him over to Johnson and two men of the West Kents with orders to take him to the dressing station. These two men were Private Meadows of D Company 6th West Kents and Private Williams 5857 D Co. W Kents. Meadows took Lieut. Yates wrist watch off and gave it to Sergt Major Williams, B Co. 6th W Kents (since killed) who I believe took it to another officer commanding. I heard him (Sergt Major Williams) pass word along the line to that officer that they had taken the wrist watch of Lieut. Yates. Lieut. Yates was also wearing a gold signet ring with the inscription "A.C.". We tried to get this off but it was too tight on his finger. He then asked Private Page 10751 D Co, who was his servant, to write to his people at once informing them of his wound. Johnson and the other two men then started to take Lieut. Yates to the dressing station--this was a mile and a quarter away, of which a mile was down the trench and a 1/4 mile of open ground. The dressing station was in Vermelles. Vermelles itself, and the open ground short of it, was under intermittent shell fire, slow and not heavy. Next morning at 10am I was going for water and as I went down the road through Vermelles I found Johnson lying dead in the village. With two other men's help I took his body to the dressing station and identified it. Then I enquired if Lieut. Yates had been there. They replied that he had not. Private Page took Lieut. Yates' kit down to the dressing station directly after Lieut. Yates was taken down himself. Apparently he (Page) never reached there and he has never been heard of since."

A book of James Yates’ war poetry was published in 1919 under title “War Lyrics”. J.M. Courtney’s “As the Leaves Fall” a volume of poems written in France, concludes with “An Englishman; In Memoriam James S Yates killed in action, October 8th 1915”. Joseph Courtney (1891-1973) was at King’s from 1905-09.
 

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