What My Dad Told Me

Born on Hitlers birthday 20th April 1895, a fact he hated being reminded of, my father James Thomas Bunting was the oldest son of a family of six children. At the age of eleven his father died following the fate of my father's two younger brothers, Arthur and Corbett. So James Thomas became the man of the house. They had to leave the large house on Carlisle Street and move to a much more humble dwelling in Mason Terrace. On leaving school he became employed at a local cobblers. Because the money was poor he later joined the "night soil" men. Their job entailed patrolling the back alleys of Goole from ten pm to daybreak pulling out and emptying the toilet boxes from beneath the privies into a large two wheeled cart then disposing the contents at the council midden.

On Sunday 30 August 1914 James joined the Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, his Reg. Number being KW/488. Was that his only day off work? The following week, on Tuesday 8 September, he transferred to the RNVR and on 14 October he enrolled in RND. The second page of his record states he joined "A" Coy. of Drake Battalion as No.E/488 on 8 September 1914. A contradiction but he did end up in "A" Coy. Because of the shortage of ships, Winston Churchill and others in Government had decided before the War to make the surplus of sailors into a land based fighting unit called the Royal Naval Division. (He did a similar thing in the second world. They were the Commandos). They wore khaki but retained their sailor hats. They were divided into battalions named after famous admirals and my father was in Drake Battalion. They did their brief training at HMS Victory III. Crystal Palace. The whole division was sent to Antwerp to defend Belgium against the Germans. By the time the three Brigades finally withdrew, they had established a North-South line of defence keeping control of the Channel ports. This brave effort in the face of inadequate administration and poor communications cost 60 lives and 138 wounded. Of the rest, 1469 were interned in Holland for the duration and 936 were POWs in Germany. Drake Battn. returned almost intact but exhausted after marching many miles under terrible conditions.

In February 1915, Drake was part of the Royal Naval Division which left their new headquarters at Blandford Forum bound for Gallipoli in the Dardanelles. Benbow, Hawke and Collingwood Battalions were being reformed to follow later. On 25 April landings were made on the Peninsula. Drake, left in reserve on Mudros, landed the next day.
After the battle of 4-5 June when Collingwood and Benbow suffered awful losses, the Division was reorganised into two brigades of three divisions each, with Drake in the 1st Brigade. Conditions were bad and dysentery and malaria were rife. The final retreat from Gallipoli was made on the night of 8 January, amazingly without alerting the Turks and therefore without casualties.

Hawke and Drake Battalions stayed on the island of Imbros until May 1916 when they landed in France. In October, James Bunting A.B., Drake Battalion and the rest of RND found themselves in the battle of the Ancre. After months of trench warfare there came came the end of the war for dad. He was wounded in the left arm during the battle of Gavrelle on the 23rd April 1917. Shrapnel entered just behind his left elbow leaving an eight inch cut up to the triceps and exiting along the forearm. It fractured the ulna and took the end off the humerus. He was hospitalised at Wimereux and on 26th May departed on the hospital ship St. Denis for Victoria Hospital, Netley, Southampton.

James spent six months in hospitals. The time was spent between the Welsh Hospital unit, Netley Hospital and convalescing across the water at the West Cliff Hotel, Hythe. He then went on leave in December 1917. Overdoing his leave by six months he faced a Court Martial at Perham Down and was charged in that at Blandford Camp on the 21st. January 1918 he absented himself until surrendering himself to Goole police on the 12th June 1918. He was also charged with losing by neglect his equipment and regimental necessaries. He was sentenced to undergo detention for one year and to be put on stoppages of pay until he had made good the value of the articles valued at £2/6s/9d.

On the 2nd August 1918 the Lords Commission of the Admiralty quashed the charge, returning the good conduct badge which had been confiscated when James was charged. What brought about the turnaround to the serious charges against him? It could be that his contract signed on enlistment 8th. August 1914 clearly stated, "I undertake and bind myself to serve till the end of the war, or for three years, whichever comes first". So legally his service ended whilst he was hospitalised at Netley. Considering he had served in three fierce campaigns and was then rated as been 50% disabled, it would have been a travesty to have convicted him.

In October 1918 he was granted official leave when he married my mother.

In November 1918 he was declared unfit for service and discharged after 4 years and 82 days. On his discharge he was rated 50% disabled but after visiting different hospitals and appeal boards he was awarded a final pension assessment of 30% for life on the 25th July 1923. The wound, which never healed, caused problems all his life. Quite often it flared up and needed hot fermentations and poultices. My sister Annie became an expert. When he became fit for work and had regained some of the grip in his left hand, the first job he tried was boot repairing but later he found work on the docks.

James in either Hythe or Netley Hospital:


James' War Badge and certificate


James Bunting's Record Cards