|
240390 2nd/5th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment
James Leonard was born in Wolverhampton in 1896, the youngest of three known children of Thomas and Mary Jane Leonard. By 1901 his widowed mother was employed as a brush maker and the family was living in Collier Street, Wolverhampton.
By 1911 James and his elder brother Thomas were living with William and Emma French and their young son at 37 New Street, Sudbury. James was employed as a gardener’s assistant and his brother Thomas was assisting William French with his bootmaker’s business.
James enlisted in Bury St. Edmunds and served with the Suffolk Regiment (formerly 2059). His battalion was part of 208th (2nd Norfolk and Suffolk) Brigade, 69th (2nd East Anglian) Division. The Division was formed for home defence and training men for the front line. It was based at Thetford, Newmarket and Bury St. Edmunds.
James died aged 21 at Northern General Hospital, Sheffield, Yorkshire on 7 July 1917 and lies buried in Sudbury Cemetery (Plot RR 125). It is not known if he was injured during training or fell ill.
James is also remembered on the Trinity Congregational Church Memorial which was moved to the United Reformed Church, School Street when Trinity closed. The United Reformed Church closed in 2017 and it is proposed that the memorials from both churches will be relocated to the Sudbury Cemetery Chapel.
James Leonard is now believed to be the same person as James Leonard French on the War Memorial. A possible clerical error on the original Roll of Honour when the name was put forward by his ‘adopted’ French family. There were no set criteria for names to be put forward for the Sudbury War Memorial in 1919 and his name may have been put forward by different friends or relatives.
Back to Roll of Honour
|
