James Wyatt was born in 1875 in Kersey, Suffolk, the seventh of the ten children of Jacob Wyatt (b.1836) and Louisa Wyatt née Grimwood (b.1838). On 31 October 1875 he was baptised in Hadleigh, Suffolk. In the 1881 census he is shown living at Kersey Street, Kersey, with his parents and four siblings: Frederick W. Wyatt ((1862-1940), John Wyatt (b.1868), Jacob Wyatt (b.1877) and Robert Henry Wyatt (1881-1952). His father was an agricultural labourer.
The 1891 census shows him as an agricultural labourer living at Church Hill, Kersey, with his parents and three siblings: Jacob, Robert and Charles Wyatt (b.1882). On 30 September 1899 he married Alice Louisa Tripp (1876-1964) at St Peter's Church, Islington, where the marriage register shows his occupation as a bricklayer and both their addresses are recorded as 10 Vincent Terrace, Islington. They had seven children - six of them were: Alice Louisa Wyatt (1900-1975), James Albert Wyatt (1902-1979), Thomas William Wyatt (1905-1986), William Wyatt (1907-1989) Florence Rose Wyatt (1911-1987) and Grace Lilian Wyatt (1914-2006).
In the 1901 census he is described as a bricklayer's labourer living at 30 Danbury Street, Islington, with his wife and their daughter, Alice. He is still shown as bricklayer's labourer in the 1911 census, living at 127 Bleyton Buildings, Chatham Avenue, Hoxton, with his wife and their four children: Alice, James, Thomas and William. The census return also shows that they had another child called Frederick Wyatt who had died.
He enlisted at Finsbury Barracks in The Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own), service number G/7496 and served in their 3rd Battalion. He entered France on 1 June 1915 and was reported missing in action on 27 September 1915. As he has no known grave he is commemorated on Stone 101.A, on the Loos Memorial, Dud Corner Cemetery. Loos-en-Gohelle, France. His army effects totalling £1-6s-1d were sent to his widow on 29 December 1916 and she was sent his £3-0s-0d war gratuity on 15 October 1919. He was posthumously awarded the 1914-1915 Star, the British War Medal, 1914-1918 and the Victory Medal.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
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