James Eggleton (c.1875-1916)
From Burnhope, served with 174th Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers, killed in action.
James Eggleton was born in Chester le Street about 1875, the son of John and Sarah Eggleton. When he decided to join the Army in 1915, he was living at 20 Church Row, Burnhope, and working as a hewer in the local colliery.
In February 1915, the British Army appealed for miners and other underground workers to join eight new Tunnelling Companies of the Royal Engineers for immediate service on the Western Front. German miners were already digging under the British lines and these British tunnellers were urgently needed to counter the threat and dig mines to destroy the German trenches.
James was just one of the Durham miners who responded to the appeal and joined the 174th Tunnelling Company in London on 10 June 1915. Amazingly, just five days later, on 15 June 1915, 102583 Sapper Eggleton landed in France.
At first, the 174th Company was based at Houplines in France but in July 1915 moved south to the Somme to take over French tunnels between La Boisselle and Carnoy. From October 1915, however, the 174th Company focused on the German defences at Mametz and, when the Battle of the Somme began on 1 July 1916, eight huge mines the Company had dug were exploded.
Working underground was always dangerous but on the Western Front, there was the added danger of enemy miners breaking into a tunnel or of being buried alive by an enemy counter-mine. Sapper James Eggleton was killed in action on 25 May 1916 but it is not known how he died. He was 41 years old.
James Eggleton was buried in the Citadel New Military Cemetery at Fricourt of the Somme battlefield.
For more information:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/546608/eggleton,-/
North East War Memorials Project
http://www.newmp.org.uk/detail.php?contentId=6480
Civil Parish: Lanchester
Birth date: about 1875
Death date: 25-May-1916
Armed force/civilian: Army
Residence: 20 Church Row, Burnhope, County Durham.
Employment: Hewer, Burnhope Colliery, County Durham.
Note: A Hewer worked at the coal face, loosening the coal with a pick.
Family: Parents: John and Sarah Eggleton.
Military service:
Enlisted as 102583 Sapper 174th Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers, 10 June 1915.
Medal(s): 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal.
Memorial(s): Citadel New Military Cemetery, Fricourt, France.
Burnhope Memorial Garden.
Church of St. John the Evangelist, Burnhope
Gender: Male
Contributed by Burnhope War Memorial Research Group. | With additional research by Durham County Record Office.
