FRADLEY

		Source
		CWGC	SDGW	Uttoxeter Advertiser	Other
Parents	The late Francis and Rachel Fradley, of Balance Hill, Uttoxeter	Yes
Where born	Uttoxeter				5
When born	About 1877		Yes
Address	Balance Hill, Uttoxeter (Parents)	Yes
	Bridge Street, Uttoxeter (self)			1b	6
	58 Bridge Street, Uttoxeter (himself)	Yes			3
Spouse	Mary E. Fradley, of 58, Bridge Street, Uttoxeter	Yes
Children	Kenneth James Fradley
Employment Before Joining up	Messrs. Huggins and Chambers
Where enlisted	Luton, Bedfordshire		Yes
Regiment & Unit	North Staffordshire (Prince of Wales’s)	Yes	Yes		2,6
	1st/6th (Territorial Force) Bn.	Yes	Yes		6
	“C” Company	Yes
	“B” Company				2
Rank	Corporal	Yes		1c, 1d, 1e, 1f
	Lance Corporal			1b
	Acting Corporal		Yes		6
Service Number	2664	Yes	Yes		2,6
Date of Death	13 October 1915	Yes	Yes	1c, 1d, 1e, 1f	2, 6
Age at time of death	38	Yes		1b
Where Killed or died	Loos			1c
Where Killed or died	Loos - Hohenzollern Redoubt				6
How he died	Killed in action		Yes	1d, 1e, 1f	2, 6
Location of Grave or Memorial	France/Flanders: Loos Memorial for the Missing, Panel 103 to 105	Yes
Awards	The Queen’s Medal			1a

As a member of the old Volunteers^[1b], he went through the South African War^{[1b, 6]}, and on one occasion he was injured when he fell off a wagon^[1b].

He was mainly responsible for the formation of the National Reserve at Uttoxeter^[1b].

He was employed by Messrs. Huggins and Chambers^{[1b,
6]}, and was 'highly esteemed by his associates'^[1b].

In the first week of September 1914 the Uttoxeter Advertiser^{[1a, 6]} reported that James and a number of other Uttoxeter Reservists had left for war:

Again on Monday the town was agog with excitement; thirteen members of the Uttoxeter detachment of the National Reserve, who have been certified as fit for active service, leaving the town to join the 6^th North Staffs Regiment at Luton.

The veterans assembled at the Cross Keys Hotel yard and headed by the Leighton Ironworks Band and their Commandant, Lieut. Nelson, they marched through cheering crowds to the station to the appropriate strains of “Where are the Boys of the Old Brigade?”. The final scenes at the station lacked nothing in the matter of patriotic fervour.

The detachment of National Reserve accepted for service was as follows: Sergt. J. P. Fradley, T. Nield, T. Davies, F. T. Martin, S. H. Whittingham, J. W. Smith, T. Stubbs, A. Smith, J. W. Ford, G. Burrows, J. F. Harrison, W. Lewis and G. Harrison.

Sergt. J. P. Fradley is an old Uttoxeter Volunteer, and was in the South African War. He is the proud possessor of the Queen’s medal. ...

On the 21^st November 1914 it was reported[6] that he had been promoted to Lance-Corporal.

He died in the charge on the Hohenzollern Redoubt at Loos^{[1e, 6]} on the 13^th of October 1915. He was shot while trying to rescue Oswald Bamford from the battlefield^[1g].

Oswald Bamford [Photograph with kind permission from the Uttoxeter Advertiser]

Two weeks after the events the Uttoxeter Advertiser described the events leading to James’s death^[1g]:

On Tuesday morning came the news, then unofficial, that Capt. Oswald Bamford had lost his life whilst gallantly leading his men in a charge, and coupled with his name was another well-known townsman in Lance-Corporal James Fradley, who was also reported killed. Unhappily, these reports were later found to be only too true.

But this was not all. Letters arriving in the town continued to report other deaths of Uttoxeter soldiers, and information was also received that more than half the Company had been wounded. Since these reports came to hand, it has been proved beyond doubt that the death-roll has been large, and the most profound impression has been caused throughout the town and district.

It is impossible at present to give exact details of the number of men affected owing to the absence of official information, but the cases dealt with later in these columns give a melancholy idea of how the local Company has suffered, whilst the letters from local soldiers we are able to publish picture in vivid terms the intensity of the battle in which our Territorials were involved.

The fine spirit shown by Capt. Bamford, who has only been in the fighting line about two months, forms the theme of many a communication from the front, and all agree that as a leader Capt. Bamford proved himself an officer of exceptional ability and pluck. .It will be seen..that the galland captain’s last words to the brave men he was leading was, “Come on lads!”.

After he fell it is stated that Lance-Corporal J. Fradley went to his assistance, but was himself shot before he could render succour.

James left a wife and two children^[1b].

In September 1917 it was reported in the Uttoxeter Advertiser^[1c] that his son, Kenneth James Fradley, had been granted a bursary by the War Pensions Statutory Committee. The bursary was tenable at Thomas Alleyne’s Grammar School and had been granted in consideration of his father having ‘nobly laid down his life for his country on October 13, 1915’.