Major James Leadbitter KNOTT
10th Battalion, Prince of Wales's Own (West Yorkshire Regiment),formerly 9th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers
Killed in Action, Saturday 1st July 1916, Belgium, Age 33
Home address:
Close House, Wylam on Tyne, Northumberland
Born:
1883, North Shields, Tyne and Wear
Parents:
Lady Margaret Annie Knott and Sir James Knott, 1st Bart.
Close House, Wylam on Tyne, Northumberland
Marital Status:
Single
Occupation:
Ship Owner (The Prince Line)
Enlisted:
-
Remembered:
Ypres Reservoir Cemetery, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium, plot V, row B, grave 15.
Link to Hyde:
Father Worked in Hyde
He was President of the Hyde Seals Swimming Club when he enlisted.
Awarded the Distinguished Service Order Medal.
The letter he left for his parents:
If you are reading this letter it means that this war has demanded the extreme sacrifice from me. It is not in any sense a message from the grave because whatever I may or may not doubt, I have very complete faith in the Life Eternal. Momentous events are looming and I have a premonition that I may not return to you. I have been dreaming of Basil recently. My medals are yours but I would like them destroyed when you both join me. My clothes, furniture and motor car must be immediately disposed of, everything which reminds you of my death must be removed. This is my urgent desire and wish.
Your devoted son, Jim.
James Leadbitter Knott’s father was a prospective Unionist Parliamentary Candidate for Hyde and set up the Sir James Knott Trust. The family owned a Shipping Line named The Prince Line.
The message on his CWGC gravestone, put there by his father: