49th IEE Member to Fall in World War 1 – Private J Cheshire

Private James Cheshire of the 1^st Battalion The Manchester Regiment, died 1 May 1916, the 49^th member of the IEE to die in World War 1.

James came to England from Russia in 1904 at the age of 9. He was educated at Cheetham Higher Grade School, Manchester, from 1908 to 1910 before entering the Municipal School of Technology, Manchester, in September 1911. James took the 3-year course in electrical engineering under Professors A Schwarz and Miles Walker which he completed in June 1914. The remainder of 1914 was spent in private study.

James enlisted in the Army on 22 February 1915 and was put through a course of military training before being deployed on Coast Defence duties in the Northern Command. James then volunteered for active service in the East and in February 1916 was transferred to the 1^st Battalion of his Regiment which was serving in Mesopotamia, having arrived in that country from the Western Front earlier in the year. Mesopotamia roughly corresponds to parts of modern day Iraq, Syria and Kuwait. He arrived in Basra in mid-March and was sent forward with a draft for his Battalion which had been engaged in fighting for the relief of Kut. On the journey to Sanna-i-Yat, where his Brigade was serving in trenches on the right bank of the river Tigris, he was attacked by cholera and succumbed to the disease on 1 May 1916.

Private Cheshire’s obituary was published in the IEE World War I Honour Roll and these details have been reproduced below (right click on the text image to enlarge the text).