Name: James Groark
Rank: Private
Unit/Regiment: 13th (Service) Battalion, The York and Lancaster Regiment
Service Number: 19677
Date of Death: 12 April 1918
Memorial: Ploegsteert Memorial
James Groark is one of three brothers on the St Mary’s War Memorial. The family name switches mainly between Rourke and Groark. The early surname version tended to be Rourke. However, by the turn of the century it seems to shift to Groark, the name under which James is recorded on the St Mary’s and Batley War Memorials. However, other variants occasionally appear – including Roweke, under which James’ birth is officially registered. For simplicity, though, I will use the Groark version of his name.
James was born in Batley on 8 March 1889.1 His parents, Patrick and Bridget Groark (née Mullany),2 came from Ireland, with the 1911 and 1921 censuses giving Patrick’s birthplace as Swinford. This is in contrast to the 1891 census, which indicates both husband and wife came from County Sligo. The couple married at St Paulinus, Dewsbury, in November 1876,3 and their eldest child – Michael – was born the following year. He was the first of their eleven children.4
In addition to Michael, James’ siblings included Mary Ann (born in 1879, and who died in March 1904); James Henry (born in 1881 and died the following year); Maggie (whose birth was registered in the first quarter of 1883); Catherine (born in 1885 and died the following year); Lizzie (born in 1887); Henry (born in 1892); Francis (born in 1894); Nellie (born in 1896); and Agnes (born in 1900).
Patrick was described as a cart driver in the 1881 census, when the family lived at Ingham Road, Dewsbury. They moved to Batley prior to the birth of James, who was their first child recorded as being born there rather than Dewsbury,5 and the first baptised at St Mary’s. The 1891 census records the family living at North Street, followed by Wooller Houses, Carlinghow in 1901. By 1911 they were back in North Street, Cross Bank.
During this period Patrick worked in the agricultural sector as a farm labourer, and the 1911 census gave more detail specifying that he was a cowman. It is possible he worked at the nearby farm of John Williams, described as a farmer and cattle dealer. This farm was located only a stone’s throw away from the Groark family home, at 56 Cross Bank Road.
Bridget worked in the woollen industry in 1881 as a weaver and in the following census as a rag sorter. She died in 1911, her burial taking place in Batley cemetery on 2 March, a month before the 1911 census.
In this census, James was employed as a hurrier, working underground in a coal mine. The work involved conveying the empty coal tubs from pass-bye at the bottom of the pit shaft to the face where the coal was being hewn out by the hewer. Once there, the hurriers often helped the hewer to fill tubs, before returning them to the shaft ready to be transported back up to the surface. The job was often a starter job for lads in the pit.
By 1915 the Groark family had moved to Fleming Square, Commercial Street in Batley. But it was a much reduced household. James was now in the Army, attesting as a Private in the York and Lancaster Regiment in September 1914. Two of his brothers, Henry and Francis, were with the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. His eldest brother Michael, a former Regular soldier, had rejoined his old regiment, the Royal Scots Fusiliers.
Serving with the 10th York and Lancasters, after training at Halton Park, Leighton Buzzard, Tring and Witley, James finally set sail from Folkestone late at night on 10 September 1915, arriving at Boulogne in the early hours of the following morning.6
There was no time for rest though, or even acclimatisation to conditions and the reality of life in the trenches. Instead the battalion spent the next two weeks in a series of route marches to arrive in Vermelles on the night of 25 September.7 On good modern roads today it is a distance of around 70 miles. But this was wartime conditions in 1915. And once at Vermelles they were thrown straight into the Battle of Loos, taking part in action around the Hulloch-Lens Road and Hill 70. By the time they were relieved at 3.30am on the morning of 27 September, James Groark’s war was on hold.8 He sustained a thigh wound the previous day – one of their 306 other ranks killed, wounded or missing in their first action. James’ injury was sufficiently serious for him to be evacuated to England, where he was treated in a Cambridge hospital.9
By 27 January 1916, when he wrote an informal will leaving everything to his dad, James had transferred to the York and Lancaster’s 7th Battalion.10 He was wounded again in the summer of 1917, appearing in the weekly War Office casualty list published in the “Batley News” on 4 August 1917.
At some point James transferred to the 13th (Service) Battalion of the Regiment, often know by its original name of the 1st Barnsley Pals. And it was whilst serving with them that he was caught up in the German Spring Offensive of 1918.
With America’s entry into the War the previous April, it was imperative the Germans break the deadlock on the Western Front before the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) – who by early 1918 had started to arrive in numbers – could be fully deployed, putting Germany and their allies at a numerical disadvantage. With Russia officially out of the war with the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk at the beginning of March 1918, the Germans and Central Powers could now concentrate on the Western Front. The Spring Offensive therefore was a series of attacks loosely designed to break through British lines, outflank British forces, then surround and defeat them, forcing the French to seek an armistice, before AEF troop numbers could bear weight.
The first of the four planned attacks, codenamed Operation Michael, was launched on 21 March 1918 along a 40-mile front from just north of Arras to east of Noyon, encompassing the ground fought over in the 1916 Battle of the Somme. On the first day of Operation Michael alone, British casualties numbered 38,500, including almost 21,000 soldiers taken prisoner. It was the second worst day for the British Army during the First World War, surpassed only by the number of casualties on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, back on 1 July 1916.11
By 5 April 1918, when the Operation Michael phase ended, the Germans had succeeded, taking 1,200 square miles of territory including several important French towns including Bapaume, Albert and Pèronne,12 advancing 40 miles and inflicting losses on the heavily outnumbered British in the region of 177,739. Many of this total were taken prisoner as the Germans advanced.13
The next phase of the Spring Offensive was Operation Georgette, which began with an intense bombardment of high-explosive and gas shells over British and Portuguese positions on a 10-mile front south of Armentieres at 4.15am on 9 April.14 The German aim for this phase was to capture Ypres and force the British back to the Channel Ports.
In the midst of what was now a period of grave danger for the British Army, on 11 April Sir Douglas Haig issued his famous “backs to the wall” order, calling on Allied troops to stand firm against the Germans. The order included the stirring words:
There is no other course open to us but to fight it out. Every position must be held to the last man: there must be no retirement. With our backs to the wall and believing in the justice of our cause each one of us must fight on to the end. The safety of our homes and the freedom of mankind alike depend upon the conduct of each one of us at this critical moment.
That evening James’ battalion was involved in a successful counter-attack against the Germans, to the north east of Le Verrier, France. The attack, made by 13th York and Lancasters and 18th Durham Light Infantry (Durham Pals) in failing light at 7pm and without artillery preparation, caught the enemy completely by surprise and succeeded in re-taking La Becque and La Rose.15 This action was around 10 miles from the border with Belgium. The success was short-lived. Overnight and the next day (12 April) they found their right flank was exposed and they were forced to withdraw under heavy machine gun fire and shelling, suffering many casualties as they pulled back towards Meteren. By the early morning of 15 April, when they were finally relieved, their Unit War Diary records the operation had cost 2 officers and 15 other ranks killed; 6 officers and 164 other ranks wounded; and three officers and 218 other ranks missing.16
James, serving with the battalion’s ‘A’ Company, was posted wounded and missing in action. Efforts were made via the Red Cross to find out what had happened to him. All to no avail. He was presumed to have died on or since the 12 April 1918. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Commonwealth War Grave’s Commission Ploegsteert Memorial in Belgium.
At home he is remembered on Batley War Memorial and the St Mary of the Angels War Memorial. He was awarded the 1914-15 Star, Victory Medal and British War Medal.
Of the four Groark brothers only Francis survived the war, with James being the last to die. Michael’s biography can be found here, and Henry’s biography is here.
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Footnotes:
1. St Mary’s baptism register.
2. The Mullany variants include, amongst others, Mullan, Mullanay, Mulhaney, Malany and Mulvaney.
3. Bridget’s name is recorded as Bessy/Beesey depending on source.
4. Despite the 1911 Census indicating 10 children born alive, three of whom had died, based on my research I believe the actual number was 11 born alive.
5. The 1901 Census gives his birthplace as Dewsbury, but the 1891 and 1901 censuses state Batley, as does Soldiers Died in the Great War.
6. Unit War Diary, 10th York and Lancaster Regiment, The National Archives (TNA) Ref WO95/2158/4.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.
9. Batley News, 9 October 1915.
10. Soldiers’ Wills – James Groark.
11. Commonwealth War Graves Commission, 9 Facts about Operation Michael, https://www.cwgc.org/our-work/news/9-facts-about-operation-michael/
12. Ibid.
13. The Long, Long Trail, The First Battles of the Somme, 1918 https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/battles/battles-of-the-western-front-in-france-and-flanders/the-first-battles-of-the-somme-1918/
14. The Accrington Pals, Battle of the Lys (Hazebrouck), 11th-13th April 1918, http://www.pals.org.uk/lys.htm
15. Ibid.
16. Unit War Diary, 13th York and Lancaster Regiment, TNA, Ref WO95/2361/2.
Other Sources (not directly referenced):
• Batley Cemetery Records.
• British Red Cross & Order of St John Enquiry List, Wounded & Missing.
• Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
• GRO Birth, Marriage and Death Indexes.
• Medal Index Card.
• Medal Award Rolls.
• Newspapers – various editions of the Batley News and Batley Reporter.
• Parish Registers.
• Soldiers Died in the Great War.
• Soldiers’ Effects Registers.
• WW1 Pension Ledgers and Index Cards.
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