Private James Guest 21893, 4th Bn., Worcestershire Regiment

Pte 21893 James Guest of the 4th Worcesters, the son of the late Mrs. J. Guest, of No. 16, Springfield, Dudley Rd., Rowley. Orphaned, he lived at his married sister’s home at No. 22 Windmill End, Netherton, together with his younger brother and sister.

Joining the Army on 23rd March 1915 during Dudley’s great recruiting drive of that month, he was drafted into the 4th battalion of the Worcesters and arrived on Gallipoli on 10th November 1915 as part of a reinforcement draft.

Surviving the Hell that was Gallipoli, he moved with his battalion to the Western Front, arriving there in March 1916.

Killed in action on 21st April 1916, he is buried in the small Military Cemetery of Mesnil Ridge, located in the middle of nowhere in farmland between the villages of Auchonvillers and Mesnil-Martinsart.

His War Gratuity and Dependant’s Pension was paid to his sister, Mrs Caroline Cole, who was guardian of his younger siblings.

According to the battalion’s War Diary the unit were in the front-line trenches on that day; at about 4.00 pm the Germans opened fire with a heavy trench mortar. One dug-out was demolished, killing four men; presumably one of these unfortunates was James Guest. Two are buried alongside him, whilst the third is remembered on the Thiepval memorial.

A bachelor, his name is carved on the walls of Dudley's civic war memorial in Priory St.

He is also remembered locally on the war memorial in St Peter’s, Darby End, Nertherton.

Note: This story is based on his entry in the book “Dudley’s 1914-1918 War Memorial and the Men commemorated – 2nd Revised & Expanded Edition” by J. B. E. Hale.