Name: James Knibbs
Birth Place: Bedworth, Warwicks
Residence: Nuneaton, Warwicks
Death Date: 22 Aug 1917
Enlistment Location: Foleshill, Warwicks
Rank: Private
Regiment: Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry
Battalion: 2/4th Battalion.
Number: 10728
Type of Casualty: Killed in action
Name: KNIBBS, JAMES
Initials: J
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Private
Regiment/Service: Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry
Unit Text: 2nd/4th Bn.
Date of Death: 22/08/1917
Service No: 10728
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: Panel 96 to 98.
Memorial: TYNE COT MEMORIAL
Please see:
The Attack on Pond Farm, 22nd August, 1917
The Attack On Pond Farm and Other Strong Posts, 21st -24th August 1917
Attack on Strongpoints, South East of St. Julian, 22nd August 1917
The Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele)
James Henry KNIBBS, son of Ellen KNIBBS , was born bet. January and March, 1893 in Foleshill District, Warwickshire, England. He married Rosella HARRIS bet. January and March, 1916 in Foleshill District, Warwickshire, England. He died 22 August 1917 in Ypres, Belgium. Rosella HARRIS. She died UNKNOWN.
Marriage Notes for James Henry KNIBBS\Rosella HARRIS:
This marriage is so far conjectured. James Knibbs was from Bedworth which is next to Foleshill in Warwickshire where the marriage took place. James was killed in 1917, and Rosella Knibbs remarried in 1920.
Other Marriages/Unions for Rosella HARRIS:
See William T GARNER & Rosella HARRIS
Notes for James Henry KNIBBS:
* Birth: bet. January and March, 1893 in Foleshill District, Warwickshire, England.
* Death: 22 August 1917 in Ypres, Belgium.
* Occupation: Soldier, Private, Oxford & Bucks Light Infantry bet. 1914 and 1918
* Military: 22 August 1917 Ypres – World War I, Belgium, Casualty of War
The Following Web Site has more on James Knibbs: http://knibbs.family.users.btopenworld.com/fam716.html
In Memory of
Private JAMES KNIBBS
10728, 2nd/4th Bn., Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry
who died on 22 August 1917 Remembered with honour
TYNE COT MEMORIAL
I suspect that the timing of James’ death indicates that he was almost certainly killed during what is known as the Third Battle of Ypres – Passchendaele
On 31st July 1917, behind the newly mastered creeping barrage, the allied troops climbed out of the their trenches along the whole front line, from Boesinghe in the North to Le Gheer in the South, and advanced towards the German forces. The enemy�s first line was quickly taken (the Germans had adapted the scheme of defence in depth, which consisted of a thinly defended front line of machine gun outposts and strongly more heavily defended support line) and the British pushed forward about one mile before meeting much stiffer resistance. Later in the afternoon the advance was stopped and pushed back in places by a carefully coordinated counter attack by specially trained troops. However a worse enemy was afoot, the worst weather for 75 years, which turned the whole battlefield into a quagmire, the whole attack was stalled until 10th August.
It is estimated that Third Ypres cost the Allies about 300,000 casualties (35 men for every metre gained � many of them were lost to the mud of Flanders and have no known grave, only to be commemorated on the Menin Gate and Tyne Cot Memorials to the missing) and the Germans a further 260,000 casualties.
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We believe this is the James Henry Knibbs that appears as being born in Foleshill District, Warwickshire, Jan-Mar 1893
Sources for James Henry KNIBBS:
1. 1901 British Census,
2. FreeBMD,
3. .Ancestry.com, England & Wales, Birth Index: 1837-1983
4. Commonwealth War Graves Commission,
Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (The 2/4th Battalion) 