James Henry Bailey

James Henry Bailey was born in 1901 at Hadlow in Kent. As a boy he entered the army in 1917 as a boy soldier and remained in regular service for over a decade, leaving the colours in 1928. Military life therefore formed the foundation of his adult years, and even after returning to civilian life he remained part of the reserve.

In 1925 he married Ada Winifred May and the family later settled in Hambledon at Flint Cottage in West Street. They raised a large family there, and his children maintained close links with the village into later generations. When war broke out again in 1939 his previous service meant he was immediately recalled, returning to the Royal Artillery and joining the British Expeditionary Force in France.

The 2nd Medium Regiment provided heavy artillery support to the field army during the fighting in France in 1940. As the German advance cut through Allied lines in May, British forces withdrew toward the Channel ports. The evacuation from Dunkirk that followed saw more than three hundred thousand troops rescued from the beaches between 26th May and 4th June, but the withdrawal was chaotic and dangerous, with constant air attack and shellfire.

James Bailey did not survive the retreat. He drowned during the evacuation operations and his body was later washed ashore near Nieuport in Belgium, where he was first buried in the local churchyard before later reinterment in Adegem Canadian War Cemetery.

Adegem contains many men recovered from isolated graves across Belgium after the war, including those lost during the desperate fighting and withdrawal of 1940. James Bailey, a soldier both of the First World War era army and the Second, belonged to the generation that served twice, answering the call again after years of civilian life and leaving behind a wife and children in Hambledon.