The Somme Remembered – 19th July 1916
The Speight Family – A Tragic Tale of Three Barnsley Journalists
Thomas Speight, born in Westmoreland about 1853, was a newspaper reporter who moved to Barnsley to work for Barnsley Chronicle from January 1879. Thomas remained at the Chronicle for some years but was also appointed the local reporter of Sheffield Daily Telegraph plus other daily and weekly journals. He represented Barnsley then Sheffield on the Institute of Journalists and he was a member of the choir and a church warden at St George’s Church, Barnsley. Thomas continued to work while suffering from ill health, which led to his premature death of consumption in 1902, aged 49. Thomas was buried with his first wife in Barnsley Cemetery; his funeral had been held at St George’s Church and “a large number of beautiful floral tributes were sent, amongst these being wreaths from the staffs of the “Barnsley Chronicle” and “Barnsley Independent””. Thomas’ Obituary was in Sheffield Daily Telegraph.
Thomas had a son, also called Thomas, by his first wife Kezia, who died shortly after they moved to Barnsley. He married again in 1884 to Alice Casson, with whom he had three children: Alice May, Dorothy then James Christopher. Both sons attended the Holgate Grammar School and became journalists.
Thomas Speight junior, born in Kendal in 1879, worked for Barnsley Independent and Sheffield Daily Telegraph before emigrating to Australia for the benefit of his health about 1900, continuing to work as a reporter in Melbourne. He married there and had a son but died in 1916 about 9 months after a throat operation, aged only 37. His death was reported in Sheffield Daily Telegraph.
James Christopher Speight was born on 1 March 1893 in Barnsley and baptised at St George’s Church. He was only 8 years old when his father died at home in Kensington Road, Barnsley. By 1911, James, Newspaper Reporter, was living with his mother and sister Dorothy, Teacher, in a large house in Park Grove, Barnsley; his sister Alice was married with two young children. After attending the Holgate, James worked for Barnsley Chronicle & Barnsley Independent and, as district correspondent, for Leeds Mercury and Yorkshire Telegraph & Star.
James Speight
James enlisted at the end of November 1914 in the 16th Battalion of the Cheshire Regiment (Bantams) after being rejected three times because of his height. He was promoted to Sergeant and in January 1916 went out to France, where he was killed on 19 July 1916, aged 23, along with many others, while asleep in headquarters at Trones Wood on the Somme, during a heavy bombardment. According to Major Worthington’s letter to his family, James was unconscious when found but died soon afterwards and was buried in Haricourt. However, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission have James “killed in action” rather than died of wounds with his name listed on the Thiepval Memorial, Somme, which probably meant that subsequent action on the battlefield resulted in his grave or grave marker being destroyed. James’ mother of Dodworth Road, Barnsley, learnt of her son’s death a month later, confirming her fears after receiving no letters from him for some time.
James Speight
Signaller Fred Brown, 16th Cheshires, wrote to Barnsley Chronicle from France: “I would like to express my deepest sympathy with the parents and relatives of one of our own townsmen, a promising journalist – Sergeant Speight. I was only about 15 yards away from him when he received the fatal blow. I am a Barnsley man, my home being at 16 Allison Terrace, Grace Street. All the Barnsley boys here are in the best of health. I wish the Barnsley Pals, the Territorials & the Royal Engineers good luck. I receive the Chronicle every week”.
The Holgate Alumnus magazine stated: “His affability, unfailing courtesy and uprightness of character won him a large number of friends who held him in high esteem”. Barnsley Independent, for whom James had worked for six years, regretted “the loss of one of our own circle, a member of the literary staff of this journal, a young, faithful and promising journalist, and one popular with all”…. “he had
James Speight
made great progress in the profession, being marked as a journalist of rich promise…. Of cheerful disposition, big hearted and a most loveable lad, Sergeant Speight’s death is keenly felt in many quarters and particularly by the staff and employees of this journal, to whom he had very closely endeared himself”. Barnsley Chronicle added: “His ability, his kindly nature and his cheerful disposition made him a great favourite amongst the Pressmen of Barnsley, who deeply deplore his untimely end…. In the many circles of life in Barnsley and district with which Sergeant Speight became associated in a professional capacity he was held in high esteem, and the news of his death has been received with sincere regret.
NB James Christopher Speight is one of the 76 Old Boys on the Barnsley Holgate Grammar School War Memorial and his story is included in my book Great Sacrifice: The Old Boys of Barnsley Holgate Grammar School (published by Helion and Company). Also available on Amazon
By Jane Ainsworth