Jim Dengate

James Dengate

KEY DATES:

Baptised: 8 August 1897, St John the Baptist Church, Sedlescombe, East Sussex

Death: 14 September 1917, Karachi, Pakistan

BIOGRAPHY:

James Dengate (known as Jim) was born to James and Naomi Dengate in 1897 in Sedlescombe and was baptised on 8 August 1897 in St John the Baptist Church, Sedlescombe.

St John the Baptist Church, Sedlescombe, 2002

The 1901 census shows Jim's parents and sister Evelyn living in Brickyard Cottage, Sedlescombe, where Jim's father James worked as a house painter. Behind the house, in an outbuilding, the family used to bake bread. It was from this house that Jim Dengate set out for his military service.

Brickyard Cottages, Sedlescombe, 2002

Jim Dengate, c.1914

The above photograph of Jim has suffered from wear and tear over the years and was at some point touched up with a black painted outline. This portrait hung on his devoted sisters Nellie Margaret and Rosa May's wall until their deaths in the 1990s. It was kindly given to me by their friend in 2003.

Jim joined the Royal Sussex Regiment, serving in the 3rd company of the 1st Battalion which spent all of the First World War on the North West Frontier of India.

Jim's military service tragically ended in Karachi, Pakistan when he was killed on 14 September 1917, aged just 20 years. His family learned of the death via telegram whilst living at Brickyard Cottage and were deeply upset by his death. He was the third person that year to be killed in the First World War, after his two cousins Malcom and Edward Cecil McDougall. Jim's father was asked by Sedlescombe Church to build the war memorial to the war dead, which he did with the help of his other son Francis William Dengate. Also in response to his grief, James was encouraged to take up the position of church grave-digger and sexton, which he did for many years, retiring as the church's last grave-digger.

War Memorial, St John the Baptist, Sedlescombe, 2002

Jim Dengate's war medals, 2004

CENSUS:

1901 Census