James's Story.
Son of Mr. John Henry Brindley and Mrs. Emily Brindley, of 10, Queen Street, Macclesfield, Cheshire, 53, Fence Street, Macclesfield, Cheshire, and The Globe Hotel, Canal Street, Congleton, He had one sister, Harriet, along with one brother, Henry. Prior to enlistment he was employed as a Cotton Weaver at Lower Heyes Cotton Mills, Macclesfield, Cheshire.
Private James Brindley enlisted in the South Lancashire Regiment on the 9th of December 1915, at Macclesfield and was attested at Chester on the 15th of February 1916, he embarked from Folkestone on the 23rd of June 1916, arriving in Etaples on the 24th of June 1916 as part of the Expeditionary Force to France.
He was transferred to the 17th Battalion the Manchester Regiment under the command of the 90th Brigade, 30th Division. on the 1st of September 1916. The Battalion's Official War Diary carries scant details of the day James Brindley was killed and the Battalion history written in the 1920s, has little to add. The British offensive which was later designated as the Battle of Arras had started with some success on the 9th of April. The attacks on the 23/24th would be classed as the Second Battle of Scarpe (after the nearby river). The 17th Battalion, the Manchester Regiment arrived in the area on the 18th of April and took over a section of hurriedly dug front line trenches on the 20th. They were near the village of Heninel and faced the Germans entrenched across No Man's Land at Cherisy. Zero hour was set for 04:45 hours on the 23rd of April and the men attacked on schedule. The attack was met with extremely heavy machine gun fire and artillery barrage. The machine guns had been placed in strong concrete shelters, which had withstood the British "softening up" bombardment. The Manchester's were unable to reach the enemy trench but dug themselves in at what was described as an advanced position in No Man's Land. The Battalion History records that at 09:00 hours, the enemy launched a counter-attack of great violence which, owing to the gallantry of the defenders, was repulsed and the position maintained. At 14:00 hours, a further enemy attack was made, and the Battalion suffered many casualties. At nightfall, it was withdrawn with a strength of 260 men out of 650 who went "over the top" Private James Brindley was reported as missing on the 23rd of April 1917 eventually being listed as killed in action. He has no known grave, but is remembered on the Arras Memorial, Pas de Calais, France.
Cheshire County Memorial Project would like to thank John and Christopher Pullen for this information on James.