Born: 1897, Morley
Died: 17 July 1917
Buried: Grevillers Cemetery
Address: 31 Thackley Road, Thackley
Parents: Joseph & Agnes
Spouse:
Siblings: Thomas, Frances, Margaret, Rhoda & George Moseley (step)
Occupation: Frame doffer (1911)
Organisations/clubs:
Military
Rank: Pte
Medals/awards:
Rolls of Honour: Holy Trinity, Idle
Children:
Regiment: Northumberland Fusiliers
Elijah James Baber
Elijah James, known as Jim, Baber
was born in Morley the fifth child
of the Joseph and Agnes, Baber.
When Joseph died shortly after
Jim’s birth, Agnes remarried
George Moseley and by 1911 the
family were living in Thackley with
Jim working as frame doffer.
On 13 July 1917, the Shipley Times
& Express reported:
Mrs Moseley of 31 Thackley Road,
Thackley, has received word that
her son, Pte James Baber, has died
at the No 3 Casualty Clearing
Station, France.
Writing word of his
death, Sister B R
Cullwid said: “He
seemed fairly bright
yesterday afternoon and
told me when he woke
that he had been
dreaming about you.
“He seemed very
anxious all the time that
you should not worry
and seemed quite
contented himself. But
he had a relapse in the night and
passed away at 1 a.m.”
Writing on July 4th Sister
Cullwid had prepared
Mrs Moseley for the
worst: “He asked me to
send his love and hopes
you won’t worry. He says
he will write himself
when he feels a little
better. He is not aware
that his condition is so
serious and he seems so
bright.”
On the day following,
Sister Cullwid wrote that there was
little hope of his recovery. Perhaps
the greatest tragedy connected with
the death of Pte Baber is recorded
in a letter received from his brother,
who is a driver in the R.F.A.
“I have performed the saddest
mission of my life,” he says. “I
arrived too late to see him…It is a
cruel blow to me and to us all that I
should be so near and yet so far
away to be too late to see him as it
is only a matter of about two miles
away from me.
“Picture my anguish and agony on
having to return without having
seen him. Alone with my sorrow I
am a most miserable object.”
