Jesse Herbert Dagley was born in Greenwich, London in June 1899, the first child born to Herbert Henry Dagley and Elizabeth Cranfield. Jesse had two younger sisters, Constance Cissie and Lily. When Jesse was born his family lived on Armada Street in Deptford and his father Henry worked as a "Stoker", possibly in the nearby Deptford power station, which is regarded as the first central high-voltage power station in the world. By the time of the 1911 Census, Jesse and his two sisters were living with their Grandparents, Henry and Ann, on Cotterells Road in Hemel Hempstead and all three were at school. When Jesse left school in 1912, he immediately went to work with John Dickinson & Co. Limited at Apsley Mills.

He was still at Dickinsons when war broke out the following year. He was still underage at fifteen and unable to enlist until he reached his eighteenth birthday in June 1917. As soon as he was eligible, Jesse went to Watford to attest and enlisted with the Bedfordshire Regiment. Once he had completed his basic training, he was sent overseas where he was transferred to the 10th Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers. Almost immediately afterwards Jesse transferred again, this time to the 15th Battalion in the same regiment. The exact date of his arrival in France is not known, but it was likely to have been between the 6th and 11th April 1918, when according to the 10th Lancashires War Diaries, it received “7 Officers and 441 OR reinforcements…” from a variety of other regiments including the Bedfordshires.

The 15th Lancashires were close to Arras when Jesse joined and within days he was in the trenches as the Battalion engaged in relief duties. On the 16th May the Battalion War Diaries recorded the following: “In trenches. About 9.0am enemy raided two of our posts held by B Coy. 6 of our men are missing…” It was during this attack that Jesse was killed although it is unclear if he was one of the six men mentioned.

Jesse died on Thursday 16th May 1918. He had been if France for just over one month when he died.

He was commemorated on the John Dickinson & Co. Limited War Memorial in Apsley End where he had worked.

Jesse is Remembered with Honour in Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery, Souchez, Pas-de-Calais, France where he is interred in Grave VIII. O. 12.

He was only 19 years old when he died.

Jesse was eligible for the British War Medal and the Allied Victory Medal.