James Herbert Reginald Lendrum was born on Monday, 8th November 1886 in St. Mary, Hornsey, Middlesex and baptised on Sunday, 16th September 1894 at Crouch End Christ Church in Hornsey. He was the sixth of seven children born to Robert Samuel Lendrum and Clara Soanes and his siblings were, Ernest Samuel Soanes, Wilfred Joseph, Violet Ethel, Clara Maud, Frank Soanes and Catherine Emma Lilian. His mother Clara died in 1908 aged fifty-seven. James’ father Robert was a “Civil Servant” with the Board of Trade and when James was born the family lived at 46, May Crest, Islington, Middlesex and by 1901 they had relocated to nearby Cecile Park and a much larger home.

James was schooled in Hornsey and went up to University College London in 1906 graduating Bachelor of Arts (Initial Teacher Training) in 1909. He then moved to Luton to take up a position as a “Secondary School Teacher” with Bedfordshire County Council and by 1911 he was lodging with John and Elizabeth Sillick at 128 Dunstable Road in the town. By this time James had already met his future wife, Eleanor Mary Yates, and in the Spring of 1911 they married in Barnet, Middlesex and moved into 141, Tennyson Road in Luton. Their first child, a daughter Margaret, was born there in April 1912. By the time of Margaret’s birth, James had decided to leave teaching and enter the Anglican Ministry to train as a Priest.

It was his appointment to the position of “Curate” that brought him to Apsley and St. Mary’s Church under the tutelage of the Rev. F. O. Houseman. A year after arriving with Eleanor and Margaret, a son John Frederick was born in February 1914. The family was completed with the arrival of a third child, Herbert Colin in November 1916. James took a very active part in the life of Apsley Parish and soon became a popular and well-respected figure in the community. This included his involvement in sports and particularly football and St. Mary’s F.C., the team closely associated with the Church and he often refereed local matches. He is shown in the attached photograph of the team taken not long after he arrived in Apsley, along with Alfred Burtt and Bert Rodwell, recipient of the Military Medal, who also fought and died in the Great War. Both men’s biographies are on this site.

Following the outbreak of war, and the formation of Hemel Hempstead Volunteer Force, James was one of the early members and remained so until he enlisted and went to war. Before that event however, the Vicar, F. O. Houseman volunteered and left the parish in the capable hands of the young Curate which he managed for around eighteen months. As a result of his work he was publicly praised on the Vicar’s return who wrote in the Parish Magazine in December 1916, that James had “made a name for himself in the diocese”.

Following the passing of the Military Services Act in 1916, James decided that his abilities would be better used in the service of his country, even though there was no obligation for him to volunteer. He made his application to the Bishop with the support of the Vicar and in May 1917 he left Apsley to join the Army Chaplains’ Department. He was gazetted a Chaplain 4th Class which equates to the rank of Captain. His departure was marked by the parishioners many of whom contributed to a parting gift for James in the form of “…a portfolio, an electric torch, with a supply of refills, a most substantially made jack-knife, a multi-bladed pocket knife, and a very handsome fountain pen.”

He travelled to Nottinghamshire and a camp in Worksop, where he was to be based for a number of months before going overseas in November 1917 and attached to the 8th Battalion King’s Own Lancaster Regiment. He then spent the next nine months near the frontline as the unit fought in many of the most significant allied actions, including the First Battles of the Somme 1918, the Battles of the Lys and the Battle of Albert.

Aside from ministering to the men and comforting the dying, James conducted burial services and clearly put himself in harms way to assist his comrades. Reports of his death in the Hemel Gazette state that he along with three other men was killed by a shell while carrying out a burial. However, the Battalion War Diaries recorded his demise differently. “22/8/18 Day hot and fine Bn in MOUBLAIN TRENCH BHQ in AERODROME TRENCH W of COURCELLES C of E Padre Capt Lendrum (CF) killed by shell while bringing in bodies of men killed in COURCELLES…”

James was killed on Thursday, 22nd August 1918.

Over 5000 men served as Chaplains in the war and of these 179 died during the conflict. In recognition of their devoted work since 1914 King George V conferred the prefix ’Royal’ on the Army Chaplains’ Department in 1919.

Following his death an obituary was published in the Hemel Gazette in late August 1918.

His wife Eleanor remarried in 1923 to Percy Calder Tomson a “Newspaper Proprietor” in St. Neots where she moved with the children.

James was commemorated on the Army Chaplains Memorial at Aldershot and on the War Memorial Plaque in St. Mary’s Church Apsley End. A personal remembrance plaque was also installed in the Church.

James is Remembered with Honour in Benvillers Military Cemetery, Bienvillers-au-Bois, Pas-de-Calais, France, where he is interred in Grave XIX. E. 14. The inscription on his headstone, requested by his wife Eleanor, reads: “UNITED IN TIME PARTED IN TIME TO BE REUNITED WHEN TIME SHALL BE NO MORE”

He was 31 years old when he died.

James was entitled to the British War Medal and the Allied Victory Medal.