JAMES HERON
18 July 1886 - 28 March 1918
At School 1895 - 1901
2nd Lieut 2nd Lancashire Fusiliers
James was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, but by 1891 had moved to 8 Barlow Moor Road, Chorlton cum Hardy, with father James, a Linen Manufacturers Agent, mother Jane, elder brother William and one domestic servant. In 1892 younger brother Andrew was born. In 1901 the family was in Blackpool, likely on holiday, as their house is shown in that census as "Uninhabited" but "in Occupation". James senior died on 16 January 1902, aged 47. In 1911 the three brothers were living with their mother at 8 Barlow Moor Road, William and James being employed as "Foreign Correspondents for a Cotton Spinners" and Andrew as a salesman in the same industry. On the outbreak of War James volunteered and attested in Manchester on 16 November 1914. He was recruited into the 20th Manchester Regiment - the 5th City Battalion,

2nd City Brigade. During November and December the men of the 2nd Brigade were billeted at home and drilled at Belle Vue and City Hall. James joined B Company, 6 Platoon and appears on the Platoon photograph left.
On 31 December 1914, the Battalion left Manchester
for initial training at Morecambe and were billeted with the local townspeople. Training and drilling carried on in the streets and on the sea front until Spring. On 4 May 1915 the Battalion left Morecambe, joining the 30th Division, for more intensive training at Belton Park near Grantham, staying there for four months. On 7 September the two Manchester Brigades moved to Salisbury Plain for final training before departure for France. On 9 November 1915 the
Battalion left Folkestone on the SS Princess Victoria bound for Boulogne in weather so atrocious that the next troopship was postponed to the following day. The Battalion gradually made its way to Hebuterne, some 15 miles south west of Arras, where the men went into the front line trenches for the first time

This was a quiet sector and the time was used in training the men in trench warfare. The Battalion was transferred to the 22nd Brigade, 7th Division on 20 December 1915 as reinforcements, as that Division had suffered severely at Loos, the previous September.

In February the Battalion moved to the Fricourt sector of the line, near Albert, where the lines were only about 80 yards apart and spent the next five months in the front line or in billets at Morlancourt during periods of rest. It would appear to have been during this time that James was
transferred to HQ Staff to undertake interpreter duties, thereby being away from the front line on 1 July 1916, the start of the Somme Offensive. Later, James was recommended for a commission and on 9 March 1917 returned to England. On 2 June 1917 James was posted to the 10th Officer
Cadet Battalion based in Gailes Camp, near Kilmarnock, Ayrshire to commence training for his commission. The course lasted nearly four months and on 25 September 1917 James was discharged from the 20th Manchesters on being granted a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant and, after a period of leave, was posted to the 4th Lancashire Fusiliers, a Special Reserve Battalion, pending his posting to the front. His discharge papers describe him as 5 ft 9 ins tall, with blue eyes, fair hair and a fair complexion. In December 1917 he was posted to the 2nd Lancashire Fusiliers who were then situated in the Arras sector of the front line.
THE HULMEIAN - April 1918
Second Lieutenant JAMES HERON, Lancashire Fusiliers, killed in action March 27th, was the second son of the late James Heron, of Lurgan, Ireland and Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester. He was at the School from January 1895 to April, 1901, was a member of the Old Hulmeians football team, and was an employee of Messrs F Tootal Broadhurst Lee Company. Joining the Manchester “Pals” in September, 1914, he served in France until February, 1917, when he returned to England, and, obtaining his commission in the Lancashire Fusiliers, he returned to France in December, 1917. His colonel, in announcing his death states, “Your son’s company did not move an inch. They were gradually surrounded, but fought on, inflicting severe loss on the enemy. A more glorious fight has never in the history of the regiment been put up. It is a great loss to the Battalion, but we are all proud to think he belonged to us. The stand made by them undoubtedly saved the situation.”
THE HULMEIAN - December 1918
Further details have been obtained of Second Lieutenant JAMES HERON’S last fight, which supplement the notice in our April number, and show that he preferred death to surrender after the company were cut off. A sergeant in his company wrote: “He was killed on March 28th, 1918, in the action near Arras. I saw him fall, but we could not get his body, as we were fighting every inch of the way, and retiring before an overwhelming mass of Germans. We had been called on to reinforce the Essex Regiment, and started fighting at 7 a.m. Many of our men were taken prisoners, and only 16 of “A” Company returned. Our young C O, Lieutenant Cassidy, V C, refused to surrender, and died fighting about 9-30, and Second Lieutenant Heron was in charge of the platoon after his death, and led the men who were left. He was a very fine young officer, who knew his work well, and the men would follow him anywhere.” He was regimental goal-keeper. Before being recommended for his commission in the Lancashire Fusiliers, he was for nine months interpreter on H Q Staff, the only private in the B E F holding that position.