James William Adams was the eldest son of Matthew and Catherine Adams. James Adams was born 1st January 1894. He was the first of three sons. His father and his grandfather were both blacksmiths. His father died when he was young. By 1911 he was serving with the Royal Irish Rifles. Sergeant James William Adams was serving with the 1st Battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles when he was killed in action on Sunday 2nd December 1917 by a trench mortar.
Further Information
James William Adams was the eldest son of Matthew and Catherine Adams. Matthew Adams married Catherine McCullough on 5th April 1893 in the district of Magherafelt.
James Adams was born 1st January 1894. He was the first of three sons.
Family: Matthew Adams, Catherine Adams, James William Adams (born 1st January 1894), Samuel Howard Adams (born 5th January 1897), George Steel Adams (born 25th November 1899).
The 1901 census lists James William as age 7 living with the family at house 80 in Garvaghy, Portglenone, County Antrim. His father and his grandfather were both blacksmiths.
It is believed his father died in Belfast on 24th March 1902, aged 45. (GRONI Ref D/1902/57/1007/42/82). This has yet to be confirmed.
The 1911 census lists James as age 17 living with the family at house 44 in Portglenone town. James is listed as Private in the Royal Irish Rifles. His widowed mother was a farmer and grocer.
Sergeant James William Adams was serving with the 1st Battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles when he was killed in action on Sunday 2nd December 1917 by a trench mortar.
Sergeant James W Adams has no known grave and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial. The Memorial to the Missing at Tyne Cot Cemetery, Zonnebeke, West Vlaanderen, Belgium, bears the names of many who fell in the battles for Passchendaele and whose bodies were never recovered.
The CWGC record Sergeant James William Adams as the son of Catherine McCulloch McArthur (formerly Adams), of 8 Bellsdyke Place, Airdrie, Lanarkshire, and the late Matthew Adams.
