MAJOR JAMES HERBERT STAVEACRE
MANCHESTER REGIMENT
4TH JUNE 1915 AGE 42
BURIED: REDOUBT CEMETERY, HELLES, GALLIPOLI, TURKEY
This fine, unemotional epitaph was chosen for Jimmy Staveacre by his brother, Wilson, but it speaks nothing less than the truth. The Stockport 1914-1918 website covers his life in some detail. A member of the 4th Volunteer Battalion of the Manchester Regiment, when the South African War broke out he transferred to the Cheshire Yeomanry so as to be able to go and fight. In 1908, when the Volunteers were disbanded, he joined the Territorials. At the outbreak of the First World War Stavacre was keen to "get stuck in" but disappointed when his battalion was sent to Egypt rather than the Western Front. However, on 3 May 1915 they were sent to Gallipoli, and a month later Jimmy Staveacre was dead, shot through the head whilst passing ammunition to his men in the firing line. As a good soldier his last words were to his Sergeant Major, "Never mind me. Carry on".