James Hopwood was the son of Joseph and Hannah Hopwood of Chambers Lane Mynydd Isa. He married Sarah Ann Williams of Buckley in 1905 and they lived at Stone Cottages, Mynydd Isa. They had six children including Dora, Sophia, Frank and Edith.

The Buckley Society received a letter from his granddaughter, Enid Lamb of Southampton.

Our grandfather was one of those named on the Hawkesbury Memorial. I thought he was on the one in Mold. He was James Hopwood & he left my grandmother, Sarah Ann, with 6 children – 5 girls & 1 boy.  The youngest, Hannah, he never saw. Hannah, or Nance as we called her, died this year, the last of the 6. She was a Queen Alexander nurse in the 2nd world war & went over with the troops on D Day + 2 & travelled through France, Belgium to Germany as a theatre nurse, sometimes operating in tents

James Hopwood is also remembered on the Mold Memorial web page with information obtained from his service record.

He was born in 1882. On the 1901 census he is living in Chambers Lane with his parents Joseph a coalminer and Hannah his mother. James seems to be the eldest child at 19 and he too is a coal miner. His siblings wereThomas 11, Joseph 9, Leonard 6 and Amy 2.

The 1911 census places James Hopwood 29 yrs,  still in Chambers Lane, Mynydd Isa, Mold. He lived with his 25 year old wife Sarah Ann – a Buckley girl and their children Dora 5, Sophia 4, Frank 3 and Edith 2. Staying with them was James’s cousin 21 year old Edward Hopwood. Both James and Edward were colliers. James was bilingual – able to speak both Welsh and English but the rest of the household was English speaking.

His army records  show that he enlisted and signed his attestation papers on 11th March 1915. He spent time in a field hospital in September 1916 and died of wounds received the following April.