91844 Pte J Cadman - WW1 Pioneer with the 11th King's (Liverpool) Regiment and 19th Lancashire Fusiliers.

91844 Pte J Cadman, - WW1 Pioneer with the 11th King's (Liverpool) Regiment and 19th Lancashire Fusiliers.

Jesse Cadman was born in the parish of High Lane, in Cheshire on 3 April 1893. His father was David Cadman. He was a police constable in civil life and at the time of enlistment was living at 17 Richmond Grove East, Longsight, Manchester. He first enlisted, for the duration of the war, at Manchester on 29 January 1915, being medically examined the same day and reporting to the 9th (2nd Reserve) Battalion, the East Yorkshire Regiment on 2 February, being given the regimental number 14462 and appointed Acting Sergeant the same day. At some point he was put in 'B' Company of the 9th. On 4 June 1915 at York he was discharged as no longer physically fit for war service, after 127 days' service. His character on discharge was given as 'Good'. His name was entered onto the Silver War Badge roll but subsequently removed, for an unrecorded reason. 

His medical records from his second enlistment are unclear what it was which led to his discharge; different versions of his medical record suggest Neuritis or Neurasthenia. If the latter, the Valvular Disease of the Heart noted on his record when he was medically categorised C3 on 17 February 1917 may be an indication that this manifested itself physically. 

At some point he must have changed jobs as his casualty form for his second enlistment describes him as an electrical crane driver, whilst his Army form B.179B gives his last employer as the Disley Cooperative Society and his medical report on discharge gives his former trade or occupation as 'grocery' (presumably working as a crane driver in the goods yard of the aforementioned Co-op). After enlisting/attesting again at Stockport on 18 July 1917, he joined the following day, being posted on 31 July to the 73rd Training Reserve Battalion to undergo training, under the  regimental number 3/42108. After transferring on 1 November to the 26th Battalion, the King’s  (Liverpool) Regiment, Pte Cadman was sent overseas to France on 27 December the same year.

From 'G' Infantry Base Depot, on 7 January 1918 Jesse was posted to the 11th (Service) Battalion, the King’s (Liverpool) Regiment, a New Army Pioneer battalion serving with the 14th (Light) Division. Pioneer battalions combined the roles of military labour and fighting infantry, as signified by their collar distinction of crossed rifle and pick. He joined them in the field on 9 January 1918 and served with them through the two week, 200 mile fighting retreat of the 14th Division following the Battle of St Quentin and Battle of the Avre, until at Villers-Brettoneux the Division was relieved and its three brigades reorganised as one Brigade of four battalions. During the retreat the battalion had lost nearly two hundred dead and missing and over a hundred wounded. Even though its strength of 270 men was reinforced by a draft of 200 men from the 9th Rifle Brigade,  the battalion was nonetheless reduced to a cadre at the end of April 1918.  Rather than being sent back with the remaining cadre to England to reform the battalion (it eventually became the core of the 15th Loyal North Lancs, another Pioneer battalion), Pte Cadman was sent again to 'G' Infantry Base Depot at Etaples on 28 April 1918 and from there on 14 May 1918 was transferred to the Lancashire Fusiliers and posted to the 19th Battalion (3rd Salford) - again a pioneer battalion, this time with 49th Division - under the new regimental number 62683.

He joined the battalion in the field on 17 May 1918. From 14-26 June he was under the care of 1/2 West Riding Field Ambulance with Scabies. After possibly taking part in a frontal attack on a German position near Naves in October, during which 60 fatalities were suffered amongst the 320 men attacking, he suffered a Gun Shot Wound to the right leg, caused by shrapnel from a gas shell  - presumably fragments of the casing rather than ball - whilst his battalion was near Valenciennes on 1 November 1918. At this time the 49th Division was attacking, with the 4th Division and the Canadian Corps under Horne's First Army, the defences south of Valenciennes, on the right flank of the Canadians, prior to taking the city. He was one of 20 Other Ranks from the 19th Lancashire  Fusiliers wounded on the day, one further comrade bring killed and four others wounded but remaining at duty. The battalion war diary notes that two of 'A' Company's billets were hit by shells, and several men wounded, after which men from the companies went to work on the Maing-Famars road leading up to the divisional front, which was just west of Famars. The exception was two platoons from 'B' Company which placed bridges over the River Rhonelle over which 147th Brigade could attack the Preseau-Valenciennes Road. The latter party, as noted in the 147th Brigade War Diary consisted of 1 officer and 48 other ranks, handling six bridges, made by Royal Engineers from duckboard, between then, eight men to a bridge. The infantry (6th Duke of Wellington's being the assaulting battalion) crossed successfully under cover of a barrage, allowing them to advance up the high ground to their intermendiate objective, a deep sunken road, which was sucessfully taken.  All of this was dangerous work, close to or on the front line.

After being taken into the care of 1/3 West Riding Field Ambulance, Pte Cadman was passed down the line via casualty clearing station to No.2 Canadian General Hospital at Le Treport and thence - after an operation to remove the foreign body and excise gas-infected tissue - to England per HS Gloucester on 8 November. After that he had stays in Fairfield Court Hospital and Upperton Red Cross Hospital, but in Eastbourne, where he remained until 11 April 1919. By this time, although he complained of his leg aching after he had walked long distances, his wound was judged as less than 20% disabling for six months and he was recommended for Dispersal. 

Pte Cadman was processed through the Dispersal Hospital, 2nd Western General, Manchester on 17 April 1919, being finally discharged to the Army Reserve Class 'Z' on 14 May 1919. He was medical category 'B' on discharge.

His permanent address was his prewar home address of Oak Bank, High Lane, Stockport.

For his service he was awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal.