Newell, James Leslie Scott (Leslie)
Rifleman
No. 18558, ‘A’ Company, 13th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles
Died of wounds on Monday 11 September 1916 (aged 20)
Buried:
Caudry Old Communal Cemetery, France (Grave A. 12)
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Bangor and District War Memorial
Royal British Legion (Bangor Branch) Memorial Plaque
Comrades of the Great War (Bangor Branch) Album in North Down Museum
Trinity Presbyterian Church Bangor
Brother of Private Hugh Thompson Newell (No. 16985)
BIOGRAPHY
James Leslie Scott Newell was born on 13 January 1896 in Bangor and he was a son of Hugh and Ellen Newell (nee Major) who were married on 3 May 1883 in Trinity (Second) Presbyterian Church Bangor. Hugh Newell (aged 25), a labourer from Bangor was a son of Thomas Newell, a labourer. Ellen Major (aged 19) from Bangor was a daughter of Robert Major, a labourer.
The Newell family lived at 6 Castle Square, Bangor.
Hugh Newell Senior worked as a labourer, scutcher and brick-maker and he and Ellen had eight children:
Thomas (born 19 February 1884 in Abbey Street, Bangor)
Sarah Elizabeth (born 10 December 1885 in Moat Street, Donaghadee)
Walter Alexander (born 26 April 1888 in Abbey Street, Bangor)
Hugh Thompson (born 11 November 1890 in Castle Street, Bangor)
Robert Samuel (born 6 November 1893 in Castle Square, Bangor; died of pneumonia 9 January 1895 in Castle Square, Bangor aged 14 months)
James Leslie Scott (born 13 January 1896 in Castle Square, Bangor)
Helen Howarth (born 28 June 1898 in Castle Square, Bangor)
Charles Maguire (born 7 July 1900 in Castle Square, Bangor; died of debility 29 August 1900 in Castle Square, Bangor)
Five of the children, including Hugh and James, were baptised in Trinity Presbyterian Church Bangor.
All four surviving Newell brothers – Thomas, Walter, Hugh and Leslie – served in the Great War and two were killed. Hugh was the first of the two brothers to die.
Prior to the outbreak of the Great War Leslie Newell worked as a grocer’s assistant and he was a member of the Bangor contingent of the Ulster Volunteer Force. He enlisted in Bangor and he served with the 13th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles in 108th Brigade of the 36th (Ulster) Division.
Rifleman Leslie Newell was wounded and taken Prisoner-of-War on 1 July 1916 and he died of his wounds at Caudry in France on 11 September 1916. When his brother, Sergeant Walter Newell of the Canadian Contingent, was home on leave in Bangor in August 1916 Walter knew that Leslie was missing in action. Leslie’s brother Thomas and his brother-in-law, Rifleman Samuel McClure, were also serving with the colours (Samuel McClure and Sarah Elizabeth Newell were married on 13 July 1912 in First Bangor Presbyterian Church).
Rifleman James Leslie Scott Newell (No. 18558) was buried in Caudry Old Communal Cemetery in France and there is an inscription on his CWGC headstone:
HE DIED FOR US
HIS MEMORY LIVETH
Rifleman James Leslie Scott Newell (No. 18558) is commemorated on Bangor and District War Memorial; on the Royal British Legion (Bangor Branch) Memorial Plaque; in the Comrades of the Great War (Bangor Branch) Album in North Down Museum and in Trinity Presbyterian Church Bangor.