Joseph James Nicholls was born in Battersea, Surrey, on 19th October 1889. There is frustratingly little information about his early life, although what remains legible on his service records confirm his mother’s name was Jenny, and he had five siblings: brothers William and Jack, and sisters Martha, Rose and Sarah.
On 8th May 1911, Joseph married Lavinia Tutte in St Mary’s Church, Battersea. She was the daughter of a boiler cleaner, and their marriage certificate provides a little more insight into the new groom’s background. His father is named as Joseph James Nicholls, a farrier who had died before his son married. Joseph Jr was working as a carman, and the couple were living at 43 Lombard Road. The couple would go on to have two children, daughters Jane and April.
When war broke out, Joseph was quick to step up. He enlisted 14th September 1914, just six weeks or so into the war, giving up his job as a carman to do so. He was 5ft 9ins tall and weighed 133lbs: he had brown hair, brown eyes and a fresh complexion. He was also noted as having a mole on his left arm.
Assigned to the King’s Royal Rifle Corps, he spent the next ten months training at Larkhill Camp, Wiltshire. During this time, he went AWOL (from 5:30pm on 24th May to 6:30pm on 9th June 1915), and forfeited 17 days’ pay.
On 23rd July 1915, Rifleman Nicholls was dispatched to France with his unit – A Company of the 12th (Service) Battalion. There is little information available about where he served, although his unit landed near Saint Omer, and trained in camps around Fleurbaix. He was admitted to hospital for four days on 19th February 1916 for an undocumented illness, but this was not to impact his readiness for battle.
On 2nd March 1916, Rifleman Nicholls was wounded in the right shoulder, and admitted to the camp hospital. His injuries would prove too severe, however, and he succumbed to them on 4th March 1916. He was 26 years of age.
Joseph James Nicholls was laid to rest in the Essex Farm Cemetery near Ypres, Belgium.
Joseph was the first husband of my maternal great great aunt.
Death and Service 