Father: William Arthur James, mother Rebecca [Rainbow] prev. an engineer "William Leslie James (19), engineer. Newhay Farm, Yardley Hastings. was summoned for driving a motor car without an efficient silencer on the Wellingborough Road, on August 9. Defendant did not appear. but wrote denying an offence and offering to give a demonstration. P.C. Eales said defendant told him he took the silencer off the machine a month after he bought it. James was fined £1." - Northampton Chronicle and Echo - 25 Aug 1926 Address in 1937: 'Avalon', Stow Longa, Kimbolton, Hunts [He built the house himself] m. 1937 in Huntingdon, Irene Constance [Mash] [4 daughters: Irene b. 1938, Freda b. 1942, Denise b. 1945, Jennifer b. 1947] d. 23 May 1953 His grandson Sean [who also kindly supplied the photos] tells me that "He ran an aircraft maintenance and engineering company (his job pre-war was an Aircraft Engineer) in Kimbolton until his untimely demise in 1953 when an oil drum he was welding exploded, killing him instantly. He owned his own Tiger Moth, which was last noted to be at Sywell (I do not know what happened to it) and was famous locally for his “daredevil” flying antics, including flying the Tiger Moth through a Dutch Barn on his father's farm." |
RAeC 1937
In ATA uniform, with Irene
