J HILLMAN

Service No: 2415
1st Battalion, Monmouthshire Regiment
Born: 1893, Beaufort, Monmouthshire
Killed in Action: 8 May 1915, Ypres, Belgium | Aged 22
Commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Panel 50

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James Hillman was born in 1893 in Beaufort, Monmouthshire, to John and Ann (“Annie”) Elizabeth Hillman. He was one of four children, with two brothers, Thomas and William, and a sister, Mary Ann.

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By 1901, the family had settled in Brithdir, where James attended school while his father and elder brother worked as coal hewers. A decade later, the Hillmans were living in Lady Tyler, Rhymney. Like many young men of his generation and community, James had entered the local colliery, working alongside his father and brother as a Coal Hewer. His younger brother William worked as a Hitcher below ground, and Mary Ann lived at home with her husband William Vincent and their two sons, also part of the mining workforce.

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At the outbreak of the First World War, James enlisted at New Tredegar into the 1st Battalion, Monmouthshire Regiment. His brother Thomas, who had prior service with the Rhymney Territorials, also served in the same battalion.

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On 8 May 1915, both James and Thomas were killed in action during the Second Battle of Ypres—an engagement so devastating to their regiment that the date became known as "Monmouthshire’s Black Day." James was 22 years old. Neither brother has a known grave, but both are commemorated with honour on the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres, Belgium, Panel 50. Thomas is additionally remembered on the Rhymney War Memorial.

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“Thomas and James Hillman were my great-uncles. They died on the same day—the 8th of May 1915. We had their names read aloud at the Tower of London. We also paid a visit. It was an amazing and humbling experience.”
— Kay Birt, Great-Niece

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The Hillman family endured further tragedy during the Second World War. Their father, John, died in 1939, and on 7 December 1940, their mother Annie and brother William were killed in an air raid—believed to have occurred during the bombing of Bristol the night before. Their bodies were recovered the following day. Both are commemorated as Civilian War Dead by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

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🕊️ "When you go home, tell them of us and say,
For your tomorrow, we gave our today."