Fallen WWI soldier’s rugby-playing past revealed

The forgotten life story of a former rugby player who died days after returning to the WWI trenches following an injury has been uncovered 100 years after his death.

Historian and broadcaster, David Olusoga discovered the story of James Edward Friend using the website Findmypast, which connects names on war memorials with historical records.

Friend was among the first volunteers to join Bristol's Own Battalion and returned to the Western Front in 1916 after surviving a serious injury, only to lose his life two days later.

Olusoga said his research revealed the story of a man who grew up singing in a choir and playing rugby, who left Bristol Temple Meads to fight in the war with his friends.

According to Bristol Museums, the Bristol Citizens' Recruiting Committee formed a citizens' or pals' battalion, the 12th Battalion the Gloucestershire Regiment, also known as Bristol's Own.

Within two months, 990 Bristol men had joined, but of the original 990 men, 735 died and many others were wounded.

"The Bristol's Owns, they fought in 22 battles on the Western Front," Olusoga said.

He said there was a “national urge” to build memorials after the war to fill a “void" left by those soldiers who did not return home, and to remember their lives.

"It's an astonishing moment in history where almost every locality found the money to build these memorials," he said.

"What this new research does is it links those military records to millions of other records and it uses AI to do that.

"So, suddenly we can discover not just his military records, not just his medals and the injuries he suffered, but we can discover that he [Friend] played for Bristol Rugby Club, that he had been part of Bristol's community, he went to Redcliffe school - he sang in the choir."

Olusoga said Friend’s story reflects an important part of the city's history.

"The soldiers that went off to the Western Front, they left from Bristol Temple Meads - those telegrams were delivered to Bristol houses that still stand," he said.

"This war was not a distant war that took place in foreign fields, the young men left Bristol and the news of their deaths came to Bristol."

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