James Fynn
Private James Henry Finn VC was a British Army soldier and an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
The son of a long-serving reservist, serving in the militia, he briefly served in the Territorial Force, and was discharged when he moved away. He did not resume any military reserve service during peacetime, but instead was involved with the Salvation Army in his spare time. As an Economic migrant, he found work in the coal fields of South Wales. and had resided here for the two years prior the First World War. It is for these reasons that this Cornishman ended up enlisting in a Welsh infantry regiment in August 1914. Army bureaucracy recorded his surname as Flynn, then as Fynn.
Finn was awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry in Mesopotamia in April 1916. He continued to serve with the battalion. Given that he died a year later in that theatre of war, he never had the opportunity to return to his home town, to the fanfare that would accompany the homecoming of a recipient of the Victoria Cross.
Early life
Finn was born in St Clement near Truro, Cornwall. He was the second of eleven children to Frederick John Finn and Mary Baxter Finn. By the time of the birth of the third child, Florence Jane, in 1895, the family had relocated to Bodmin, where they were to remain. His youngest sister and brother were born in 1913 and 1916 respectively.His father, John Finn, was a self-employed cutlery grinder who served in the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry as a militiaman, and saw combat in the Boer War. He served again as a reservist in the regiment, albeit under Territorial Force terms of service, with the 4th Battalion in India, during the First World War.
James Finn had served as a Territorial Force soldier with the 5th Battalion, DCLI before moving to the South Wales Valleys looking for work. He eventually found employment at the colliery at Cwmtillery near Abertillery in 1912. He struck up a friendship with his colleague Willie Townsend, and lived with the Townsend family for the two years prior to the war. The family resided at 8 Winifred Terrace, Cwmtillery, which has been mis-transcribed as Frederick Street in a newspaper article, yet no such named street ever existed.
Whilst living in Monmouthshire, Finn was involved with the Salvation Army, following the creation of its Scout-like youth organisation, known as the Life Saving Scouts. He joined the Abertillery Troop, and advanced to become a Patrol Leader. In a letter to a friend in Abertillery dated Sunday 28 November 1915, written whilst in transit to Gallipoli, he mentions the presence of eight fellow Salvationists on the troopship Olympic, and three open air meetings held on deck that day. His name is on the Abertillery Salvation Army Roll of Honour. His appearance at a Sunday School in Bodmin, whilst recuperating from being wounded in France in 1915, was recounted in his eulogy conducted in September 1918 at Bodmin Guildhall.
Military service
On the outbreak of war in August 1914, he immediately enlisted with the local regiment, the South Wales Borderers. On enlistment, his surname was incorrectly recorded as "Fynn". His surname has been erroneously transcribed as Flynn on both campaign medal rolls.Whilst his service record has not survived, the campaign medal rolls tell us that he was posted to France on 4 January 1915, to join 1st Battalion. After disembarking HT Kingstonian at Le Havre, then proceeding to the Infantry Base Depot, the draft joined the Battalion on 13 January 1915. Contemporary newspaper articles mention that, during the Battle of Aubers, he was recommended for honourable mention for risking his life on 9 May 1915 in retrieving his company officer, who had been left injured in no-man's land and died of his wounds later that day, a deed with parallels to his actions eleven months later. He was later attached to 170th Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers. Fynn was wounded in the knee and chest, and invalided back to Britain. He was recorded in a casualty list, dated 28 June 1915, as being wounded with 1st Battalion. He was admitted to Seaforth Military Hospital, near Liverpool and was discharged in September 1915. For part of his convalescence, he was a guest of Lieutenant Turner's mother, at her home in North Wales, to repay him for rescuing Turner from the battlefield several months previously.
After recovering from wounds, Fynn was sent in the autumn of 1915 to the Mediterranean with a draft of reinforcements, to the 4th Battalion, the last unit on his medal roll entry. The draft, commanded by Captain Cahusac, of two more officers, and 135 other ranks including Fynn, embarked RMS Olympic on 14 November at Liverpool, and set sail the following day.He wrote a letter to a friend in Abertillery, dated Sunday 28 November 1915, written whilst in transit to Gallipoli, on the troopship Olympic. They arrived at Gallipoli at the start of December. After the withdrawal from Gallipoli, the battalion was evacuated to Egypt. An eyewitness account states that Fynn worked in the Officers' Mess at Port Said in January 1916. The battalion redeployed to Mesopotamia, disembarking at Basra on 4 March 1916. He acted as orderly to the battalion's commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel C. E. Kitchin. Fynn kept a diary during 1916. It has survived, and was handed over to the town in 1966. It is currently in the custody of Bodmin Town Museum.
It was on 9 April 1916 at Sanna-i-Yat, during the Mesopotamian campaign, that 22-year-old Private Fynn earned the Victoria Cross for his bravery.
Fynn was decorated with the ribbon of the VC by Lt Gen Sir Frederick Stanley Maude at Amara on 5 November 1916. On 29 March 1917 he was wounded in the leg in an engagement at Marl Plain, 50 miles north of Baghdad. He was taken by stretcher to the field ambulance the next day, but on the way he was struck in the side by another bullet, which proved fatal.
The VC was presented to his father at a public investiture in Hyde Park on 2 June 1917 by King George V.
Fynn was also mentioned in despatches. He was awarded the Serbian Cross of the Karageorge with swords.
Legacy
His memorial at Basra, Iraq, can be found at panel numbers 16 and 32 on the Basra Memorial which was originally sited within Basra War Cemetery. Whilst his body was never returned to Cornwall he is remembered on his father's headstone in Bodmin Cemetery.In 1966, Fynn was also remembered at his home town of Bodmin when a housing estate, built over the family home at Downing Street was named "Finn VC Estate" in his honour.
A plaque commemorating the event was unveiled, and can be seen opposite the old library in Bodmin. His VC was donated to the town council on 16 February 1954 but is not on public display. As of 2005 his VC was securely stored in a bank vault, and there was a replica of it on display in Bodmin Town Museum.
As part of the WW1 centenary, a new plaque was unveiled in Bodmin in August 2014. In March 2016, a commemorative paving stone was unveiled at Mount Folly in Bodmin.
There are memorials also at Havard Chapel, Brecon Cathedral; St Michael's Church, Abertillery; Town War Memorial, Abertillery.
There is a painting of the action which was published in The Sphere, Tatler, and also The Times Illustrated History of the Great War. The original artwork was by Ugo Matania and is held at the Wellcome Library, London.