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16622 (344791) Staff Sergeant
(later Army Number 1855900)
JASON PREADY
Royal Engineers 

By 

Lieutenant Colonel Edward De Santis, MSCE, BSAE P.E., MinstRE
(April 2025) 

Figure 1. Staff Sergeant Jason Pready, R.E.
(Image courtesy of Bryan Pready and the Imperial War Museum) 

1. INTRODUCTION

This research is based on the photograph of Staff Sergeant Pready that was posted on the Imperial War Museum “Lives of the First World War” by Bryan Pready, a family member of Jason Pready.  Bryan appears to have obtained the military service papers of Staff Sergeant Pready from The National Archives, as he has segments of information on the IWM web site that could only have come from those service papers.  Where the sources of specific facts in this narrative are not cited, the reader should assume that Pready’s service papers were the source.  As the author has not had direct access to these service papers, some information in the narrative, such as dates and places, may be approximate or incorrect.

2. EARLY LIFE AND FAMILY INFORMATION 

            Jason Pready was born in Ledbury, Herefordshire on 15 September 1883.  As a youth he resided with his parents in Ledbury, a market town and civil parish lying east of Hereford, and west of the Malvern Hills, as shown in the 1891 Census of England.  The census shows the family living on Homend Street, but there is no Homend Street in Ledbury any more.  However, there is a Homend Crescent that is lined with modern-day brick residences that were built long after 1891.  Ledbury was home to poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and it is also the birthplace of poet laureate John Masefield. 

            The 1891 Census shows Charlotte Pready as the head of the family, as her husband, John Pready, had died in 1885.

1891 Census of England

 The 1901 Census of England shows the Pready family at the same address with two of the older children having left the family household. 

1901 Census of England 

On the day that the 1901 Census was taken, 31 March 1901, Jason Pready was employed as a Clerk in the firm of Masefield’s Solicitors, an established law firm since 1836.  Masefield’s Solicitors is still an operating law firm located in the same building as when Pready worked for them. 

Figure 2.  The Offices of Masefield’s Solicitors, Ledbury, Herefordshire.
(Image courtesy of the firm’s website) 

Figure 3.  Young Jason Pready as a Law Clerk, c. 1901.
(Image courtesy of Bryan Pready) 

3.      PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION 

The following is an abbreviated description of Jason Pready at the time of his enlistment in the Royal Engineers in 1907.

             Presumably the elements of the above description of Pready were made in July 1907 at the time of a medical examination performed to determine his fitness to serve in the Army.  Many elements of the Description on Enlistment from his military service papers are missing (chest measurements, physical development, vaccination marks and weight).  A recruit’s religious denomination also was normally included in his Description on Enlistment.  This also is missing.  Since he was able to enlist he obviously had been determined to be physically fit for military service. 

4.  ENLISTMENT AND TRAINING 

Enlistment

            Pready appears to have worked as a Solicitor’s Clerk for about six years before he decided to enlist in the Royal Engineers on 17 July 1907.  His enlistment was in the Regular Army and upon approval of his enlistment he was issued Regimental Number 16622 and the rank of Sapper.

Training

            Following the administrative actions involved with his enlistment Sapper Pready was sent off for his recruit training to the School of Military Engineering (SME) at Brompton Barracks in Chatham, Kent.  With the exception of Drivers, every recruit enlisted for the Royal Engineers had to have a trade.  Pioneers and Sappers were sent to Chatham where they were trained in infantry drill and pioneer duties.  The engineer recruits also received musketry training.  His course of training would have latest for about 24 months.  When the course of training was completed the recruits had to pass an examination and were then transferred to engineer formations, where they received higher pay and could earn extra allowances by working at their special trades.              

4.      POSTINGS, ASSIGNMENTS AND CAMPAIGN SERVICE

Curragh Camp, Ireland (1910-1911)[1] 

            On 13 October 1910 Sapper Pready was posted to the 17^th Field Company, R.E. at Curragh Camp.  The 17^th Field Company formed part of the British 5^th Division.[2]  The division’s Commander Royal Engineers was Brevet Colonel H.D. Petrie.  The Officer Commanding 17^th Field Company at the time was Lieutenant Colonel J.A.S. Tulloch, R.E.[3]  Other officers of the company at this time included:[4] 

Major Frederick Kendall Fair, R.E.[5]

Captain Geoffrey Ambrose Phillips Brown, R.E.[6]

Captain R.F. Mainguy, R.E. (also served as Adjutant, 5^th Divisional Engineers)

Captain P.O.L. Jordan, R.E.[7]

Lieutenant Essex Barry Fox, R.E.[8]

Lieutenant E.V.C.W. Wellesley, R.E.[9]

2^nd Lieutenant H.W. Richardson, R.E. Special Reserve. 

South Africa (1911-1912)[10] 

            Pready was next posted to the 54^th Field Company in Bloemfontein, South Africa.  The company was commanded by Captain P.S. Greig, R.E.[11]  Other officers in the company included: 

Captain S.T. Cargill, R.E.[12]

Captain F.J.C. Wyatt, R.E. (who was on orders home)[13]

Lieutenant A.J. Darlington, R.E. (also on orders home)

Lieutenant J.T. Heath, R.E.[14]

Lieutenant Edwin Logie Morris, R.E.[15] 

            While serving with the 54^th Field Company, Pready was promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal.  

Home Service (1912-1916) 

In June 1912 Pready was transferred to the Establishment for Engineer Services (E.E.S.) and on 16 June 1913 he was promoted to 2^nd Corporal.  It appears that at this time he left South Africa for duties at home, probably in the office of a District Engineer somewhere in England.  The functions of the E.E.S. were many and varied, as described below.  The specific areas in which he was employed are not known, but from subsequent records of his employment he may well have been a Clerk of Works in the construction branch.  An entry in his Employment Sheet, dated 31 October 1913, stated:  

“Eight years’ experience as a solicitor’s clerk.  A good clerk.  Strictly sober.  Honest, reliable and hard working.”  

The Establishment for Engineer Services or Royal Engineer Works Service,  as it was sometimes known, dealt with the construction of fortifications, but by and large its greatest responsibility was in the area of the construction and maintenance of barracks. Other works undertaken by the Establishment included hospitals and Army Ordnance buildings. With regard to the latter, the work included not only the buildings themselves, but also the provision and maintenance of fixed machinery and the construction and maintenance of magazines and buildings for the storage of explosives, with special attention to precautions against fire and protection against lightning.

The E.E.S. was also involved with other buildings in support of the Army Service Corps, to include bakeries, stores, transport sheds and workshops. Special facilities such as refrigeration plants were also provided at Gibraltar and Malta and at other tropical locations. Many other buildings, such as churches, schools, offices, quarters for Commanding Officers and certain Staff Officers, were also provided by the E.E.S. Other essential services of the Establishment included the charge of military cemeteries and burial grounds, the preparation of graves and the appointment and supervision of caretakers.

In connection with all of the above works, there was an organization within the E.E.S. responsible for the control of "Military Lands." This term included the land on which the barracks and fortifications were constructed, along with roads, parades and recreation grounds. Closely allied to the control of "Military Lands" was the provision of rifle and artillery ranges.

One of the special branches within the E.E.S. included the Electrical Branch which consisted of Defence Electric Lights, Telegraphs, Telephones, and Miscellaneous Electrical Services. The largest sub-element of the Electrical Branch was the Submarine Mining Service, which was responsible for the mine defences and also for the defence electric lights and electrical communications in the defended ports throughout the British Empire. Other miscellaneous electrical services included barracks lighting and protection of building against lightning.

A second special branch of the E.E.S. was the Mechanical Branch, with its responsibility for installation and maintenance of engines, boilers and machinery used with pumping and heating plant, and machinery used in Royal Engineers and Ordnance workshops. Other special branches of the Establishment were the Mechanical Transport Branch and the Railway Branch.[16]

Figure 4.  Badge of the E.E.S.
(Image courtesy of Crown Imperial, 1985).

Pready was promoted to Sergeant on 8 June 1915 while he was stationed at Landguard Fort in Felixstowe in East Suffolk.  Landguard Fort defends the approach to Harwich Harbour, a safe haven for shipping. It was the site of the last opposed seaborne invasion of England, by the Dutch in 1667, who were repulsed by the Royal Marines in their first land battle. The current fort was built in the 18th century, and modified in the 19th century, with substantial additional 19th and 20th-century outside batteries.

Figure 5.  Landguard Fort.
(Image courtesy of the Landguard Fort web site) 

The Great War had been raging for just over two years when Sergeant Pready was finally posted to France.

France and Flanders (1916-1919)

            Sergeant Pready arrived in France on 7 September 1916 and was posted to the office of the Chief Engineer IX Corps, British Second Army at Mont Noir.  During his time with IX Corps, the corps was involved in the following major actions:

The Battle of Messines (7-14 June 1917)

The Third Battles of Ypres, to include:

The Battle of the Menin Road (20-25 September 1917)

The Battle of Polygon Wood (26 September – 3 October 1917)

The Battle of Broodseinde (4 October 1917)

The Battle of Poelcappelle (9 October 1917)

The First Battle of Passchendaele (12 October 1917)

He remained in this posting until October 1917 when he was transferred to the Royal Engineers Base Depot at Rouen.  During this latter period he also served for a time in an Army Troops Company, R.E.

Early in 1918 Pready was appointed an Acting Staff Sergeant and was posted to British Army Headquarters in Italy.  About this time his Regimental Number was changed to 344791, for reasons not known to the author.

Bulford Camp (1919-1923)

            In July 1919 Pready left Italy and returned to England where he extended his service and was promoted to the substantive rank of Staff Sergeant (probably an Engineer Clerk Staff Sergeant) in the E.E.S.  He was posted to Bulford Camp in Wiltshire where he was employed in the office of the District Engineer. 

            In about 1920 when the British Army began the Army Number system in place of the Regimental Number, Pready was assigned Army Number 1855900.  In preparation for his discharge from the Army, a Military Employment Sheet was prepared on 10 November 1922 which summarized Pready’s service:

“General clerical duties since 1914 in offices of the Chief Engineer IX Corps, various Commanding Royal Engineers and Assistant Director of Works in France, South Africa and Italy.  Very thorough, but sometimes slow.  A good knowledge of regulations and a good memory.  Has been a typist.”

            Staff Sergeant Pready was discharged from the Army at Bulford.  His intended place of residence was noted as Park View Farm, near Warrington, Lancashire.

5.  PROMOTIONS

5.      MEDALS, AWARDS AND DECORATIONS

For his service during the Great War of 1914-1918, Staff Sergeant Pready received the British War Medal and Victory Medal. 

Figure 6.  The British War Medal and Victory Medal.
(Image from the author’s collection)

NOTE:  The medals shown above are not those of Staff Sergeant Pready.  They are presented here for illustrative purposes only.

Figure 7.  The Medal Index Card of Acting Staff Sergeant Jason Pready, R.E.
(Image courtesy of Ancestry.com) 

6.  RELEASE FROM SERVICE 

            Staff Sergeant Jason Pready was released from service on 8 September 1923.  His total service was reckoned as shown in the tables below.  Information concerning his service must be missing, as his total service only amounts to just over 16 years.  Presumably he served for 21 years. 

7.   FAMILY INFORMATION

            Jason Pready married Minnie Florence Dinham (1854-1966) on 13 June 1915 in Stratton St. Margaret, Wiltshire.[19]  They had four sons: 

Jason Albert Pready (1916-1976) was born in Warrington, Cheshire on 11 May 1916, just four months before Staff Sergeant Pready left for France. 

John Edward Pready (1919-2000) was born in Amesbury, Wiltshire on 27 December 1919, while Staff Sergeant Pready was serving at Bulford Camp. 

James Owen Pready (1922-1996) was born in Amesbury, Wiltshire on 28 May 1922. 

Philip Pready (1924-1924) was born in Swindon, Wiltshire in September 1924 and died that same month in Ledbury, Herefordshire. 

8.  POST SERVICE LIFE

             Following his discharge from the Army, Jason Pready and his family lived at 17 Laburnum Grove in Swindon, Wiltshire.  He was employed as a Clerk with the Great Western Railway at the Swindon Railway Works. 

Figure 8.  Swindon Works, c. 1935.
(Image courtesy of Fandom) 

It appears that Jason Pready retired in November 1947 at the age of 64.  He died on 18 August 1949 at St. Margaret’s Hospital in Swindon.

REFERENCES 

Books 

BAKER BROWN, W. The History of the Corps of Royal Engineers. Volume IV. The Institution of Royal Engineers, Chatham, Kent, 1952, pp. 245-262.

Census 

1. 1891 Census of England (RG 12/2052).

2. 1901 Census of England (RG 13/2471).  

Family Trees 

1.      Jason Pready (1883-1949) Family Tree by mimnash.

2.      John Pready (1835-1885) (Father) Family Tree by caz19451.

Military Documents 

Great War Medal Index Card. 

Periodicals 

1.      Royal Engineers List, October 1910.

2.       Royal Engineers List, January 1912.

Web Sites 

1. Imperial War Museum: Lives of the First World War.

https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/lifestory/3583216

2. Landguard Fort.

https://pinkroutes.com/poi/harwich-defences/landguard-fort/

3. Masefield Solicitors

https://www.masefield-solicitors.co.uk/

4.      Wikipedia: Swindon Works.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swindon_Works

5.      Fandom: Swindon Works.

https://englands-railways.fandom.com/wiki/Swindon_Works

ENDNOTES