James Barker was born in Wigan in 1888, the son of John Barker and Ellen Lowe; they had seven children. He married Elizabeth Watson at Coppull Parish Church in 1909 and they were recorded on the 1911 Census as living at Regent Street in the village, having one son, Francis Matthew; other children included James (born in 1918) and Ernest (born and died in 1919).
James enlisted in the Pals on the 15th September 1914 going to the Somme in 1916. He was was known to have been wounded sometime during the war and was taken prisoner by the Germans on the 28th March 1918 at Ayette on the Somme whilst serving in the 4th Battalion of the East Lancashire Regiment. He died in Coppull in 1949.
