b. 09/11/1887 Bolton, Lancashire. d. 2nd Q 1953 Bolton, Lancashire.
DATE OF EM ACTION: 05/12/1919 Bolton, Lancashire.
James was the second of five children born to James Rogerson and Bessie Mann (nee Standen) on 9th November 1887. He was baptised on 23rd November 1887 in Bolton. By the time of the 1911 Census, James was now 23, and was boarding at 179 Kay Street, Bolton in the home of Mary Elizabeth Lee, and was working at an iron foundry. During World War I, James enlisted in the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment and was now living at 40 Hill Street. In 1923, he married Annie Bradley in Bolton, and they had a son, James, born in 1926. The next record of James is on the 1939 England and Wales Register, where, he, Annie and James are living at 40 Hill Street, and James senior is still working at the cotton mill as a fireman. James died in 1953 in Bolton.
EM CITATION:
At 9.30 a.m. on the 5th December, 1919, a fire broke out in one of the rooms on the middle floor of a five-storey cotton mill belonging to Messrs. N. Pickering and Sons, Limited, St. John Street, Bolton. The fire spread to the floors above, and whilst engaged in fighting the fire in the top room, one of the firemen of the Bolton Fire Brigade found himself cut off from the doorway and stairs by fire and smoke. The fire escape was at the opposite end of the building, and he was cut off from that also. He broke windows and called for help from those below and it was obvious that he was in a very dangerous position and likely to be overcome unless speedily rescued. Mann, who is employed at the mill, at once tied a rope round his waist and, after getting on to a one-storey shed, climbed the nearest water-spout to the windows of the top storey where the fireman was seen. On reaching the level of the window he untied the rope and handed it to the fireman, who tied it inside the building and then descended by it. Mann descended by the water¬spout, which, being an old one, was liable to break away at any moment. There can be no doubt that Mann by his prompt and brave action saved the life of the-fireman.
BURIAL LOCATION: UNKNOWN
LOCATION OF MEDAL: UNKNOWN.
