Born at Walmer, Kent.
Enlisted at Canterbury on the 23rd of May 1841.
Age: 19.
Height: 5' 8".
Trade: Baker.
From Private to Corporal: 17th of March 1846.
Confined 4th-6th of June 1849. Tried and reduced to Private by a Regimental Court-martial on the 6th of June.
Sent to England on the 23rd of March 1855.
From Private to Corporal: 1st of July 1856.
Corporal to Sergeant: 1st of October 1857.
Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Alma, Inkerman, Sebastopol and the Turkish medal.
Died in the Regimental Hospital at Manchester on the 1st of April 1862, aged 39 years.
He was buried in the churchyard of St. George's, Hulme. Over his grave is a stone erected by the non-commissioned officers of the regiment. This stone is surmounted by a cross, underneath which are inscribed the four battle honours for the Crimea.
The wording states:
"Sacred to the memory of Sergeant James Stokes of the 13th Hussars, who died on the 1st of April 1862, aged 39 years. This stone was erected by his brother officers."
There is a photograph of this stone in the 13th Light Dragoon files.
In early 2001 the church and its churchyard were sold to a property company for development, the church itself being turned into luxury flats. The churchyard on the north side has been cleared, the bodies being disinterred in the presence of a priest and re-buried on the southern part of the churchyard. A brick paved car park, with a new boundary wall, has been built in its place.
After further enquiry it was suggested that the more important monuments would be preserved and re-erected in a garden of remembrance, and others laid flat and set in concrete under the brick paved car park. It is more likely that they were broken up and used as hardcore.