James Weatherhead was born on 15th February 1868 at Spring Lane Top, Pannal, one of five children (all boys) born to Benjamin and Mary Weatherhead. An older brother, John, would become father to Allan and Arthur Weatherhead.
James had followed his father into the shoemakeing trade before enlisting into the Royal Navy at the age of sixteen on 29th May 1884. He worked his way up from being rated Boy on entering the service, through Ordinary Seaman (May 1886), Able Seaman (July 1887), Leading Seaman (April 1896), and Petty Officer 2nd Class (November 1897) to reaching Petty Officer 1st Class on 20th April 1898. During this time he had spent periods of more than eighteen months on each of the battleships Bellerophon, Agamemnon, Camperdown and Colossus.
On 1st December 1898, James was appointed to the cruiser HMS Philomel which, on the outbreak of the Anglo-Boer War, was dispatched to South Africa, landing at Durban on 11th November 1899. James was among the ship's detachment who served two of the Philomel's 4.7-inch guns which had been disembarked and were in action with the Naval Brigade at the Battle of Colenso on 15th December 1899. He took over as senior petty officer of the detachment after the incumbent had been invalided and was recommended for promotion on the grounds that his gun had fired with great coolness and accuracy under heavy shell fire in an action at Sunday's River. (The recommendation went no further.)
On 17th September 1903, James married Ruth White, a 32-year-old spinster, at the Cathedral Church of St. Peter in Bradford. Two children were born to the couple, Beatrice Elizabeth (on 7th August 1904) and Mabel (on 2nd January 1910). James was transferred to the Reserve after twenty-two years of service on 10th June 1906, and found employment as an engineer in the Mytholm Works of Messrs. J. Pickles and Sons. James's family settled into their home at 41 Foster Lane, Hebden Bridge.
James was called up from the Reserve on 2nd August 1914 and posted as petty officer to the sloop HMS Rinaldo. Between 26th and 28th October 1914, Rinaldo was part of Admiral Hood's squadron off the Belgian coast engaged in bombarding enemy artillery positions between Westende and Lombartzyde. The effectiveness of the squadron's fire at impeding the German advance along the coast led to it being targetted by the enemy's heavy batteries on the 28th. The Rinaldo was hit several times, eight of its crew being wounded. James came through the action unscathed and was Mentioned in Despatches for his good behaviour and coolness under fire.
James was invalided from the service with heart disease on 28th November 1917 and died from the disease at his home on 8th June 1918. Four days later he was buried in Heptonstall New Burial Ground. His coffin was covered with a Union Flag on top of which was laid James' navy cap.
Although James Weatherhead was not among the local men commemorated in the Pannal Memorial Institute, he is included on the memorial in St. Robert's Church, Pannal. With the help of the In From The Cold Project I made a case that he be recognised by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission as a casualty of the First World War; the case was accepted in August 2023.