{"id":9280,"date":"2026-04-10T13:11:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T19:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/?page_id=9280"},"modified":"2026-04-10T13:11:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T19:11:10","slug":"james-whitworth-stokes","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/the-biographies\/james-whitworth-stokes\/","title":{"rendered":"James Whitworth Stokes"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

(Nashville, Tennessee, October 28, 1887 \u2013 Nashville, March 22, 1947).1<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>Oxford<\/i><\/a>\u00a0\u272f\u00a0London and later<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

The Stokes family was originally English; various family members settled in Virginia and North Carolina.2<\/a> Sylvanus Stokes, great-grandfather of James Whitworth Stokes, purchased land in Tennessee with the intention of setting up his home there. With his family he set out from North Carolina in 1818 but died en route; the family continued on to Tennessee. One of Sylvanus Stokes\u2019s sons, Jordan Stokes, became a highly respected lawyer in Lebanon, Tennessee, just east of Nashville. Jordan Stokes supported the Union in the Civil War, and it is perhaps evidence of his northern sympathies that one of his sons attended Amherst and another, Jordan Stokes, Jr., was at Princeton. The latter also became a lawyer; in 1877 he married Mary Adalyne Whitworth, herself the daughter of a Tennessee lawyer and granddaughter of a Sumner County, Tennessee, plantation owner.3<\/a> The couple had two daughters and three sons (the eldest son died as an infant4<\/a>). James Whitworth Stokes was the youngest child.<\/p>\n

Stokes is noted as having attended two Nashville area private schools: the Branham and Hughes School, and the Wallace School.5<\/a> He maintained his connection to the former, joining the Branham and Hughes Club at Vanderbilt University soon after beginning his studies there in the autumn of 1905.6<\/a> While at Vanderbilt, Stokes was also active in the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, as had been his father and his brother, Jordan Stokes III.7<\/a> Initially Stokes pursued a B.S. and was in the class of 1909, but he went on to pursue a law degree, graduating with an LL.B. in 1910.8<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"
From p. 631 of Fifield\u2019s The American Bar.\u00a0 See note 1 below regarding Stokes\u2019s birth year.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Stokes initially went into law practice with his father and his brother and then with his father only, when Jordan Stokes III established his own practice.9<\/a> Stokes remained with the firm of Stokes and Stokes into 1917.10<\/a> In the spring of that year he applied to and was accepted by the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps. In late June he was ordered to Urbana to attend ground school at the School of Military Aeronautics at the University of Illinois at Urbana.11<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"
\u201cGrand old man Stokes,\u201d leaf 11v of Grider\u2019s Diary October 3, 1917 \u2013 February 7, 1918.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Stokes was in the ground school class that graduated August 25, 1917, the same class as his fellow southerner, John McGavock Grider, with whom he became friends.12<\/a> \u00a0Government flight training facilities in the U.S. existed at this time mostly on paper, and offers from the Allies to train American pilots were welcomed. Around the time that Stokes\u2019s ground school class graduated, there were openings in Foggia, Italy. About one third of the men in this class, including Stokes, chose or were chosen to go to Italy for flight training. They were thus among the 150 men of the \u201cItalian detachment\u201d who would set out for Europe in September. During the weeks between graduation and departure the men were based mainly at Mineola on Long Island whence they could make forays into Manhattan. Later, in England, Grider remarked in his diary that \u201cOld man Stokes has just come in with a line about the McAlpine [sic<\/i>] hotel & the Tokio [Restaurant] and the wild nights we spent in N.Y.\u201d13<\/a><\/p>\n

On September 18, 1917, the men of the Italian detachment went from Mineola to the west side of Manhattan and boarded the\u00a0Carmania<\/i>, a ship of the British Cunard line that had been turned into a troop transport ship. The\u00a0Carmania<\/i> initially headed up the east coast to Halifax. There she joined a convoy and, on September 21, 1917, began the Atlantic crossing. The men of the detachment travelled first class, and Stokes shared a state room with another southerner, Elliott White Springs.14<\/a>\u00a0Except for daily Italian lessons conducted by Fiorello La Guardia, assisted by violinist Albert Spalding, the men had plenty of leisure. There were concerts in the evening, and also cards and gambling: \u201cWe had a big crap [sic<\/i>] game later in our staterooms. First Jake [Julian Carr] Stanley took all the money and then Springs took it all from him and finally Stokes ended up with it all. I don’t know how much it was but there were a couple of handfuls of assorted paper.\u201d15<\/a>\u00a0Towards the end of the voyage, as the convoy entered particularly dangerous waters, the men were assigned to submarine watch duty which was, fortunately, uneventful.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Oxford<\/i><\/a><\/h6>\n

When the\u00a0Carmania<\/i> docked at Liverpool on October 2, 1917, the detachment learned that their Italian lessons had been for naught, as they were to stay in England for their training. There was initially considerable grumbling from some of the men about this change of plans, particularly when they realized that they would not begin flying immediately but would be put through ground school again, this time at the Royal Flying Corps\u2019s No. 2 School of Military Aeronautics at Oxford University. In Grider\u2019s case, however, the charms of England, the light work load\u2014they would be repeating much of what they had already learned in the U.S.\u2014and the ready availability of various kinds of drink were more than adequate compensation.16<\/a> It is likely that Stokes, who was rooming with Grider, Springs, and Laurence Kingsley Callahan in Oxford\u2019s Christ Church College, felt the same.17<\/a> With their first round of ground school already behind them, they were in a position to assist other cadets at the Oxford S.M.A. Grider broke off writing one of his early diary entries there because \u201cJim [Stokes] & Larry [Callahan] are trying to teach a boy from south Africa wireless in here.\u201d18<\/a><\/p>\n

Soon after their arrival, the men of the Italian detachment realized that they were the second detachment of American cadets to come to Oxford for training; 50 men had arrived a month previously. Accordingly the quondam Italian detachment came to be called the \u201csecond Oxford detachment.\u201d Having arrived midweek, they were able to spend their first few days exploring the university, the town, and the surrounding countryside, and only began classes on Monday, October 8, 1917. The previous evening, according to Grider, \u201cThe party of Jim Stokes, Springs, Callahan, Lieut Webber [unidentified] & myself was a success Mitre Hotel supper & Champaign at 2’10 per qt.,\u201d in contrast to the next evening when \u201cLarry, Stokes & Springs went to supper & the show tonight. dismal failure.\u201d19<\/a> Stokes\u2019s previous luck at craps seems to have been no fluke; Grider notes in his diary on October 12, 1917, that \u201cI lost 40.00 in a crap game last night & Jim Stokes won about 300.00.\u201d20<\/a><\/p>\n

The men of the detachment socialized quite a bit with the people of Oxford. Grider mentions that \u201cTen of us went to a beautiful dance Tuesday night at Miss Cannon\u2019s an English real girl who wears a monocle\u201d and later adds that \u201cJim Stokes came to Miss Cannon\u2019s dance illuminated and did an indian war dance in the middle of the dance floor. Jim has nearly died over the kidding he got today.\u201d21<\/a> On another evening, \u201cStokes and I went to dinner tonight with Lieut. Vaudrey [Vandrey?] at Keble College. It felt strange to walk through that dining room with about 400 cadets and take a seat at the officers table.\u201d22<\/a><\/p>\n

About a month after their arrival in England, the men learned that their time at Oxford was up. Twenty were selected to go to Stamford to start flying, while the others were ordered to attend machine gun school at Harrowby Camp near Grantham in Lincolnshire and were to depart on November 3, 1917. Stokes, however, joined neither group: William Ludwig Deetjen, about to leave for Stamford, wrote in his diary on November 4, 1917, that \u201cJim Stokes stays behind in the hospital for an operation. Poor lad.\u201d Grider, now at Grantham, wrote in his diary on November 6, 1917, that \u201cPoor old Jim Stokes is in the hospital at Oxford for Hernia. . . . I miss old Jim Stokes. . . .\u201d The entry in\u00a0War Birds<\/i>\u00a0for November 6, 1917, reports that \u201cWe had to leave poor Jim Stokes behind. He was operated on for appendicitis the day we left. He got through it all right.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a>London and later<\/i><\/a><\/h6>\n

The operation, whatever it was for, apparently put paid to Stokes\u2019s chances of learning to fly. I find no official documentation of his further activities, but newspaper accounts indicate that he was assigned to the Judge Advocate General\u2019s Department in London, where his legal background and skills could be put to use.23<\/a>\u00a0The\u00a0War Birds<\/i> entry for January 1, 1918, recalling events since the previous entry of December 6, 1917, remarks that \u201cWe met Jim in London and had a wild party. Jim is living there now and is attached to Headquarters.\u201d24<\/a>\u00a0Stokes is also mentioned in the January 1, 1918, entry in Grider\u2019s original diary: \u201cLarry & I met old Jim Stokes in London and we had a wild party. Jim took on L.L.L.D. Larry had Peggy. . . .\u201d (Clarence Horne Fry had given the name \u201cLong lean lanky devil\u201d to one of the women they socialized with.)<\/p>\n

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35 Eaton Place, from a photo (NARA 111-SC-25344<\/a>) taken in 1918.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Information about Stokes in the early spring of 1918 comes from the diary of Joseph Kirkbride Milnor, who had also been forced to take a ground job. Milnor reported to American Aviation Headquarters at 35 Eaton Place on March 4, 1918, where he encountered Stokes, who \u201csent me around to the Red Court Hotel, 19 Bedford Place where he and Capt. Swann are staying. . . . \u201d (John Warren Swann had been supply officer on the Carmania\u00a0<\/i>during the voyage to England and became the disbursement officer at the American Aviation Headquarters in London.) A few days later, on March 7, 1918, Milnor noted that \u201cJim & Capt. Swann have left to take an apartment so I moved into Jim\u2019s old room, No. 18 on the Ground floor. A nice big double room . . . .\u201d25<\/a><\/p>\n

On April 8, 1918, Stokes\u2019s name appears in a long list of men recommended for their commissions as first lieutenants \u201cnon-flying.\u201d In this instance \u201cnon-flying\u201d had nothing to do with Stokes\u2019s having had to give up training, but rather with sclerotic wartime training and bureaucracy. A month previously Pershing, who had been made aware that many aviation cadets in Europe were unhappy that they had not yet been made first lieutenants, sent a cablegram to Washington describing the situation of approximately 1400 men whose flying training was delayed: \u201cAll of those cadets would have been commissioned prior to this date if training facilities could have been provided. These conditions have produced profound discouragement among cadets.\u201d To remedy this injustice, and to put the European cadets on an equal footing with their counterparts in the U.S., Pershing asked permission \u201cto immediately issue to all cadets now in Europe temporary or Reserve commissions in Aviation Section Signal Corps. . . .\u201d Washington agreed, finally, on May 13, 1918, but stipulated that the men be commissioned first lieutenants \u201cnon-flying\u201d: \u201cUpon satisfactory completion of flying training they can be transferred as flying officers.\u201d26<\/a><\/p>\n

Other information about Stokes comes from the diaries of Deetjen and, again, Milnor. On April 17, 1918, the former was summoned to London to be reprimanded for violating censorship rules. After a slap on the wrist, he met up with a number of men from the detachment who were also in London, including Stokes.27<\/a>\u00a0Milnor mentions dinner with Stokes on June 23, 1918; the previous day he (Milnor) had learned that Grider was missing and probably passed this news on to Stokes. On July 3, 1918, Milnor wrote in his diary that \u201cJim Stokes is at his old apartment on Ebury Street, about four squares from the office [35 Eaton Place] and as he has two extra rooms I\u2019m going to share it with him. . . . Jim has a maid to get breakfast or any other meal he wants. . . . It is awfully cheep [sic<\/i>] too but we don\u2019t know how long we can stay in it, as the owner may come back at any time. At any rate we will be comfortable while we are here.\u201d Recalling the period from the ninth of July through the fourteenth, Milnor describes how \u201cJim and I have spent most of our evenings winning the war or rather deciding how it should be won\u201d28<\/a> The next day, July 15, 1918: \u201cJim left for the rest camp at Lingfield [?].\u201d If I have read Milnor\u2019s handwriting correctly, Stokes was probably going to the American Red Cross Convalescent Hospital No. 101, which had been opened at the end of June by Pauline Spender-Clay, n\u00e9e Astor, at her country home, Ford Manor, southeast of Lingfield in Surrey.29<\/a>\u00a0I find nothing to indicate whether Stokes was going there as a convalescent or in his official capacity.<\/p>\n

The next information about Stokes comes from American newspaper articles from May 1919, which indicate he had been promoted to captain and that he had been appointed first assistant to the military attach\u00e9 to the Court of St. James, i.e., he was a member of the diplomatic corps at the U.S. embassy in London.30<\/a> A later article indicates that the diplomatic appointment was made after the armistice.31<\/a><\/p>\n

Stokes sailed back to the U.S. in September 1919, departing from Brest on September 6, 1919, and arriving at Hoboken nine days later.32<\/a>\u00a0His point of departure suggests his work may have taken him from England to France. Returned to Tennessee, Stokes resumed practicing law in Nashville.\u00a033<\/a><\/p>\n

mrsmcq April 10, 2026<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Notes<\/h3>\n
\n

(For complete bibliographic entries, please consult the list of\u00a0works and web pages cited<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

1<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Stokes\u2019s dates and place of birth and death are taken from Ancestry.com,\u00a0Tennessee, U.S., Death Records, 1908-1965<\/i>, record for James Whitworth Stokes.\u00a0 His year of birth is sometimes given as 1888, but see (in addition to the preceding) Ancestry.com, U.S., Headstone Applications for Military Veterans<\/em>, record for James W Stokes; and Ancestry.com, 1900 United States Federal Census<\/em>, record for James Stokes.\u00a0 The image is cropped from a photo on leaf 11v of\u00a0 Grider\u2019s Diary October 3, 1917 \u2013 February 7, 1918, courtesy of the South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia, S.C.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

2<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Information on the Stokes family is taken from \u201cHon. Jordan Stokes, Lebanon\u201d and documents available at Ancestry.com. I should note that both the senior and the junior Jordan Stokes are sometimes given the middle name Green, but I find no original documentation that does so. It is, however, worth nothing that Sylvanus Stokes\u2019s paternal grandfather was the North Carolina Methodist minister Green Hill.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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3<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Ancestry.com,\u00a0Tennessee, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1779-2008<\/i>, record for James Whitworth.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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4<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u201cMrs. Mary W. Stokes Dies,\u201d p. 2.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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5<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u201cJames W. Stokes, Attorney, Dies.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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6<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0The Vanderbilt Comet 1906<\/i>, p. [244].<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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7<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0The Vanderbilt Comet 1905<\/i>, p. 163.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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8<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See listing of Phi Kappa Psi men on p. [205] of\u00a0The [Vanderbilt] Comet 1908<\/i>;\u00a0The [Vanderbilt] Commodore 1909<\/i>, p. 188; and\u00a0The [Vanderbilt] Commodore 1910<\/i>, p. 112.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

9<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See \u201cStokes & Stokes\u201d in the\u00a0Nashville City Directories<\/i>\u00a0for 1911 and 1912.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

10<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See \u201cStokes & Stokes\u201d in the\u00a0Nashville City Directory<\/i>\u00a0for 1917.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

11<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u201cNashville Boy Enters Service\u201d and \u201cJas. Stokes Ordered to Aviation School.\u201d NB: I have not found a draft card for Stokes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

12<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u201cGround School Graduations [for August 25, 1917].\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

13<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Grider, Diary October 3, 1917 \u2013 February 7, 1918, entry for October 12, 1917. Also staying at the McAlpin with Grider and Stokes were their ground school classmates Walter Ferguson Halley and Marvin Kent Curtis; see Curtis\u2019s letter of June 2, 1918, to his sister Josephine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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14<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0War Birds<\/i>, entry for October 3, 1917.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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15<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0War Birds<\/i>, entry for September 29, 1917.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

16<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See the opening pages of Grider, Diary October 3, 1917 \u2013 February 7, 1918.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

17<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0On the roommates, see\u00a0War Birds<\/i>, entry for October 3, 1917; see also Grider and Jacobs,\u00a0Marse John Goes to War<\/i>, p. 63 (letter of October 9, 1917), as well as Grider, Diary October 3, 1917 \u2013 February 7, 1918, leaf [4r].<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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18<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Grider, Diary October 3, 1917 \u2013 February 7, 1918, leaf [5r].<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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19<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Grider, Diary October 3, 1917 \u2013 February 7, 1918, leaves [8v], [9r].<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

20<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Grider, Diary October 3, 1917 \u2013 February 7, 1918, leaf [13v]. It is also possible that Springs repurposed this entry for the September 29, 1917, entry in\u00a0War Birds<\/i>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

21<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Grider, Diary October 3, 1917 \u2013 February 7, 1918, leaves [18v] and [20r]. This is the entry for October 30, 1917. Grider also recounts this incident in a letter to his sister dated November 1, 1917 (Grider and Jacobs,\u00a0Marse John<\/i>, pp. 68\u2013 69). I have not been able to identify Miss Cannon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

22<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Grider, Diary October 3, 1917 \u2013 February 7, 1918, leaf [19r]. See also the letter of November 1, 1917, mentioned above, where the man is referred to as \u201cLieut. Vadney of the British Infantry.\u201d I have not been able to identify the lieutenant.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

23<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See, for example, \u201cCapt. Stokes Wins Big Honor.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

24<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0He was thus apparently at American Aviation Headquarters in London, on the staff of the J.A.G. Department, which was associated with Base Section No. 3, Service of Supply. See\u00a0Organization of the Services of Supply American Expeditionary Forces,<\/i>\u00a0p. 30 and\u00a0passim<\/i>, and Borch,\u00a0Judge Advocates in the Great War<\/i>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

25<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See Milnor\u2019s diary entries for March 4 and 7, 1918.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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26<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See cables 874\u2013S and 1303\u2013R.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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27<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Deetjen, diary entry for April 17, 1918.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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28<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Milnor, diary entry for July 9 to July 14, 1918.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

29<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u201cHome for Convalescents.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

30<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cCapt. Stokes Wins Big Honor; \u201cCapt. Stokes Wins Diplomatic Honors.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

31<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 \u201cCaptain Tells of British Labor.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

32<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0War Department, Office of the Quartermaster General, Army Transport Service,\u00a0Lists of Incoming Passengers, 1917 – 1938<\/i>, passenger list, S.S.\u00a0America<\/i>, departing Brest September 6, 1919<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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33<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 \u201cJames W. Stokes, Attorney, Dies.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Nashville, Tennessee, October 28, 1887 \u2013 Nashville, March 22, 1947).1 Oxford\u00a0\u272f\u00a0London and later The Stokes family was originally English; various family members settled in Virginia and North Carolina.2 Sylvanus Stokes, great-grandfather of James Whitworth Stokes, purchased land in Tennessee with the intention of setting up his home there. With his family he set out from … Continue reading “James Whitworth Stokes”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9339,"parent":30,"menu_order":130,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-9280","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9280"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9353,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9280\/revisions\/9353"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}