James Puttrell in 1939. Source: Picture Sheffield.
As a boy of fourteen James W Puttrell (1868-1939) started work with Mappin and Webb, staying with them for nineteen years, before joining his father’s business, J Puttrell and Sons Ltd, Decorators. Always good at physical sports, in his early years James was a member of the YMCA and captain of their football club. He was a strong swimmer, vice-captain of the YMCA club, and saved a life in the River Mersey.
James Puttrell became a pioneer of climbing in Derbyshire in the years before the First World War and his name can be found in the first ascent lists of almost every crag within the Peak District. A good deal of his mountain climbing was done in Switzerland and in 1904 he made the first ascent of the season of the Great Schreckhorn, a peak of nearly 13,400 feet high, in the Bernese Oberland.
James also had a reputation as a pioneer in cave exploration. So keen was he on speleological research that he had been known to spend Christmas Day in the Blue John cavern at Castleton, eating his Christmas dinner in solitude after searching for rare and beautiful specimens. He had a wonderful museum of Blue John, English and Italian marbles, stalactites, and stalagmites, and rare cave pearls and nests, most of them personally gathered at much risk. In Austria, Yugoslavia, and the Adriatic he visited salt mines, ice caverns, and the magnificent Adelsberg caves.
He was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a former vice-president of the British Speleological Association, a member of the Yorkshire Ramblers’ Club from 1900 until his death in 1939, and an original member of the English Climbers’ Club.
Puttrell had a climbing ‘life’ of about 40 years and retired from it only a few years before his death due to a weak heart. He was buried in grave E1 93 in the Anglican area of the Cemetery.