Private James Spence

Private James Spence, 1st/7th ( Territorial )Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers. He died in France on 6th May 1915 of wounds received in action in Flanders on the 26th April, aged, 22. He was the son of Rachel Spence of 49 West End, Tweedmouth and is buried in Wimereux Communal Cemetery. The Battalion had only landed in France on 21st April 1915. Before the War he had been employed as a moulder with Messrs Elder. The photograph shows the impressive Memorial raised to the 50th ( Northumbrian ) Division of which the Battalion was part until February 1918. It was erected near the village of Weiltje in the Ypres Salient where nearby on 26th April 1915 the Division fought its first action during the Battle of St. Julien only days after landing on the Continent.