Private James Patterson

Private James Patterson 24th Battalion ( 1st Tyneside Irish ), Northumberland Fusiliers. He was killed on 22nd October 1917 during the Third Battle of Ypres aged 24. He had been born in Coldstream and was the son of George and Margaret Patterson of Spottiswood, Westruther and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Tyne Cot , Ypres, Belgium. He fell in the attack on Poelcapelle which cost the Battalion 20 killed. The photographs show the desolation of the Flanders battlefield where the incessant shelling had destroyed the drainage systems. ( Over 4 million shells had been fired in the opening stages of the Battle ).