Private James Spence

Private James Spence 1st/7th ( Territorial) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers. He died in France on 6th May 1915, aged 22, from wounds received in action on 26th April 1915 during the Battle of St Julien which was part of the wider Second Battle of Ypres. 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 before being rushed into action in Belgium to support a Canadian attack.  Before the War he had been employed as a moulder with Messrs Elder of Berwick. The photograph shows the impressive Memorial raised to the 50th ( Northumbrian ) Division of which the Battalion was part until February 1918 when it was transferred to the 42nd ( East Lancashire ) Division as a Pioneer Battalion. It was erected near the village of Weiltje in the Ypres Salient where nearby on 26th April 1915 the Division had fought its first action of the War only days after landing on the Continent.