Private James Holywell

Private James Thomson Holywell, 117th Coy. Machine Gun Corps. He was killed in action in Flanders on 17th November 1917 at the end of the Battle of Third Ypres, aged 22. He had been born in Duns and was the son of James and Christina Holywell Of Kilnknowe, Coldingham and the brother of Henry Holywell. He is commemorated on the Tyne Cot, Memorial, Zonnebeke, Flanders, Belgium. He had originally enlisted in the Royal Scots before transferring to the M.G.C. and going to France in May 1916. The M.G.C. used the Vickers Mk1 water cooled gun in both defensive and offensive roles. The first photograph shows the condition of the battlefield where the incessant shelling had destroyed the drainage systems and the second picture shows machine gunners in position amidst the desolation of the Flanders battlefield.