Private James Russell

Private James Russell, 2nd Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers. He died from wounds in France during the Battle of the Somme on 31st July 1916, aged 22. He was the son of Robert and Janet Russell of Allanton and is buried in Dernacourt Communal Cemetery, Somme France. His Headstone is inscribed ” Ever Remembered “. He was fatally wounded in action on the Bazentin Ridge near Delville Wood and died next day in a Field Ambulance at Dernacourt. 6 Officers were killed here with 6 wounded. and 244 Other Ranks became casualties. After this failed attack the Battalion were pulled out of the line for rest and recuperation. He had enlisted in November 1914 and was a member of the Battalion Machine Gun section. He had already been wounded by a grenade in May 1916 but was not out of  action for long. Before the war he had been employed as a gamekeeper for Sir George Houston Boswall who had himself been killed in action at the Battle of Loos in September 1915. After leaving the employ of Sir George he had gone to work for Mr Tennant of Maytham Hall, Kent before enlisting in his local Battalion. The photograph shows Scottish troops on the Somme with the colour image showing a peaceful Somme landscape today with ” no gas, no barbed wire, no guns firing now”.