Private James Speedy

Private James Walter Speedy, 1st/6th ( Perthshire) Battalion, Black Watch. He was killed in France on 19th May 1917 during the Battle of Arras aged 17. He had been born in Dufftown, Banffshire and was the son of James and Anne Elizabeth Speedy of Greenlawdean and Mersington Mill, Greenlaw and is buried in St Nicholas British Cemetery, Arras, France. ( He had enlisted underage). The Battalion had been holding trenches prior to the assault on “Greenland Hill” on 21st May and had been subjected to harassing artillery fire and indeed he was killed by a shell fragment whilst bicycling up to the line. The photos show troops at Arras.  The colour photograph shows the Memorial raised to the 51st ( Highland ) Division of which the Battalion was part. It was erected in Newfoundland Park on the Somme overlooking “Y” Ravine which was taken on 13th November 1916 when the Division stormed and captured the strong German position of Beaumont Hamel. A plaque on the Memorial reads in Gaelic ” Friends Are Good On The Day Of Battle “.

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