Gunner James Freer

Gunner James Freer, “B” Battery, 51st Brigade, Royal Field Artillery. He died at Home from septicaemia, aged 24, on the 4th June 1919. He was born in Galashiels in 1895 and was the son of the late Adam and Isabella Freer. In 1901 he was living in Dunsdalehaugh, Selkirk with relatives and was employed as a butcher when he enlisted in the Army Veterinary Corps and went to France in January 1915. At some point he transferred to the R.F.A and was living at 4 Anderson Court, Selkirk when he died in the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Selkirk. He is buried in Selkirk Cemetery. The R.F.A. normally used the 18 pounder field gun in an anti infantry role using both high explosive and shrapnel shells one of which is shown below.