Corporal Jacob Strassheim

Corporal Jacob Strassheim, 1st/7th ( Territorial ) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers. He was killed in action in Belgium on 27th March 1916, aged 23 and is buried in Railway Dugouts Burial Ground ( Transport farm ), Zillebeke, Ypres, Flanders, Belgium. His Headstone is inscribed “Peace Perfect Peace “. He was the son of Jacob and Elizabeth Strassheim of Spittal and the husband of Isabella Strassheim of 39 Main Street, Spittal. It is interesting to note he served under the name of Straughan.  ( Sometimes men changed their enlisted names to sound less Germanic). Before enlisting he had worked for the Scremerston Coal Company and he left a wife and two children. He was a keen footballer and played for Scremerston Hearts. His brother John served in the same Battalion. The Battalion was part of the 50th ( Northumbrian ) Division and after the War an impressive memorial was raised in commemoration. It was erected near the village of Weiltje in the Ypres Salient where on the 26th April 1915 the Division had fought its first action of the War only days after landing on the Continent.