Private James Graham

Private James Jackson Graham, 11th ( Service ) Battalion, Royal Scots. He was killed in action in France on the 14th July during the Battle of the Somme aged 25. He had been born as James Graham Jackson and was the son of Elizabeth Jackson. He was the adopted son of his Uncle and Aunt James and Barbara ( Jackson) Graham of Lewinshope, Yarrow. He is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Thiepval, Somme, France. Before enlisting in 1914 he had been employed as a ploughman. His Battalion was part of the 9th ( Scottish) Division attack and he fell in the successful, attacks at Montauban and Longueval which were part of the wider Battle of Bazentin Ridge. The Battalions actions at Longueval terminated on the 17th July. Casualties, as ever, were heavy with 13 Officers ( 6 killed) and 308 Other Ranks becoming casualties. The photographs show Scots troops on the Somme and the colour image shows a peaceful Somme landscape today with ” no gas, no barbed wire, no guns firing now”.