James Gray                             Age 20

Regimental No. 10361           Private          1st Battalion Gordon Highlanders

                                                                        76th Brigade, 3rd Division

Killed in Action                                            18 June 1917

Commemorated                                           Arras Memorial

 

Personal Background

Born at Linton in Roxburghshire, James was the son of Mrs Sarah Gray, 1 Boundaries, Jedburgh.  However, his birth name was not Gray, but Coulter.  He appears on the 1901 Census along with his mother and his uncle, Robert Coulter, at no. 3 Bankhead, Linton.  His other maternal uncle, Ralph Coulter, was the Farm Steward there and lived at no. 7.

 

In February 1905, James' mother married John Gray, of The Boundaries, Jedburgh.  He was a joiner and widower with a young family, and James would have been around 8 years old.  On her marriage certificate she used the name Sarah Brown and cited her parents as Margaret Coulter and Andrew Brown, yet Sarah previously used the name Coulter and that was the surname given to her son.  In 1911 James was still living with his mother and stepfather and two stepsisters, Anne and Helen, at the same address, but his name appears as Coulter, so it is uncertain when he started using his stepfather's surname.  He was then 14 years old and worked in a mill. 

 

By the time he enlisted he was employed as a butler/valet  and was still single.  His military record indicates that he had been in the 4th KOSB for over a year when, at the age of 19, he signed up to the Gordon Highlanders on 1 June 1915. 

 

 

Military Background

James spent the first 4 months with the Gordons in the UK, but was posted to France on 25 October 1915.  Once overseas, James' medical history shows  he had a pretty rough time.  First he contracted influenza in early March 2016 while at Corbie in Picardy.  This led to a short hospital stay, but he was soon back in harness.  In May he was again in need of medical attention for an abscess which took 2 weeks at a Field Hospital to clear up.  Then in early July, when the Somme offensive was at its initial stage,  he suffered shrapnel injuries and a gunshot wound to his forearm.  This was sufficiently serious for him to be sent back to the UK, where he was treated in hospital for over a month, and was not considered fit to return to the action until 20 December 1916.   James rejoined his battalion at Etaples, but was posted missing 6 months later on 18 June 1917, and believed killed in action.

 

On 1 June 1917, the 76th Brigade were on the Arras front, with orders to take Hill 100, east of Monchy Le Preux.  On 14 June the 1st Gordons attacked on the right.  There was no barrage, simply a dash across the open to bring off a surprise attack, then a curtain of fire to cover the position when captured.  The Germans were completely taken by surprise and the objectives were secured.

 

At 17.30 the German counter-attack failed.  In the early hours of 16 June a second counter-attack regained two outposts on the hill, but the Gordons recovered one of them later.  On 18 June a third counter-attack was launched by the Germans just when the 1st Gordons were about to be relieved.  This attack was defeated and the line was held, though not without casualties. 

 

During these four days, the casualties, mostly due to artillery fire, were 6 officers and 64 other ranks killed, 4 officers and 158 other ranks wounded, with 27 men missing.  James was unfortunately one of those who lost his life just as a brief respite was in sight.