Current Information:

Born-Suffolk

Enlisted-Derbyshire

Houplines Communal Cemetery, France

On 21st March, 1915, the 2nd Sherwood Foresters battalion of 18 Brigade, 6th Division moved into the front line at Houplines, just to the east of Armentières where they remained until relieved on 25th March. James Pannell was killed on 21st March but the battalion diary has no information concerning his death. The attrition rate among British soldiers on the Western Front was on average 300 each day and 60% of these were as a result of shellfire. When not involved in an actual battle it was either shell fire or a sniper’s bullet that caused most deaths and injuries.