Current Information:

Age-19

118, Pemberton Road, Harringay

Born-Poplar

Roye New British Cemetery, France

After the opening battles of the war at Mons on 23rd August, 1914 and Le Cateau on 26th August, the British Army (BEF), in conjunction with the French Army, began a retreat that took them all the way back to the River Marne, 200 miles to the south. With the Germans in hot pursuit they were forced to fight a series of rear guard actions as they fell back in extremely hot weather. The Great Retreat, as it became known, came to an end on 5th September, 1914 when the allied forces attacked along the River Marne and drove the Germans back to the River Aisne.

Between 4am and 8am on 27th August, after having been heavily involved in the fighting at Le Cateau on the previous day, 3rd Division, marched to Hargicourt with the 1st Lincolnshire battalion the rearguard of 9 Brigade which itself was the rearguard of the division.  At 1pm the march resumed to Villeret, two miles south-west of Bellicourt, where billets were found. But they were immediately turned out again to cover the rear as a small party of German cavalry had closed up to them and fired a few shots.  1st Lincolnshire took up position on some rising ground between Hargicourt and Villeret and stayed here for an hour before marching to Vermand, which they reached at 6pm. At some stage during the day’s proceedings James Long was killed, but there is no further information concerning his death.