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L/Cpl. James Beattie
British Army 1st Btn. Black Watch
from:Castleton, Newcastleton, Scotland
(d.1st July 1915)
James Beattie was born at Castleton, Newcastleton, Roxburghshire in July 1885. He enlisted in the Scots Guards in Edinburgh on 3rd October 1908 when he was 23 years old. The enlistment book records his former occupation as policeman. He was transferred to the Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) on 14th August 1909. After two years' service James was posted to India. He was awarded the Delhi Durbar medal to commemorate the crowning of George V and Mary of Teck, Emperor and Empress of India in 1911.
When war broke out in 1914 James' regiment returned from India, arriving home in February 1915. He had a week furlough at home before leaving for the front in France in March. He was wounded on 4th April but was soon back at the front only to be wounded again on 9th May during the Battle of Aubers Ridge. He was captured by the Germans and sent to the POW camp near Wesel where he died from his wounds on 1st July 1915. He was buried at Cologne Southern Cemetery. His passing is recorded on his parents' headstone in Old Castleton Cemetery and on the war memorial in Newcastleton.
He had at least two cousins who also gave their lives in service to their country during the Great War, Sergeant James Adam Beattie with the Northumberland Fusiliers then with 2nd Battalion King's African Rifles and Pte William Beattie who served with the Army Service Corps and died on the Italian Front in the Veneto region. He is buried in Montecchio Precalcino Communal Cemetery, Vicenza.
