Date of birth: 07/11/1892

Place of birth: Tynemouth, Northumberland, England, United Kingdom

Profession: Farmer

Country: Canada

Force: Canadian Expeditionary Force

Rank: Private

Service number: 781889

Enlistment date: 15/01/1916

Units:  —  Canadian Infantry, 46th Bn. (South Saskatchewan)  (Last known unit)

Date of death: 26/10/1917

Place of death: Decline Copse, Passchendaele, Belgium

Cause of death: Killed in action (K.I.A.)

Age: 24

James Thomas Knox was part of the 46th Battalion Canadian Infantry, 10th Canadian Brigade, 4th Canadian Division. On 26 October he took part in the Second Battle of Passchendaele (Third Battle of Ypres – Battle of Passchendaele). The 10th Canadian Brigade attacked with the 46th Battalion Canadian Infantry north of the Ypres Roulers Railway. The jumping off line was situated in the line Heine House, Hillside Farm and Ypres Roulers Railway. They consolidated most of their objective under heave enemy shelling including mopping up Decline Copse. The 46th battalion was eventually driven back due to German counter attacks and established a new frontline closer to their jumping off line. Of the 420 men of the 46th Battalion who were on the start line at zero hour, around 70% became casualties. James Thomas was presumably killed in the area of Decline Copse since he was initially buried in the area of Rhine Copse (D.18.a). He was re-interred at Buttes New British Cemetery where he has his final resting place.

Circumstances of death http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/microform-digitization/006003-119.01-e.php?PHPSESSID=pf868q7td101us1usidkvu8pl1&sqn=642&q2=28&q3=2312&tt=821 Sources used

McCarthy Chris, Passchendaele, The Third Ypres: The Day-by-Day Account, (Londen: Unicorn Publishing Group, 2018), pp. 126-128. pp. 126-128. Sources used

Personnel Records of the First World War (Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa (LAC) RG 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 5240 - 27). https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/personnel-records/Pages/search.aspx Sources used

War diaries: 46th Canadian Infantry Battalion (Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa (LAC), RG9-III-D-3, Volume number: 4939, Microfilm reel number: T-10745--T-10746, File number: 437). https://library-archives.canada.ca/eng Sources used

Commonwealth War Graves Commission Database https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/480324

Namenlijst (In Flanders Fields Museum) https://namenlijst.org/publicsearch/#/person/_id=bf22f1cb-73f8-4ed0-8506-b9d96e88714b

Lives of the First World War (Imperial War Museum) https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/lifestory/5983811

The Canadian Virtual War Memorial https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/detail/480324