Date of birth: 31/05/1888

Place of birth: Dundee, Angus, Scotland, United Kingdom

Profession: Miner

Country: Scotland, United Kingdom

Force: British Expeditionary Force

Rank: Private

Service number: 2921

Enlistment date: 20/07/1914

Enlistment place: Stirling, Stirlingshire, Scotland, United Kingdom

Units:  —  Royal Scots (Lothian Regiment), 5/6th Bn.  (Last known unit)

Date of death: 06/12/1917

Place of death: La Belle Alliance, Belgium

Cause of death: Died of wounds (D.O.W.)

Age: 29

1914-15 Star Medal

British War Medal Medal

Victory Medal Medal

Private James Fagan was part of the 5/6th Battalion Royal Scots, 14th Brigade, 32 Division. On the night between the 1st and 2nd December 1917 his battalion was moved by train form Hospital Farm Camp to Hilltop Farm Camp. The night of the 3rd they moved up to the front line along the Passchendaele Ridge near Spriet. From the war diary of the 17th Highland Light Infantry, the Regiment which the Royal Scots relieved, it could be determined that the front line ran from Tournant Farm on the left to Veal Farm on the right. The War Diary of the 14th Brigade notes that on December 4th, 5th and 6th 1917 attempts were made to capture a German Pillbox halfway between Sound farm and Tournant Farm (V.28.a.85.40.). These attempts failed due to machine gun and artillery fire. Private James Fagan was probably wounded in this attack and brought to an Advanced Dressing Station near La Belle Alliance which later became the Divisional Collecting Post Cemetery. He succumbed to his wounds and was buried there.

Ancestry https://www.ancestry.com/ Sources used

CWGC https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/157421/fagan,-/ Sources used

Naval & Military Archive http://www.nmarchive.com Sources used

The Long Long Trail https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/ Sources used