SIMPSON, James

James Simpson was born in Brierley Hill and attended Brockmoor C. of E. school. He was married and was living in Brockmoor with his wife and several young children. He enlisted in the artillery and served in the Royal Field Artillery with A Battery 76th Brigade. In 1916 he was fighting in the Battle of the Somme which had reached its third stage. On the 25th September a strong attack took place against the fortified villages of Morval and Lesboeufs. The artillery represented the strongest force to be used in the Great War to that date. The villages were captured but in the artillery contest Gunner James Simpson was seriously wounded by a bomb which dropped in the wagon lines. He was taken to a Field Ambulance at nearby Carnoy where he died of wounds. He is buried in Carnoy Military Cemetery (N 38) and commemorated on the Brierley Hill, Brierley Hill church and Brockmoor church Memorials.