Born 11th February 1875 - Died 2 June 1916
Lance Corporal, 49th Bn., Canadian Infantry
James Halsey, the sixth child of Thomas and Sarah Halsey, was born on the 11th February 1875 in the Old Toll House on Ayot Green Hertfordshire,. His father, a woodman on the Panshanger Estate, was killed in 1887 when trapped by a fallen tree. In 1891 James was living with his widowed grandmother, Elizabeth Halsey, in Finchley and working as a green grocer's boy. By 1901 James Halsey was employed by as a footman by Edward Chester, a mining engineer .at 'The Priory', Bletchingley, Surrey.
In 1909, James, by then a coachman, set sail from Liverpool to Quebec in Canada on board the Empress of Britain arriving on 17 September 1909. By 1915 he was settled in Calgary and working as a City Foreman. He never married.
On 19 May 1915, James, now age 40, enlisted at Calgary into the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force and joined the 49th Batallion, Canadian Infantry, Alberta Regiment, Service No 435211. He was described as having blue eyes, light brown hair and was 5ft, 5ins. tall. By June 1918 he had been promoted to Lance Corporal.
James was killed on the 2nd June 1916 and is buried near Ypres in the Divisional Collecting Post Cemetery Extension, Belgium Plot II F 7.
The handwritten War Diary of the 49th Canadian Edmonton Regiment, 3rd Canadian Division records that the Battalion, led by a brass band, set out at 2pm on the 2nd of June 1916 to march to Belgian Chateau where they came under heavy shell fire. From there they moved in small parties to the ramparts of Ypres, all arriving by 8.30pm. Then, after a night march to Sanctuary Wood, they led a dawn counter attack and made sustained gains. Over this poeriod 6 Officers were killed, 9 wounded, 45 other ranks were killed, 257 wounded and 69 missing.
No record of attending St John's School
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James was killed on the 2nd June 1916 and is buried near Ypres in the Divisional Collecting Post Cemetery Extension, Belgium Plot II F 7. The Battalion, led by a brass band, set out at 2pm on the 2nd of June 1916 to march to Belgian Chateau where they came under heavy shell fire. From there they moved in small parties to the ramparts of Ypres, all arriving by 8.30pm. Then, after a night march to Sanctuary Wood, they led a dawn counter attack and made sustained gains. Over this poeriod 6 Officers were killed, 9 wounded, 45 other ranks were killed, 257 wounded and 69 missing.
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5 Facts the Great War
Battles of WW1
Battle of the Somme
1 July - 13 November 1916The British suffered around 420,000 casualties, the French 195,000 and the Germans around 650,000. Only in the sense of relieving the French at Verdun can the British have claimed any measure of success.
Battle of Passchendaele
31 July - 6 November 1917Passchendaele village lay barely five miles beyond the starting point of his offensive. Having prophesied a decisive success, it had taken over three months, 325,000 Allied and 260,000 German casualties
The First Battle of Ypres, 1914
October 19 to November 22, 1914First Battle of Ypres saw the BEF sustain 7,960 killed, 29,562 wounded, and 17,873 missing, while the French incurred between 50,000 and 85,000 casualties of all types. To the north, the Belgians took 21,562 casualties