Ww1 Medal Trio Pte James McNaught Boyce 4277 2nd and 12th Royal Scots

Ww1 Medal Trio Pte James McNaught Boyce 4277 2nd and 12th Royal Scots

James McNaught Boyce was born on 4 November 1882 to William Boyce, a China merchant, and Isabella Boyce (later Burnett). Growing up, from at least 1891, he lived with his mother and stepfather Charles Fuller Burnett, a Clerk & Inquiry Agent, and numerous siblings and step-siblings in the Newington district of Edinburgh. By 1901 the 18 year old James was working as a tailor and living at 22 South Clerk Street. He was subsequently married to Margaret [McKean?].

Possibly like 4279 Robert Barclay (an old soldier, enlisted for service in the United Kingdom only), James  was a Special Reservist with the Royal Scots (Lothian Regiment). If so, he may have enlisted at Edinburgh around 28 September 1914, initially for service in the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion. As 4277 Pte J McN Boyce, he went to the 2nd (Regular) battalion as a reinforcement on 27 December 1914. (By comparison, 4275 Pte John Berry, also an old soldier, who enlisted for 1 year around 25 September 1915, and was also of the 3/Royal Scots, went overseas on 4 January 1915 as part of the 12th Reinforcement, joining an unrecorded battalion - but probably the 2nd - in the field on 31 January). At the former time the battalion was in the Ypres sector. He lost one brother, Alexander Boyce, with the 1st KOSB at Gallipoli, and a stepbrother, Cecil Lawrence Burnett, with the 1st Seaforth Highlanders in the Persian Gulf. James himself appears as wounded on a War Office casualty list for 5 May 1915 (published in The Scotsman, 22 May 1915), suggesting that he was wounded the previous month; at this time the battalion was in the line at Ypres, near the Rossignol, and suffered a steady stream of casualties, mainly from shelling, throughout the month.

At some point he was posted to the 12th Battalion, part of 27 Brigade of 9th (Scottish) Division, serving with 'D' Company. It is quite likely that this took place after the abovementioned wounding. A notional posting date of some time towards the end of 1915, possibly missing the September 1915 Battle of Loos, would have put him in line to fight with the battalion on the Somme, at Arras and in the Battle of Passchendaele.

With the 12th Royal Scots, Pte Boyce went missing some time after the commencement of the German Spring Offensive on 21 March 1918. By this time he was with 'D' Company and captured, according to the International Commission for the Red Cross records, on 23 March at Nurlu.

At this time the battalion, having been in GHQ Reserve, moved to Divisional Reserve in Dessart Wood and, after a spell in the line at Gouzeaucourt wiring the line and creating strongpoints, had returned to Dessart Wood when the offensive commenced.

Pte Boyce was wounded when taken; possibly he was either left behind when the Battalion withdrew from the Green Line at Nurlu, or was one of the men enfiladed by enemy fire from Moislains whilst trying to cross the Canal du Nord by Riverside Wood.

He was reported as missing on War Office Daily List No.5576 of 27/05/1918. This confirmed his place of residence as Edinburgh.

After capture, Pte Boyce was taken from the West-Front to Cassel, and then to Limburg; in September 1918 he was reported as having arrived at Limburg from Cassel.

He featured on War Office Daily List No.5751 of 18/12/1918 as Released Prisoner of War from Germany, arrived in England.

He was discharged to the Army Class 'Z' Reserve on 10 April 1919 and subsequently lived in Edinburgh. His pension ledger entry gives his address as c/o Kean, 6(?) Salisbury Street (confirmed as Mrs McKean, 7 Salisbury Street on his ICRC Record Card). It indicated that he suffered from Neurasthenia - stammering due to active service. He appears to have been given a provisional pension of 13/8 weekly upon discharge.

 

Subsequently apparently a tailor in civil life, James McNaught Boyce died on 9 January 1950 and was cremated at Edinburgh on the 12th.

Pte C J Cooper, 1st Suffolk Regiment, France and Salonika

12318 Pte Charles Cooper, 1st Battalion, The Suffolk Regiment

Charles Joseph Cooper served with the 1st battalion, the Suffolk Regiment as a Private, initially under the regimental number 12318. Probably, like 21310 Herbert Richard Phillips, 12311 Harry Brewer, 12314 William John Parker, 12315 Horace David King and 12317 William Friend, he enlisted for three years’ service around 31 August 1914, being posted to the Suffolk Regiment depot at Bury St Edmunds the following day and around this time receiving his regimental number. Possibly like both men he was initially posted to the 7th (Service) Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment. Then, after approximately 11 months training (possibly interrupted by sickness or injury), he was sent to France on 27 July 1915, probably as part of a replacement draft to the 1st battalion which, having been stationed at Khartoum at the outbreak of war, had been in the France theatre since 18.01.1915, landing at Le Havre. He may have been sent out to replace one of the 400 casualties incurred by the battalion in the course of the Second Battle of Ypres (22 April-25 May 1915). After a likely part in the Battle of Loos (25 September-8 October 1915), in the absence of any evidence of service with another battalion or regiment, he would have embarked for Salonika from Marseilles via Alexandria as part of the move of the parent 28th Division to the Salonika Front and there engaged in actions against the Bulgarian Army including (during October 1916) the occupation of Mazirko and capture of Barakli Jum'a and (in May 1917) the capture of Ferdie and Essex Trenches near Barakli Jum'a, and the capture of of Barakli and Kumli in October 1917. In September 1918 the battalion engaged in the Battle of Doiran (18-19 September), and following the retreat of the Bulgarian Army, the pursuit to the Strumica valley (22-28 September), culminating in an armistice on 30 September 1918. At some point he continued his service with the 1st Suffolk Regiment, still as a Private, under the new regimental number 51234. Possibly, like 51238 Stanley Arthur Willis, he did a spell with the Labour Corps before being transferred back to the Suffolk Regiment (in Willis’ case, on 24 November 1917 for service with the 2nd (Garrison) Battalion). 

For his service Pte Cooper was entitled to the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal. He also has suggested service with the Labour Corps, although his service number is not recorded. Pte Cooper was discharged to the Army Class 'Z' Reserve on 25 April 1919. He was pensioned at 5/6 weekly from date of discharge until 2 September 1919. Although the condition for which he was pensioned was not recorded, the endemic Malaria in the Salonika theatre seems a good possibility. After the war he lived in (Clipperley?), Fleggburgh in Norfolk. He died on 8 June 1927.