| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
James Quaid was born in Keldgate, Beverley in 1896, the son of Adeline Hill and Walton Edward David Quaid. Walton was from an Army family, he was born in Poonah, India, and in 1881, aged 15, lived at the Victoria Barracks, Beverley, where James' grandfather, also named James, was Barracks Sergeant. James great-grandfather, David, who originated from Ireland, was also a military man, who fought in the Crimea.
In the 1911 Census James, aged 14, was living at 98 Keldgate, and was employed as a grocer's van boy.
James Quaid served with the 5th Battalion Yorkshire Regiment. The Battalion marched from Armentieres to billets near Outtersteene where they rested until 19 Dec 1915, when they travelled by train from Bailleul to Poperinghe, West of Ypres, then marched to huts at Dickenbusch. The Battalion were defending the line at Railway Dugouts. Having been severely injured by a shell, James was taken to Casualty Clearance Station No. 10, where he died of his wounds on 30 Dec 1915, aged 18.
A letter sent to James' mother from the Chaplain who buried him informed her that he had been buried in the little military cemetery on the Poperinghe Road and that his grave was marked with a cross bearing his name. He is buried in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery in Belgium where the vast majority of the more than 10,000 graves are identified, being the graves of casualties who died while being treated at medical facilities there. Along with his elder brother, Charles Edward, and his uncle, also Charles, James is commemorated in Beverley on the Hengate War Memorial.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |