James William Durrant

A Private, James died on 3rd of July 1916, at the age of 21.

James was born at Lound in 1894, a son of James and Sarah Ann Durrant. He was baptised at Saint John the Baptist Church, Lound, on 4 November 1894. The 1911 Census shows that James worked as an assistant gardener and that his family lived at The Street, Lound. 

James volunteered to join the Army and enlisted at Lowestoft. He joined the 7th Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment and he arrived in France, with the battalion, on 30 May 1915.

The 7th Battalion did not take part in the attack on the Somme on 1 July 1916, but were moved into positions on 2 July ready to make an attack on the village of Ovillers in the early hours of July 3rd. The battalion captured the German first and second line trenches and pressed on to the third line. Here the attack faltered and the battalion began to suffer many casualties: in total 18 officers and 485 men were killed, wounded, or reported missing. 

James was among those killed in action on that day. Initially he was buried at Mash Valley Cemetery Ovillers-La Boiselle. During the war James' grave and 34 other graves at Mash Valley were destroyed in later fighting. James is now commemorated on a special Mash Valley Memorial at Ovillers Military Cemetery.