SHOEING CORPORAL 6148 JAMES BLAGG, ‘B’ BATTERY ROYAL CANADIAN HORSE ARTILLERY. DIED OF WOUNDS 10th AUGUST 1918, AGED 36 YEARS.


SHOEING CORPORAL 6148 JAMES BLAGG, ‘B’ BATTERY ROYAL CANADIAN HORSE ARTILLERY. DIED OF WOUNDS 10th AUGUST 1918, AGED 36 YEARS.




It was whilst tending to wounded and stricken horses that James Blagg received the gunshot wound that ultimately caused his death. As shoesmith and farrier he was responsible for the care and welfare of the horses in his artillery battery which pulled the guns into position. On the 8th August 1918 his unit, ‘B’ Battery of the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery was near to the front line near to the village of Beaucourt to the South East of the city of Amiens when it came under heavy German machine gun fire. One of the gun teams was caught in the cross fire and several of the horses were wounded. Without regard for his own safety, James, dashed out to help the injured animals and whilst dressing their wounds he was shot in the abdomen. His comrades were able to pull him back to safety and he was sent to the first aid post and from there to the Number 5 Casualty Clearing Station where, sadly, he died two days later.

James Blagg was born in the village of Snaith in East Yorkshire on the 17th June 1882, the only child of William and Mary. The family moved to Ilkley when James was very young and lived variously at houses on Wheatley Road and Middleton Road. After leaving school he trained as a farrier and in his spare time played for Ilkley Rugby club. Within a short space of time both his parents died and he was left with only one close relative an aunt, Lucy Harrison, who lived in Belper, Derbyshire. In 1908 James set sail as a passenger on the Empress of India bound for Canada where he found work in Quebec. It was there that he enlisted into the Canadian Army on the 25th September 1914 and because of his skills allocated as a shoesmith in the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery.

In his will he left all his possessions to his aunt which amounted to about £700, a considerable sum in those days. Today he lies in the British Military Cemetery at Crouy and is remembered on the war memorial in Belper and on the Roll of Honour at Ilkley Rugby Club.

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