Abercromby/Abercromie, James: Service no. 123978

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Digitized Service Record

Source: Duty Nobly Done Roll of Honour 18th Bn. compiled and edited by Edward H. Wigney.

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Family Search: When Private James Abercromby was born on 10 January 1896, in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom, his father, James Abercromby, was 29 and his mother, Agnes Clark Gardner, was 35. He immigrated to Canada in 1913. He registered for military service in 1915. In 1915, at the age of 19, his occupation is listed as farmer. He died on 9 November 1917, in Passendale, Zonnebeke, West Flanders, Belgium, at the age of 21.

It appears that the surname Abercromby was misspelled on the Attestation Papers and the error is eventually corrected though no notation of the correction is made in the service records.

Summary of Service for Private James Ambercomby, reg. no. 123978

Date	Event	Remarks
N/A	Note	It appears that the surname Abercrombie was misspelt on the Attestation Papers and the error is eventually corrected though no notation of the correction is made in the service records.
January 10, 1896	Born	Born in Glasgow, Scotland.
October 1, 1915	Attested	Joined the 70th Overseas Battalion at Chatham, Ontario. He was aged 19 years, 6 months and listed his trade as a farmer. Of note is that he lists in another document as his next-of-kin a sister, Mrs. Christina Williamson, 10 Frejams Place, Mount Dennis, Toronto, Ontario
October 23, 1915	Anti-Typhoid Inoculation
November 3, 1915	Anti-Typhoid Inoculation
February 15, 1916	Vaccinated
February 28, 1916	Vaccinated
April 26, 1916	Embarks for England	Embarks for England via S.S. Lapland.
May 1, 1916	Assigns Pay	Private Abercromby assigns $15.00 per month of his pay to his Aunt, Mrs. Annie Aberbrombie, 96 Springfield Road, Bridgeton, Glasgow, Scotland. Note the change of spelling of the surname.
May 5, 1916	Arrives England	Arrives after passage aboard the S.S. Lapland.
July 10, 1916	Transferred	Transfers from the 70th O.S. Bn. to the 39th Battalion at West Sandling.
August 6, 1916	Transferred	Transferred to the 18th Battalion and leaves for the Canadian Base Depot, Harve, France.
August 7, 1916	Arrives France	Arrives at Canadian Base Depot and Taken on Strength with the 18th Battalion.
August 12, 1916	Proceeds to Join Unit	In transit to front line.
August 14, 1916	Arrives at the Front	Temporary assigned to the 2nd Canadian Entrenching Battalion. The Battalion is located at “Halifax Camp” in Ypres, Belgium. He is one of 30 other ranks of the 18th Battalion that arrived.
September 17, 1916	Arrives at 18th Battalion, Somme, France	The 18th Battalion War Diary notes on September 19th, 1916 that 11 other ranks arrived as reinforcement. It is possible that Private Abercrombie arrived at the battalion two days after it was reported. The Battalion had been heavily engaged in combat since September 14 and this may have necessitated a delay for some reason.
June 14, 1917	Accidentally Wounded	Wounded by the accidental discharge of a Lewis Gun at Barlin, France, Arras Sector. He was wounded with two other soldiers of the Battalion during a training exercise.
June 14, 1917	Report on Accidental or Self-Inflicted Wounds	Report relates during a Lewis Gun training session Private Edwards, reg. no. 174556, put what he thought was a dummy round in the chamber. The round was live and when Private Edwards pressed the trigger the gun fired and the bullet hit the spare parts bad and caused a “Fleshwound, hip, slight” to Private Abercromby’s person. See this link for blog article about this accident. He is found blameless.
June 16, 1917	Admitted 7th Canadian General Hospital	Admitted to hospital at Etaples, France.
July 4, 1917	6th Canadian Convalescent Depot	Transferred to the unit, Etaples, France as his condition is classed “A”.
July 26, 1917	2nd Canadian Entrenching Battalion	Transferred to this unit in preparation for returning to combat.
July 27, 1917	Arrives	Arrives at 2nd Canadian Entrenching Battalion, Hersin, France. He is one of six members of “A” Company, 18th Battalion that was taken on strength that day.
July 31, 1917	Rejoins 18th Battalion	The Battle of Hill 70 has transpired and the Battalion is training at Bovigny, France.
September 11, 1917	Granted 10 Days Leave	Granted 10 days leave to Paris, France.
November 9, 1917	Killed in Action	The Battalion is located at Caestre, France. On November 3, 1917, it moves to Abraham Heights and on the 6th to Potijze. The 18th Battalion melds the entries for November 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 into one long entry.   Private Abercromby died instantly from the explosion of an enemy shell at Crest Farm. This is now where the Canadian Passchendaele Memorial is located.   Battalion War Diary Entry: “November 9, 1917 Position as shown on Operation Order #167. Owing to bad weather and the continual shelling by the enemy the front line and supports were in poor condition, the mud and water in many places being waist deep. November 9, 10, 11, 12 During the whole of this tour the Officers and men held this part of the line under the most severe conditions possible. Great difficulty was experienced in the evacuating of casualties from the front line to R.A.P.s and dressing stations. Front line trenches were subjected to frequent barrages and the rear country [area] was also heavily shelled and bombed. The supports on this front were reached by a series of tracks, being trench mat walks, and rations had to be carried by mules up these tracks. Each track being subjected to continual shellfire, the transport and ration parties where fortunate in escaping with the loss of 3 men killed and 1 mule which fell off the duckboard track and owing to the depth of the mud, had to be shot. Splendid work was done by the Battalion Stretcher bearers in tending and evacuating the wounded. Night November 12/13 During the night of the 12/13th Battalion was relieved in the front line by the 87th Canadian Battalion, relief being completed by 6 a.m. 13th. 18th Battalion commenced arrival at POTITZE CAMP at 8 a.m. officer[s] resting then proceeded to Ypres and entrained at 11.30 a.m. The total casualties from this tour approximately: Killed in Action: 45 other ranks. Wounded 6 Officers  60 other ranks. Gassed 1 Officer  25 other ranks. The Officers being:  Capt. W.J. Gander, Capt. V.M. Eastwood M.C., Lieut. E. C. [illegible], Lieut. J.F. Perkins, Lieut. B.L. Mitchell, Lieut. W.S. Caldwell (gassed).”
	Menin Gate	Private Abercromby is memorialized on Panel 10-26-28 at the Menin Gate in Belgium. There are 54,617 combatants memorialized at the Gate. He is commemorated along with 46 other members of the 18th Battalion remembered there. All names are on the same panel.