2760 Private
7th Battalion Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, 10th Infantry Brigade, 4th Division
Age: 18
Date of Death: 17.2.15
Buried: London Rifle Brigade Cemetery I.A.4
Family: Son of James and Margaret McMahon, 27 Garrison Road, Falkirk. James had five brothers and a sister. He joined the Territorials when employed as a pithead labourer at Meadowbank Colliery, Polmont. His brother Robert was also serving with the 7th Argyll’s, at the time of James’s death he was in Bedford, and was to be killed in action on 22 April 1917.
The action leading to his death
From the 1st February the battalion was given a length of line to defend, with battalion HQ located in the Piggeries and La Grande Munque Farm, and in this period they sustained their first casualties. James was shot through the head by a sniper.
His Company Commanding Officer, Captain Robert Ramsay Tullis, wrote to his mother and his letter was subsequently printed in the Falkirk Herald. Captain Tullis, who was from Witley, Surrey, was to be killed in action on 25 May 1915 and he is buried in Bailleul Communal Cemetery Extension, Grave I.F.38.
Medals Awarded:
1915 Star, The British War Medal, Victory Medal.
