James Ball Baron krijgt grafsteen met zijn naam

A rededication service for Lance Corporal James Ball Baron MM - Passendale - 26/03/2025

Please find below some photos of the Rededication Service for Lance Corporal James Ball Baron MM, Machine Gun Corps, who was killed in action on 24 August 1917. This service took place at Tyne Cot Cemetery, Passendale, Belgium on Wednesday 26 March 2025.

Lance Corporal James Baron MM was born in 1888 in Mevagissey, Cornwall. He was one of four children born to Jonathan Baron and his wife Margaret. James was a keen footballer, and an active member of his local community being part of the Bugle Working Men's Institute and a member of the West of England Bandman's Festival Committee. The 1911 Census records that he worked as a cooper.

On the outbreak of the First World War, James enlisted into The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry. He arrived on the Western Front on 21 May 1915 with 1/6^th Battalion. James later transferred to the Machine Gun Corps and was posted to 43^rd Machine Gun Company. James proved to be a brave and effective soldier. He was awarded the Military Medal which was published in the London Gazette of 14 November 1916, for his bravery on the Somme, when he single-handedly held a position after all his comrades had been put out of action. He went on to also be awarded the French Croix de Guerre which appeared in the London Gazette of 1 May.

Having taken part in the Batlle of Arras in the spring of 1917, 43^rd Machine Gun Company moved northwards to the Ypres Salient. The War Diaries of 43^rd Machine Gun Company record that on 20 August 1917 they moved into trenches east of Hooge. On 22 August they supported an infantry attack on Inverness Copse. The attack was made by 6^th Battalion The Somerset Light Infantry on the right, 6^th Battalion The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry in the centre, 65^th Battalion The King's Shropshire Light Infantry on the left. Following the attack the guns of 43^rd Machine Gun Company then took up positions around Inverness Copse where they remained in action until 24 August.

At dawn on 24 August, the date of Lance Corporal Baron's death, the enemy advanced and the left gun was surrounded and bombed. The infantry retreated back to their original line. A counterattack regained the western edge of Inverness Copse.

The defensive guns had suffered severe casualties from shell fire and were reinforced by two guns from 249^th Machine Gun Company. In total fifteen other ranks of 43^rd Machine Gun Company were killed, with another four missing over their period in the line. Lance Corporal Baron was amongst these casualties. He was 29 years old.

A report of Lance Corporal Baron's death appeared in the Cornish Guardian on 7 September 1917. The article reports that a letter written by his Commanding Officer stated that he was 'always a man of great spirit and example, and undoubtedly one of the bravest and coolest men of the company'. The letter goes on to state that 'it was whilst advancing with his gun to a difficult position, for which work he bravely volunteered, that he was hit by a piece of schrapnel, death being instantaneous'.

After the war the remains of Lance Corporal James Ball Baron MM were recovered and buried in Tyne Cot Cemtery as an unknown solider of the Machine Gun Corps. It was noted that the casualty had received both the Military Medal and the Croix de Guerre. As he was missing, Lance Corporal Baron was commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial. However, new research has shown that this was in fact his grave and the headstone over the grave has been changed and his grave has been rededicated.