Personal History
James Halsey, the sixth child of Thomas and Sarah Halsey, was born on the 11th February 1875 in the Old Toll House on Ayot Green Hertfordshire,. His father, a woodman on the Panshanger Estate, was killed in 1887 when trapped by a fallen tree. In 1891 James was living with his widowed grandmother, Elizabeth Halsey, in Finchley and working as a green grocer's boy. By 1901 James Halsey was employed by as a footman by Edward Chester, a mining engineer .at 'The Priory', Bletchingley, Surrey.
In 1909, James, by then a coachman, set sail from Liverpool to Quebec in Canada on board the Empress of Britain arriving on 17 September 1909. By 1915 he was settled in Calgary and working as a City Foreman. He never married.
No record of attending St John's School.
War Record
Lance Corporal, 49th Bn., Canadian Infantry
On 19 May 1915, James, now age 40, enlisted at Calgary into the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force and joined the 49th Batallion, Canadian Infantry, Alberta Regiment, Service No 435211. He was described as having blue eyes, light brown hair and was 5ft, 5ins. tall. By June 1918 he had been promoted to Lance Corporal.
The handwritten War Diary of the 49th Canadian Edmonton Regiment, 3rd Canadian Division records that the Battalion, led by a brass band, set out at 2pm on the 2nd of June 1916 to march to Belgian Chateau where they came under heavy shell fire. From there they moved in small parties to the ramparts of Ypres, all arriving by 8.30pm. Then, after a night march to Sanctuary Wood, they led a dawn counter attack and made sustained gains. Over this period 6 Officers were killed, 9 wounded, 45 other ranks were killed, 257 wounded and 69 missing.
War Memorial
James was killed on the 2nd June 1916 and is buried near Ypres in the Divisional Collecting Post Cemetery Extension, Belgium Plot II F 7.
