Lance Corporal James Gordon MCCONACHIE (265169)
1/6th (Morayshire) Battalion Seaforth Highlanders

Date of birth: 15th April 1895
Date of death: 9th April 1917

Killed in action aged 21
Buried at Highland Cemetery Roclincourt Plot II, Row D Grave 8
James Gordon McConachie was born "Willow Vale", Archiestown on the 15th of April 1895 at the second son of William McConachie JP (a butcher and farmer), Inspector of the Poor for Archiestown and Annie (nee Cameron) McConachie. He was the twin of Eleanor.

He worked as a butcher with his father and enlisted at Archiestown on the 4th of August 1914.

He embarked with his battalion at Folkestone at 8.30pm on the 1st of May 1915 arriving at Boulogne in the early hours of the morning on the 2nd.

The 9th of April 1917 was the opening day of the British offensive at Arras and the 1/6th Battalion of the Seaforths was detailed to attack German positions near the village of Roclincourt on the outskirts of Arras.

Orders were given at 5.25am to fix bayonets and at 5.30am the British bombardment intensified as the Seaforths went over the top into no-man?s-land, staying close behind the curtain of artillery fire ahead of them. At 5.34am the artillery moved forward to the parapet of the German trench and overcame the defenders very quickly. A and B Companies on the left and centre of the attack fared reasonably well but C Company lost a number of men to snipers as they consolidated their gains, these defenders being hunted down and killed. The third and fourth waves of Seaforths passed through them with the objective of capturing the second line German trench beyond. By now there was heavy machine gun fire coming from the second line and the Highlanders began taking casualties. After capturing a gun position and killing a number of snipers they carried the second line in twenty minutes.

The final two waves of Seaforths now advanced to attack the third German line but lost 15 men to a shell early in their attack. The survivors rallied and managed to get a small number of men into the third line but it took a further three hours of bitter close fighting before it was theirs.

The 1/6th Seaforths settled down to reverse their trenches in case of counterattack and the 1/5th Seaforths then passed through them to continue the advance.
Archiestown

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