James Cathro

Military Information

  • Date of enlistment:
  • Place of enlistment:
  • Service no: PO/1446/S
  • Rank: Private
  • Service Occupation:
  • Awards:
  • Regiment/Service: Royal Marine Light Infantry
  • Unit/Ship: 2nd Royal Marine Battalion, R.N.Div
  • Place of Death: France
  • Age at Death: 20
  • Date of Death: 28.04.1917
  • Burial Country: France
  • Cemetery: Arras Memorial
  • Grave/Mem Ref no: Bay 1

Personal Information

  • Date of Birth:
  • Place of Birth:
  • Address: 35 Guthrie Street, Dundee
  • Occupation:
  • Mother:

    Jane Fordyce Smith Cathro, 35 Guthrie St, Dundee

  • Father:

    William Cathro, 35 Guthrie St, Dundee

  • Siblings:
  • Spouse:
  • Children:

More about James Cathro

James has no known grave but is remembered on the Arras Memorial.

James Cathro   PO/1446/S   Royal Marine Light Infantry

CATHROReported missing on the 28th April 1917, now assumed killed in action on that date, Private James Cathro, R.M.L.I., aged 20 years, eldest surviving son of William Cathro, 35 Guthrie Street, Dundee.

Dundee Evening Telegraph 29th April 1918

James Cathro was the son of Mr William and Mrs Jane Fordyce Smith Cathro of 35 Guthrie Street, Dundee and worked as a Tramcar Conductor before the war. He volunteered to serve in the Royal Marines Light Infantry and enlisted in Glasgow on 28 February 1916. After recruit training at the Royal Marines Depot at Deal in Kent he was transferred to Portsmouth in July 1916. In late November 1916 he crossed to France to join the Second Royal Marine Battalion, part of the Royal Naval Division, days after the last Somme battle at Beaucourt. The RND moved to the Arras sector in April 1917 and James Cathro was listed as missing after the fighting at Gavrelle, a small French village held by the Germans. He was presumed killed in action in December 1917. He is named on the Arras Memorial. On the Naval History Net website he is recorded as James Castro.

Additional information kindly supplied by Michael Caldwell.

Further information supplied by Iain Stewart and Iain Birnie

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