More about James Nicoll

James Nicoll   C2/108   Hood Bn   R.N.D.

NICOLL—Died at Alexandria, on 31st August, 1915, from wound received in action at the Dardanelles.  Petty Officer James Nicoll, Hood Battalion, R.N.V.R., Clyde, second son of George Nicoll, market gardener, Lochee, and dearly beloved husband of Annie Summers, 7 William Street, Dundee.

Dundee People’s Journal 11th September 1915

The C.W.G.C. records James father as Nicoll James.

Family Background:

James` father, George,was a gardener and the family lived at 206 South Road, Dundee. On 24^th July 1914 James married Annie Summers and they lived at 47 Pitalpin Street and then 7 William Street, Dundee.  After the war his widow emigrated to Canada.

Service History:

James joined the RNVR onboard HMS Unicorn in August 1910. He served as Leading Seaman and then Acting Petty Officer of C Company of the Hood Battalion at Antwerp and then went to to Gallipoli in 1915, fighting in all the battles at Krithia. Following the 3^rd Battle he contracted pyrexia and was evacuated to Giza Red Cross Hospital in Cairo, Egypt. On 31^st August, whilst delirious, he injured his own neck and died of loss of blood.

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James Nicoll was the second son of Mr George Nicoll and joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve onboard HMS Unicorn in Dundee in August 1910. He worked as a painter and was the husband of Mrs Annie Nicoll of 47 Pitalpin Street, Lochee then 7 William Street Dundee and, later, of 588 Elgin Avenue, Winnipeg, Canada. In August 1914 he was mobilised as a Leading Seaman and drafted for land service in the Royal Naval Division. He was sent to C Company of the Hood Battalion, serving in the 5th Section. The Hood Battalion was in training at Betteshanger Park near Deal in Kent. He was advanced to Acting Petty Officer in September. The RND was sent to Antwerp in October to take part in the defence of the city but had to be withdrawn after two days as it was in danger of being cut off by the German Army. The RND returned to Britain to reform after losing about 2,500 men, mostly interned or Prisoners of War and began training at Blandford Camp in Dorset until the end of February 1915 when it received orders for nine battalions to embark for service overseas. They were sent to the Eastern Mediterranean and remained onboard ship or ashore on Lemnos or in Cairo. When the decision was taken to land troops at Gallipoli the RND assisted in the landings on April 25th and went ashore as a unit a couple of days later. The Hood Battalion took part in the Second and Third Battles of Krithia in May and June and suffered particularly heavy losses. Over the next two months disease incapacitated even more men and, in early August, James Nicoll was evacuated to hospital in Egypt suffering from Pyrexia, a fever on unknown origin and became delirious. Early in the morning of 31 August he somehow wounded himself in the neck and died from loss of blood. He is buried in the Cairo War Memorial Cemetery and is also commemorated on HMS Unicorn’s Memorial.