Saint, JH
(1892 - 1917)
Key Facts
DATE OF BIRTH:
1st July 1892
YEARS ATTENDED THE COLLEGE:
1905 - 1910
HOME ADDRESS WHEN AT THE COLLEGE:
22 Thicket Road, Anerley
REGIMENT
Royal Engineers
FINAL RANK:
2nd Lieutenant
DATE OF DEATH:
4th June 1917
AGE AT DEATH:
24
WHERE HE DIED (or was wounded)
Ytres
LOCATION OF GRAVE OR MEMORIAL:
Neuville-Bourjonval British Cemetery. E 26
2nd Lieutenant James Harcourt Saint
James was born on July 1st 1892, the youngest of four children of a Scottish draper, also named James Saint, and his wife, Blanche, who was originally from London. While he was still young his father passed away and as a result the family moved back to London, taking up residence with Blanche’s mother Mary in Crystal Palace. He was at Dulwich for just under five years, joining in July 1905 and eventually leaving in the spring of 1910. After the College he went to the City and Guilds Engineering College, where he undertook a four-year course, graduating at midsummer 1914.
Shortly after James graduated war was declared and as a result he enlisted as a member of the Queen’s Westminster Rifles, with whom he would go out to the front in the autumn of 1915. After a few months at the front he returned to England where he underwent training for a commission in the Royal Engineers, being gazetted 2nd Lieutenant in July 1916. After several months posted in Wales he was transferred to Egypt on Boxing Day 1916 and subsequently to France once more the following March. In the early hours of the morning of June 4th, while posted at Neuville-Bourjonval near Ytres, he was working in No Man’s Land with a small party of sappers when they were fired on by a German machine gun. James was hit in the head, dying shortly afterwards.
