15561 Pte James Richard Burrows, 11th Bn East Lancashire Regt.
An original member of the ‘Burnley Pals', Richard was born in Gannow, Burnley in 1891 and, at the time of enlistment, was living at 22 Whalley Street . He enlisted into the ‘Pals' in the third week of September 1914 and saw service in Egypt (arriving ‘in theatre' on 1 January 1916 - thereby just missing out on 1915 Star entitlement!) with them prior to arriving in France.
Only the fourth man from ‘Z Company' to perish on active service, James was mortally wounded whilst engaged in normal trench routine duties in the Colincamps Sector (between the Worley St. and Nairne St. trenches), dying shortly afterwards - one of 12 killed and 24 wounded from the battalion whilst holding the line during the run-up to the Somme offensive. He is now buried in Couin British Cemetery.
22 June 1916
Research by David O'Mara, Croonaert Research Services.
