256052 L/Cpl. James Glen British Army 1st Battalion Black Watch from:33 Sidney Street, Arbroath, Scotland (d.31st October 1914) From the Arbroath Roll of Honour:
"Lance-Corporal, James Glen, 1st Black Watch, was a son of Joseph Glen, 33 Sidney Street, Arbroath. He was twenty-one years of age, and was unmarried.
He was an apprentice wood turner in the employment of Messrs Douglas Fraser & Sons. He was a well-known footballer, and played in the Arbroath Fail-field Club, and was a member of the team which won the Arbroath and District Cup, the Newgate Cup, and were Melvin League champions in 1911-12.
Lance-Corporal Glen was a member of the Territorial Force, having joined in July 1909 (age 16) as a private in the Third Battalion of the Black Watch (Special Reserve). In 1910 he served as an honour guard at the coronation of King George V.
He was mobilized as a reservist four days after the outbreak of hostilities. He was transferred to the 1st Black Watch, and went to France with that Battalion at the beginning of September 1914. He took part in the battles of the Marne and the Aisne, and came through scathless the historic stand made by the Black Watch in the latter engagement, but fell in action on 31st October 1914 at the first battle of Ypres."
His elder brother Joseph also served in the Black Watch, with the rank of sergeant, and survived the war.
His family emigrated to the United States in 1920, where their many descendants still reside.
His youngest sister Lillian, who was 11 when he died, remembered him as always smiling, with a ready wit, and fond of practical jokes. He was a handsome young man, as is confirmed by a photograph of him posing in his uniform, which she kept displayed on a table in her home until she passed away in 1996, aged 93.
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