Lieutenant James Swirles Hood son of Andrew Hood, of 29 Townsend Place, Kirkcaldy, Scotland, and the late Christina Swirles Hood. Grand-nephew of Mrs A Binnie of 61 Foxbar Road, Kirkcaldy.
James came to Canada in 1913 from Kirkcaldy, Scotland. A brother, Robin Hood, a Flight Commander in the Royal Flying Corps with the rank of Captain.
Attestation of Private James Swirles Hood
Private James Swirles Hood 63991, a bank clerk, attested 26 October 1914 in Westmount, Quebec. He stood 5′ 7″ tall, only 122 pounds with fair complexion, brown eyes and hair. Previous experience with 4th Royal Garrison Artillery, O.T.C.
58th Westmount Rifles
Lieut-Col Frank William Fisher, then Commanding Officer of the newly formed 58th Westmount Rifles, Canadian Militia, authorized on 21 Ocober 1914 to raise a battalion for overseas service. Allotted the number “23rd” in the sequence of overseas units, and also commanded by Lieut-Col Fisher himself.
James a Lance Corporal as of December 1914, and then a Corporal as of 22 January 1915. On 17 February 1915, the Battalion entrained at Levis for Halifax, where it later embarked on the SS MISSANABIE, sailing on 23rd February arriving at Avonmouth on 6th March, it proceeded to Shorncliffe Camp, quartered in Moore Barracks.
23rd Canadian Infantry Battalion
Organized in October 1914 initially under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Frank William Fisher. Mobilized at Quebec City, and also recruited in Quebec, Montreal, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver (a total of 450 recruited in Quebec). Embarked from Halifax 23 February 1915 aboard MISSANABIE, and later disembarked in England on 7 March 1915, with a strength of 35 officers, 942 other ranks. Sent drafts to various units, including Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, 4th and also 60th Battalions. Became the 23rd Canadian Reserve Battalion on 1 January 1917, and later perpetuated by The Royal Montreal Regiment.
On 26 April 1915, the 23rd Battalion called upon to supply drafts to various battalions in France, which had suffered losses in the Gas Attack at Ypres, and by 2nd May the whole Battalion, with the exception of some details and also a few of the HQ Officers, had gone to the front.
3rd Canadian Infantry Battalion
The 3rd Battalion organized in Valcartier Camp in September 1914 composed of recruits from Toronto. Initially commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel R Rennie, other Officers Commanding W D Allen DSO (10/11/15), J B Rogers DSO, MC (1/10/16). Embarked from Quebec City 25 September 1914 aboard TUNISIAN, and later disembarked in England on 16 October 1914 with a strength of 42 officers, 1123 other ranks.
Arrived in France 11 February 1915 with the 1st Canadian Infantry Brigade, and later reinforced by 12th Canadian Reserve Battalion. Corporal Hood entered the Western Front with the 3rd Battalion later on 3 May 1915.
Corporal James Swirles Hood admitted to No 2 Canadian Field Ambulance on 18 November 1915, shell shock, and later treated for tonsillitis on 1 January 1916.
Six months later, James still treated at No 1 Divisional Rest Station, shell shock, concussion, gas on 13 June 1916.
Commission
Corporal Hood appointed a Lieutenant on 10 December 1916. Then at BOUVIGNY HUTS on 26 January 1917, Lieutenant James Swirles Hood returns to his unit from Canadian Corps School.
Vimy Ridge
Following the Battle of Vimy Ridge, Lieutenant James Swirles Hood in Divisional Support at SWISCHEN STELLUNG. Then to Divisional Reserve at the old British front line for a day before moving to rest at WINNIPEG HUTS. A week spent in the front line in Willerval, before moving to MAISON BLANCHE preparing for the Battle of Fresnoy.
Fresnoy Engagement
The attack began under cover of darkness at 3:45 a.m., 3 May 1917, but the Germans expecting it, and began shelling the Canadians, including Lieutenant Robert Grierson Combe and the 27th Infantry Battalion (City of Winnipeg), as they advanced over the open plain.
Combe was 36 years old and had been in France only two weeks. Killed by a sniper, one of the 27th Battalion’s 267 casualties that day.
“His conduct inspired all ranks, and it was entirely due to his magnificent courage that the position was carried, secured and held.”
Victoria Cross Citation of Lieutenant Robert Grierson Combe
The Canadians captured Fresnoy, which immediately came under counter attack. The Germans fired some 100,000 artillery and gas shells into the village over the next week, and later stormed it. The Canadians fought them off, and later relieved by British troops. The Germans attacked again the next day, but the village lost. Combe buried in a field cemetery at Acheville, France, but his grave lost when the cemetery destroyed in subsequent fighting.
In the Battle of Fresnoy, the Canadian Corps suffered 1,259 casualties. Records show that at Fresnoy, the Germans also suffered their deepest losses on the first day of the battle.
Death of Lieutenant James Swirles Hood
The 3rd Battalion licking it’s wounds with a hearty breakfast at MAISON BLANCHE on 5 May 1917. Casualties during 2 to 4 May included Major Beverly Crowther MC, Captain R Picard, and Lieutenants Scott, Hood and Patton. 80 Other ranks killed or missing, and also 136 wounded.
Lieutenant James Swirles Hood killed in action 3 May 1917. Initially buried parallel to the east wall of the Willerval Churchyard. Later exhumed and buried in Orchard Dump Cemetery, Plot 5, Row C, Grave 29.
Orchard Dump Cemetery
Orchard Dump Cemetery in the village of Arleux-en-Gohelle, on the main road (D919) from Arras to Henin-Lietard. The cemetery lies on the left side of this road approximately 1 kilometre from the village of Bailleul-Sire-Berthoult.
The cemetery begun in April 1917, on the new front resulting from the Battles of Arras, and used by the units holding that front until the following November. These original burials in Plot VI, Row K, and Plot I, Rows A to F. The cemetery greatly enlarged later after the Armistice by the concentration of graves from the neighbouring battlefields and from other burial grounds.
During the Second World War, No.2 Casualty Clearing Station at Rouvroy, three kilometres north-east of Arleux, and the cemetery used again. Over 3,000 Great War, as well as 20 Second World War casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, more than four-fifths from the Great War, unidentified and special memorials erected to ten soldiers from the United Kingdom and four from Canada known or believed to be buried among them.
Other special memorials record the names of 38 Canadian soldiers and six from the United Kingdom, buried in other cemeteries, whose graves also destroyed by shell fire. Certain graves in Plots VII, VIII and IX, identified collectively but not individually, are marked by headstones bearing the additional words “Buried near this spot.”. A tablet in the cemetery also records the fact the site given by the widow of a Captain in the French 72nd Infantry Regiment, killed in action in August 1914.