James Albert Forrest
Private G/51202
20th Battalion Middlesex Regiment

James Albert Forrest was the eldest son of Mr John Alfred J. and Mrs Annie S. A. Forrest, 85. Albert Road, Reading. The 1911 census has the family living at 80. Rupert Street, Reading. James was the eldest son and he had six younger siblings, his brothers would have been too young to serve in the war.  In 1911 at the age of 13 years James was recorded as being a hairdressers apprentice. His father, James had a hairdressers business. However, an obituary to James Forrest stated that he was apprenticed to Mr Walter Thomson as a hairdresser prior to enlisting. Walter Thomson was the father of Leslie Thomson whose details can also be found on this website. James was educated at both Newtown and Wokingham Road Schools. He  had enlisted during the summer of 1916 and had served in the army for 17 months; he went to France in January 1917.

James was aged 20 when he was killed on the 23 or 24 November 1917. On this day there was severe fighting around Bourlon Wood as the British pressed home the attack. James Forrest has no known grave and is commemorated on the Cambrai Memorial, Louverval, Panel 9. The memorial commemorates all those lost in the Battle of Cambrai from 20 November 1917 to 3 December 1917.