In Memory of

J R SLATER

Private
293169
1st/7th Bn., Black Watch (Royal Highlanders)
who died on
Monday, 23rd April 1917. Age 36.

Cemetery:	BROWN'S COPSE CEMETERY, ROEUX, Pas de Calais, France
Grave Reference/ Panel Number:	II. B. 39.
Location:	Roeux is a village about 8 kilometres east of Arras. Brown's Copse Cemetery is about one kilometre north-west of Roeux on the eastern outskirts of the neighbouring village of Fampoux. It is signposted from Fampoux village.
Historical Information:	Roeux was built over a system of caves which contributed to make its capture in 1917 exceptionally difficult. It was attacked by the 9th (Scottish) Division without success on the 12th April. The chemical works close to the railway station were taken by the 51st (Highland) Division on the 22nd April, and after incessant fighting the village was cleared by the same Division on the 14th May. The chemical works were lost again and retaken on the 16th May. The Germans re-entered the village at the end of March, 1918, and it was finally taken by the 51st Division on the following 26th August. It is named from a small copse (the Bois Rossignol) on the East side. Plots I to IV are composed almost entirely of graves cleared from the battlefield in the summer of 1917. Plots V to VIII were made after the Armistice by the concentration of 850 graves from a wide area North and East of Arras. There are now 2065, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, 855 are unidentified, and special memorials are erected to eight soldiers from the United Kingdom known or believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials record the names of two soldiers from the United Kingdom, buried in Vitry-en-Artois Communal Cemetery German Extension, whose graves could not be found. The cemetery covers an area of 6,528 square metres and is enclosed by a rubble wall. The following were the only considerable burial grounds from which British graves were taken to Brown's Copse Cemetery:- SEAFORTH CEMETERY, ROEUX, North-East side of the road from the village to the station, where 18 soldiers from the United Kingdom were buried in April, 1917, and 21 of the 6th Seaforths in August and September, 1918. VITRY-EN-ARTOIS COMMUNAL CEMETERY and GERMAN EXTENSION, in which 17 soldiers from the United Kingdom (mainly officers of the Royal Flying Corps) were buried by the enemy.

James Reid Slater son of John and Mary Slater