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Wartime Heritage
ASSOCIATION
Remembering World War I
Yarmouth Connections
Name
Service Number
Rank
Service
Date of Birth
Place of Birth
Date of Enlistment
Age at Enlistment
Place of Enlistment
Address at Enlistment
Trade
Religion
Next of Kin
Discharged:
Date of Death:
Higby, James Albert
469228
Private
64th Battalion, “B” Company
November 30, 1897 (on attestation)
November 30, 1900 (actual date of birth)
Yarmouth, NS
August 25, 1915
18 (Officially) (14 actual age)
Sussex NB
Yarmouth, NS
Height:
5 feet, 5½ inches
Complexion:
Dark
Eyes:
Hazel
Hair:
Brown
Weight:
130 lbs.
Millman
Baptist
Dora Hall (Mother) Yarmouth, NS
January 5, 1919
at Halifax, NS (demobilization)
May 9, 1980 (Arlington, Massachusetts)
James was the son Adorah May (Crowell) Higby and Samuel Ernest Higby of Chegoggin, Yarmouth
Co., NS.
He was one of three fourteen year old boys from Yarmouth who enlisted during World War I.
James enlisted at Sussex, New Brunswick giving his date of birth as November 30, 1897, officially aged
18. His birth date was actually January 31, 1900.
He enlisted with the 64th Battalion, and sailed for France on March 31, 1916, from Halifax
arriving in Liverpool, England on April 9, 1916. At Shorncliffe Camp in England, a staging post for
troops destined for the Western Front, he was transferred on June 24, 1916 to the 12th Battalion;
however, on going to France, he was transferred to the 25th Battalion and joined his unit in the field
on June 29, 1916. He was awarded a good conduct badge on August 25, 1917 and granted fourteen
days leave to England during1917.
On July 29, 1918, the military discovering he was a minor, transferred him from the 25th
Battalion to the Nova Scotia Regimental Depot at Bramshott in England and to the Young Soldier
Battalion. He was returned to Canada on the SS Aquitania departing England on November 28, 1918
and arrived in Halifax on December 4, 1918. He was discharged at Halifax on January 5, 1919.
James served in France with the 25th Battalion, and served with very good conduct and
character while in service. At discharge he was 5 feet, 6 inches in height.
Following his war service, James returned to Yarmouth where he was employed as a machinist.
For a time he lived with his mother, Dora Hall, who had remarried in 1913 after being widowed. He
left Yarmouth and lived in Medford, Middlesex, Massachusetts, US. He married Nellie B. (Bullerwell)
Higby and they had six children. James died on May 9, 1980 at Arlington, Massachusetts.
Also see: The Youngest Recruits (Yarmouth Town and County - 1914-1918)
Private James Albert Higby