Samuel James Arnold was the eldest son of Samuel and Emma Arnold, the brother of Harry Arnold. Samuel, known as James, was born in Newton Toney, Wiltshire, in 1880. In 1911 he was employed as a farm labourer and was boarding with George and Adelaide Mills at Broadview Cottages, Isington, in Binsted.

Having enlisted with the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (17708), he entered the theatre of war in France on 2nd June 1915. During his army service he was transferred to the 1st Battalion Hampshire Regiment.

16473 Private James Arnold was killed in action, at the age of 37, on 1st July 1916. The Somme attack on that day took place along a 25 mile front and there were heavy losses for the Hampshires. Awarded the 1914-15 Star in addition to the British War and Victory Medals, James Arnold was buried in Serre Road Cemetery No. 1, Pas de Calais, France (Plot iii.B.10).

Source: “The Remembered Ones of the Great War”, 2014, The Alton and Villages Local History Forum (with permission)