James Pyper Duff was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on April the 7th 1898, he was the eldest child of Frank Duff, a stone mason and Margaret Pyper, the sister of my Great Grandfather, Archie Pyper.  James had two younger brothers. 

When his Mum died of T.B in 1911. Jimmy, as he was known, was sent to live with his Uncle Archie in Goole, Yorkshire.

Archie, who was a shipwright by trade, found Jimmy a job at the Goole shipyard

At the outbreak of the First World War, Jimmy joined the Territorial army in Goole and in the spring of 1915, just around Jimmy's Seventeenth birthday, he embarked with the 1st / 5th battalion of the Kings own Yorkshire Light Infantry for France.

Within 8 weeks of landing he was in the trenches and was killed on the 27th May 1915 by a shell which struck the side of a trench he and his mates were working on.

News of his death was sent in a letter from the trenches to my Great Grandfather by a friend of the family, Steve Andrew.

Nearly a hundred years later, a vague recollection of my Great Auntie Doris's and a Victory medal found in the bottom of her sewing box, inspired the research that has allowed James Pyper Duff's story to be told and his sacrifice to be remembered

Dave Pyper