Captain, 2nd Battalion, Border Regiment.
James was born in Ambala, Northern India on 4th February 1883, a son of Christopher and Agnes Malkin. His father was serving with the Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians).
He married Mary Elizabeth McGough in 1905, they had three children, George Joseph (born in 1905), Teresa Agnes (born in 1907) and Mary L. A. (born in 1916).
He enlisted in the Coldstream Guards on 30th August 1898 and served in Egypt from 1906 to 1911. On 4th September 1912 he was posted as a sergeant to the 3rd Battalion, Border Regiment.
He was commissioned on 25th May 1915 and subsequently was posted to the 2nd Battalion and went to France in June 1915. He fought in the Battle of Loos and afterwards returned to England for treatment.
He returned to France and was promoted to captain in August 1916. It was reported that his body was found sitting in a trench after a period of very heavy shelling. He was buried by his men and a marker put on his grave but the location was lost in later fighting.
James Malkin died on 4th September 1916, aged 33, in trenches near Ginchy.
The battalion war diary noted, …'The Battn was under very heavy shell fire all day, but owing to the men working hard to improve the existing trenches by deepening them the casualties were comparatively few although very many men were buried. Capt R. F. Newdigate and 2nd Lt J. A. Malkin were killed during the day and 2nd Lt S. Martindale missing believed killed.'
Second Lieutenant Stanley Martindale is also commemorated on Pier & Face 6A, Captain Richard Francis Newdigate is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial.
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