Memorial Plaques in Christ Church, Kincardine O'Neil - in alphabetical order.
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Bradford
In loving memory of Brigadier Berenger Colborne Bradford, DSO, MBE, MC, The Black Watch. Born 15th October 1912; Died 4th March 1996. His grave lies at Kincardine.
Location: South wall of chancel.
Bradford
In loving memory of Susan Bradford of Kincardine. Dau. of Mary Ursula Umfreville Vaughan-Lee. Born 11th August 1918; Died 17th January 2008. Her grave lies at Kincardine.
Location: South wall of chancel.
Farquhar
In loving memory of Admiral Stuart St. John Farquhar Born 1865 Died 1941 and Marguerite Ada Gilbey Farquhar Born 1883 Died 1950.
Location: North side of Chancel
Farquhar
To the glory of God and in loving memory of Admiral Sir Arthur Farquhar KCB. Born January 9th 1815. Died January 29th 1908. The bell in this church is given by his children.
Location: North side of Chancel
Farquhar
In memory of Admiral Sir Arthur Murray Farquhar KCB, CVO. Born 19th January 1855. Died 16th November 1937.
Location: North side of Chancel
Farquhar
In memory of my beloved husband Captain Hobart Brooks Farquhar, Civil Service Rifles. Killed in action at Vimy Ridge on May 22nd 1916.
Location: North side of Chancel
Farquhar
In memory of Commander Charles Robert Stanier Farquhar OBE Royal Navy. 9 April 1906 – 4 February 1968.
Location: North side of Chancel
Farquhar
Lieutenant Alastair C N Farquhar, R.N. Commanding HMS Eden who lost his life in the service of his country.
Location: Below Window North 4
Farquhar
Alice Jane wife of Albert Farquhar of Drumnagesk, who died at Boulder, West Australia on the 13th Nov. 1900.
Location: Below Window North 2
Fraser
Francis Baird Fraser of Findrack, who died at Mombasa, East Africa, on 8th April 1890.
Location: Below Window South 3
Fraser
Francis Garden Fraser of Findrack, Capt. East Yorkshire Regt. who died 6th December 1883, and of Elizabeth MacKenzie Stewart Menzies Irvine, who died 30th January 1911.
Location: Below Window South 4
Fraser
Peter, youngest son of William Fraser of Findrack and Philadelphia Iambe his wife who died 14th October 1879, aged 20.
Location: Below Window North 3
Hart:
James Christine Hart, Died 12th March 1876.
Location: In the East Window.
Inglis
In loving memory of Arthur Inglis, Priest. Rector 1927-1930.
Location: North side of Chancel
Lumsden
In memory of Chris Lumsden 24th July 1900 – 1st June 1982 the wife of Lt. Col. W V Lumsden of Sluie who played the organ of this church for 25 years.
Location: South side of Nave.
Lumsden
Lt. Col. William Vernon Lumsden DSO, MC, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, Born January 1st 1887, Died December 28th 1966.
Location: Below window South 2.
Nash
In memory of The Rev. Cecil William Nash who served this Church from 21st September 1885 until he died 21st May 1923. Aged 67.
Location: North side of Chancel.
Nash
Thomas Stuart Nash, RAF, died of wounds 9th August 1918 aged 29 years.
Location: South Window 1
Pickering
In loving memory of Francis Alexander Umfreville Pickering 2nd Dragoons (Royal Scots Greys). Killed in action Dec 23rd 1917 on the Passchaendale Rige while commanding the 9th Batt. Rifle Brigade.
This cross came from his grave in the Whitehouse Cemetary, near Ypres. “Their name liveth for evermore.”
Location: South side of Chancel.
Pickering
In loving memory of Mary Pickering of Kincardine. Born Feb. 3rd 1855. Died Apl 3rd 1930. Her grave is within the walls of the old kirk of Kincardine O’Neil.
Location: South side of Chancel.
Reidford
To the Glory of God and in Memory of Marcus Reidford. Died in infancy 23 April 1977. Beloved son of Quentin and Cynthia.
Location: North side of Nave
St. John
To the memory of Adeline St. John widow of the Honble E T St. John, Rector of this Church 1876 to 1881 and daughter of Admiral Sir Arthur Farquhar KCB of Drumnagesk.
Location: South side of Nave.
St. John
The Rev. Honble. Edmund Tudor St. John, who was for years incumbent of this Church and of St. Lesmo's, Glen Tanar.
Location: West Window.
Vaughan-Lee
In loving memory of Mary Ursula Umfreville Vaughan-Lee of Kincardine. Daughter of Mary Pickering. Born 18th July 1878; Died 24th August 1970. Her grave lies within the walls of the Old Kirk, Kincardine O'Neil.
Location: South wall of chancel.
KINCARDINE O’NEIL WAR MEMORIAL – BY JEAN ABBOT
Nine men connected with the Christ Church congregation died in the First World War: Alastair Farquhar and Hobart Brooks Farquhar (nephew and uncle), Lachlan Fraser, Thomas Nash, Frank Pickering, and four sons of Francis and Mary Taylor – George, Herbert, Alexander and James.
The Farquhar family lived at Drumnagesk, and were much involved with the founding and building of the church in the 1860s. They donated the (still active) bell. Lachlan was the youngest son of the Fraser family of Tornaveen who had strong connections with Christ Church, and were friendly with the then Rector Rev. Cecil Nash and his wife and family, including their son Tom. Frank Pickering’s mother bought the Kincardine Estate in 1888. She recovered the temporary wooden cross marking Frank’s grave, which is now in the chancel. Francis Taylor, had been gardener at Kincardine and Norton House, and became caretaker of Christ Church. He and his wife Mary lived just across the road at the Toll House.
These 9 deserve special mention here as having a particular connection with Christ Church. The notes below include more information about each of them, and (in alphabetical order) the other 57 men whose names are listed on the parish war memorials in Kincardine O’Neil and Torphins.
References to the censuses and registers are to Scottish records unless otherwise stated; "National Archives" denotes The National Archives, Kew.
Private F. G. Beaton Gordon Hrs.
This is probably Private Fraser Singer (not G) Beaton of the 52nd Bn. Gordon Highlanders. He was born in Aberlour on 5 June 1899. His parents were Farquhar Beaton, a baker, and Isabella Forbes Singer, who married at Inverurie in 1894. In 1901, the family were living with Isabella’s parents at Urybank, Keithhall, Inverurie. Fraser had an older brother Farquhar. His grandparents, Francis and Isabella Singer, also had 7 children living with them at that time, the eldest being 35 and the youngest 6.
In the census of 1911 the Beatons, including Fraser aged 11, were registered at Myra Cottage, Torphins, by which time he had twin younger sisters aged 9. He gave Aberdeen as his place of residence on enlistment in the Gordons (No. TR1/10586). Records show that he had registered as a member of the National Union of Railway Workers in April 1917, so his war service may have been quite short, as he died aged 18 at Colchester on Tuesday 12 March 1918.
The Aberdeen Weekly Journal on 22 March 1918 gave an account of how this came about: “Private Fraser S. Beaton, Gordons, who died of pneumonia in a military camp in England, was buried with military honours in Inverurie Churchyard on Tuesday afternoon. The Rev Wm Cruickshank, U. F. Church, conducted the service. The local Volunteer Company and also the soldiers employed at the Locomotive Works, under the command of Captain P. W. M. Laing were present. The firing party was in the charge of Sergt. Wm Park. Private Beaton was a son of Mr Farquhar Beaton, baker, late of Torphins. He was for some time in service at Drumnagesk, and latterly in the employment of the Great North of Scotland Railway Company”.
The detail that Private Beaton had been in service at Drumnagesk is interesting. This was the home of the Farquhar family, two of whom are also commemorated on the war memorial. Given that this soldier had a father and a brother named Farquhar, was there perhaps a connection between the two families?
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Register of Births
Census 1901 & 1911
Trade Union Membership Registers in findmypast.co.uk
England and Wales Deaths in findmypast.co.uk
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 22 March 1918
Inverurie cemetery plot C row 5 Grave 723.
Private W. Bews Australian Expeditionary Force
William Bews was born at Gallowcairn, Tornaveen on 11 April 1888. His parents, David Bews and Jessie Gordon had married at Kincardine O’Neil in 1874. David was a native of Orkney and Jessie was born in Banchory-Devenick. In 1891 the family were living at Gallowcairn and David was working as a crofter/agricultural labourer. There were then six children born in the following years, at roughly two-year intervals. In 1891 William was the second youngest, but two more children followed. Ten years later, in 1901, the census found David, Jessie and their three youngest at “North Fittie”, most likely denoting North Footie. It appears William had left home. He may be the William Bews who is noted age 13 in the 1901 census as a servant living in the household of farmer William Smith at Ferretfold on the Craigmyle estate.
In 1911, William Bews and George Gordon, as part of a large contingent of railway workers, sailed to Australia on the “Durham”, departing from London on 27 June bound for Brisbane.
Bews enlisted voluntarily as a Private in the 31st Battalion Australian Imperial Force at Brisbane on 13 July 1915 (Service no.493), giving his occupation as “Labourer”. He named his widowed mother, Mrs Jessie Bews of North Footie, Torphins, as his next of kin. His record gives no further details until he disembarked at Suez in early December 1915. Thereafter both he and George Gordon were destined for the Western Front. On 8 June 1916, he made a will leaving everything to his mother, before embarking once again from Alexandria, this time to join the British Expeditionary Force in France. He arrived in Marseilles in June 1916 and was wounded in action the following month, with a gunshot wound to the right thigh. This probably occurred in the course of the 31st Battalion’s involvement in fighting at Fromelles on 19 July, in which it suffered very heavy losses. Bews was shipped to England from Boulogne, returning to France in October. At the end of November 1916, he took ill and was out of action for a time, but rejoined his battalion in January 1917, when it was engaged in the allied advance towards the Hindenburg Line.
Shortly after, Private Bews was killed in action aged 28 on 19 January 1917. He was buried at Grass Lane Cemetery, A.I.F. Burial Ground, Flers. A small bundle of effects was duly posted to Mrs Bews in Torphins.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Register of Births
Census 1891 & 1901
National Archives of Australia: Series B2455 - Item No. 3079971
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour at awm.gov.au
Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918 (online)
Wikipedia history of the 31st Battalion AIF
Aberdeen Evening Express 7 February 1917:“Roll of Honour – Killed in action on the 19th January,1917, Private William Bews, Australian Imperial Force, third son of the late David Bews and Mrs Bews, North Footie, Torphins, aged 28 years – deeply mourned.
2nd Lt. D. R. Cameron A & S Hrs
This soldier is Douglas Robert Cameron - one of two who appear on the Torphins memorial, but not in Kincardine O’Neil. He was a cousin of Douglas Joseph McIntosh Cameron. There is an old War Office file for Douglas Robert Camero, which gives fascinating insights into his story. It makes no mention of any link with the parish, but this is explained by the various censuses which show a family connection with Kincardine O’Neil going back to at least the middle of the nineteenth century. His paternal grandparents Joseph (from Tomintoul) and Mary (from Midmar) married in Kincardine O’Neil in 1851. In 1871, they were living in, or possibly above, an address noted as “Tailor’s Shop Kincardine O’Neil”, where Joseph carried on his trade as a Master Tailor and clothier. They had a large family, which included their youngest son, Douglas’s father Robert. In 1881, they were at Mill of Campfield, Craigmyle.
By 1891 Robert was no longer at home and by 1901 he had his own household with wife Maria Augusta and three children, at Queens Road, Deptford where, following in his father’s footsteps, was a Merchant Tailor. There were three children: Augusta aged 8, Douglas 6 (born 6 October 1894) and Jeanne 3. By 1911 the family had moved from 289 Queen’s Road to number 397. All three children were still at home and 16-year-old Douglas was earning his living as a tailor having, as his War Office file reveals, attended the Aske School. This was close to home in Deptford and one of the schools of the Haberdashery Company – now Haberdashers’ Hatcham College - still (as of 2023) at its same address in Pepys Road.
Cameron volunteered, on the outbreak of war on 4 August 1914, and enlisted in the 4th Bn the London Regiment (the London Scottish) at Deptford. He was then aged 19 years and 10 months, and gave his occupation as Tailor’s Cutler employed by his father. On 23 March 1915, he was recommended as suitable for a temporary commission for the period of the war. His old housemasters gave this their confident endorsement, noting that Douglas had entered the school in 1905: “His conduct was uniformly good, his moral character excellent, and he is one of the best all-round athletes that the School has ever known. Records of his still hold in the South London Inter-Grammar School contests”. On 1 May 1915 he was selected for the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, joining the 11th (Service) Bn who landed at Boulogne as part of 45th Brigade in the 15th (Scottish) Division in July 1915.
Between July 1915 and August 1916, the battalion were deployed on the Western Front. Cameron would have experienced fighting in the Battle of Loos in September/October 1915 and the first weeks of the Battle of the Somme, at Albert and Bazentin, from July 1916. His service record shows that, on 22 August 1916, a telegram was sent to Mrs Cameron at 397 Queens Road to the effect that he had been admitted to 8 General Hospital Rouen, with shell shock. He was sent home to 10 Palace Green Hospital, and granted leave to 6 November 1916. This was twice extended until, on 13 February 1917, he was certified fit for light duties but “no route marching” and, on 23 February 1917, fit without any qualification. At some point following his enlistment in the army, Douglas Cameron married Lydia Alice Chester of Troutbeck Road, New Cross.
Five months after returning to his duties in February 1917, at the age of 22, Douglas Cameron died of wounds sustained on 31 July 1917. He must have acquitted himself well after his period of sick leave, as a posthumous notice in the London Gazette advertised that he had been promoted to Lieutenant, and his record shows he was drawing the pay appropriate to that rank from 1 July 1917. The Aberdeen Press & Journal of 22 August 1917 reported that he volunteered the day after war was declared. It noted that he was severely injured in the first battle of Ypres and invalided home, was gazetted 2nd Lieutenant in May 1915, returned to France and was promoted to full Lieutenant, and had been “mortally wounded while gallantly leading his platoon”.
His effects included a watch, two chequebooks, letters, 1 advance book, a gold ring, and an account with Cox & Co, 16 Charing Cross, overdrawn to the extent of £10 3s 6d. More to the point, he left a posthumous son, Douglas Robert Alexander Cameron, born in October 1917.
He is buried at Potijze Cemetery, The Château Lawn, Ypres.
Sources
Registers of Births and Marriages
Censuses 1881-1911
National Archives – Officer’s file WO339/65707
South London Observer 18 August 1917 – mentions Lydia, younger daughter of Mr and Mrs G. H. Chester of Troutbeck Road, New Cross
Aberdeen Press & Journal 22 August 1917
Aberdeen Evening Express 27 August 1917 – report died of wounds + photo
Aberdeen Evening Express 29 September 1917
Old churchyard Kincardine O’Neil – monument to Joseph and Mary also commemorates some of their children including Robert Wilson Cameron, of New Cross, London.
Gunner D. Cameron Royal Garrison Artillery
This is Douglas Joseph McIntosh Cameron, Gunner (No.110953) in the 188th Siege Battery. Royal Garrison Artillery. He was born on 4 October 1894 at 70 Summer Street, Aberdeen, son of Donald McIntosh who was in the mounted police, and Margaret Mitchell Cameron daughter of Joseph and Mary Cameron, who came from Kincardine O’Neil (see note on Douglas Robert Cameron above). In 1901 a six-year-old Douglas Cameron was living in the village of Kincardine O’Neil, though as a “boarder” in the household of someone who is not obviously a relative, and was attending school. This may or may not be the Douglas in question. On 22 November 1913, a person who is definitely the soldier commemorated here married Helen Ann Dow at Tarland. Helen’s address at the time of her marriage was Newton of Melgum. Helen later resided at Boig, Tarland and at Rose Cottage, Kincardine O’Neil.
Douglas Cameron volunteered for service in 1915. He was then just over 21years old and (having gone into what was evidently the Cameron family business, like his cousin Douglas Robert Cameron), gave his occupation on enlistment as “tailor”.
A fire-damaged version of Cameron’s service record is one of the few records of ordinary soldiers on the Kincardine O’Neil memorial to have survived the bombing of London in 1940. It indicates that he was not altogether easy to handle from a disciplinary point of view (among other things “making improper reply to a N.C.O.”). The record also shows that he was home for quite an extended period, between 16 August 1916 and 8 January 1917 (just like his cousin, oddly enough), though it is not clear why.
He was with the British Expeditionary Force from his return on 9 January 1917, and is recorded as being in temporary command of no. 241 siege battery in May 1917. Siege batteries were deployed behind the front line, using heavy howitzers and large calibre shells for the purpose of attacking enemy artillery and destroying lines of supply.
The precise circumstances of Cameron’s death are not revealed by his record which simply states that he died of wounds in France on 16 October 1917 at the age of 24. He is buried or commemorated at Spoilbank Cemetery and is also named on the Tarland War Memorial. He left behind his mother (by then living at The Square, Tarland), his widow Helen, and three young children – Violet A. H. Dow aged 9, (a step-daughter perhaps), Evelyn M. M. Cameron aged 3 and Douglas E.D. Cameron aged 2.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Scottish Statutory Registers of Births and Marriages
Census 1901
National Archives - Army Service Record REFERENCE?; Medal Card WO372/3/244695
Roll of Honour for the Howe of Cromar.
Old churchyard Kincardine O’Neil – monument to Joseph and Mary Cameron also commemorates Margaret Mitchell Cameron who died in 1938.
L/Corpl. A. M. Catto Gordon Hrs.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission record the deaths of 18 men with the surname Catto in the First World War, and only one Catto with the initial A, who also served in the Gordons, though as a Private. None of the 18 Cattos has an obvious connection with Kincardine O’Neil, and the identity of this soldier is far from certain. Aberdeenshire censuses are full of Cattos and contain several entries possibly relating to this person, but without more certain information about him it is useless to speculate.
He may be Private (not L/Corpl) Alexander Catto of the 4th Bn. Gordon Highlanders (no.202632), residing at Banchory at the time of enlistment. If so, he was killed in action on 23 April 1917 and is commemorated on the Arras Memorial. The 4th Gordons had been deployed in and around Arras from about the beginning of that month, as part of the 154th Brigade of the 51st Highland Division. On the date of Private Catto’s death, they were involved, along with the 7th Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, in an attack on Roeux involving an attempt to capture the chemical works there. They faced very heavy fire inflicting enormous casualties, vividly recorded in the battalion War Diary. Possibly this was how Private Alexander Catto lost his life, but is he the Catto in question?
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
National Archives - War Diary of the 4th Gordon Highlanders - WO95/2886_2
Private G. B. Catto Scottish Horse
This soldier, sadly, has not so far been identified, despite extensive researches.
Corpl. A. J. Christie R.F.A.
Alexander James Christie, of the Royal Horse Artillery and the Royal Field Artillery, was the son of Alexander Christie and Mary Ann Tarves who married at Aberdeen in 1889. Alexander (senior) at the time of his wedding was a Postboy and later Carrier between Torphins and Kincardine O’Neil. He was a native of the parish. Mary Ann came from Leslie. Their son Alexander was born in Kincardine O’Neil village on Christmas Eve 1890.
The censuses of 1891 and 1901 record the family living in the village. By 1901, Alexander aged 10 and his two sisters, Isabella (6) and Dorothea (4), were at school; there was a baby brother John and their mother’s mother, Mary Tarves (aged 76), lived with them. Later Mrs Christie resided at Hillside, Kincardine O’Neil.
Alexander Christie was a soldier of the regular army who had served for nine years by the time of his death in the final year of the war. By that time he had attained the rank of Corporal in the 42nd Battery, 2 Brigade Royal Field Artillery (service no. 60646). The probability is that he was with 2 Brigade throughout the war, in which case he would have been sent to the continent with the British Expeditionary Force in the early weeks of the conflict, and served throughout on the Western Front where they were deployed until the Armistice.
In March 1918, as part of the 6th Division, 2 Brigade were manning the Lagnicourt Sector near Arras, and were about to become the focus of the German Spring Offensive in that part of the line. Christie was killed in action aged 27 on 21 March 1918 and is commemorated on the Arras Memorial. He is also, along with his parents and other family members, commemorated in Kincardine O’Neil old churchyard north of, and next to the west end of, the old kirk, as follows:
“In loving memory of Alexander Christie who died on 2nd November 1924 aged 66 years also his wife Mary Ann Tarves who died on 6th April 1950 in her 92nd year and their eldest son Alexander James killed in action 21st March 1918 aged 28 years and their younger daughter Dorothy who died at Cape Town, South Africa, 27th January 1970 aged 77 years”.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Registers of Births and Marriages
Census 1891 and 1901
Aberdeen Press & Journal and Evening Express 19 April 1918 – both say Christies of “Cochrane village”, KON.
Kincardine O’Neil old churchyard memorial inscription
Internet sources re 2 Brigade
Lieut. W. Christie Gordon Hrs.
William Menzies Christie has a story which is in a number of respects quite unusual. He was 64 when he died in 1917. His birth is recorded in the parish register for Kincardine O’Neil on 12 January 1854. He was a son of Alexander Christie, Craiglug, and Elizabeth Menzies. Elizabeth died in 1864 of tuberculosis, and in 1870 Alexander took a second wife Margaret Leslie. The family lived at Cochran, Kincardine O’Neil.
In 1871 William Christie, then aged 17 and working as a shoemaker, was living with his father (a forester’s labourer), stepmother, younger sisters Christina (11) and Isabella (9) and step brothers James (3) and John (1). At least two of these younger siblings predeceased him - Christina who died in 1896 aged 36 and John who died at the age of 23 in 1891.
He then disappears from obvious public records until, in 1912 at the age of 58, he married Emma O’Dell at Farnham (most probably Farnham in Hampshire). The couple had a daughter Eva Menzies Christie born on 27 March 1914. When war broke out in 1914 he was 60 years of age. His War Office file reveals that, on 18 December 1914, he was appointed to a regular commission as temporary Quartermaster with the honorary rank of Lieutenant in the 3rd Battalion Gordon Highlanders. This battalion remained at the regimental depot in Aberdeen for the duration of the war. A note on the file reads: “There is no record of the late WC having served in the ranks prior to his commission on 18/12/14, neither is there any indication of his employment prior to joining HM Forces”.
Christie’s address at the time of his death was West View, Ash Vale, Aldershot, but for whatever reason he had returned to native parts to perform his war service. The file reveals that he sadly died of pneumonia in hospital at 19 Albyn Place, Aberdeen in the early morning of 8 November 1917.
Lieut. Christie’s funeral was reported in the Aberdeen Journal on 12 November 1917: “The funeral of Lieutenant and Quartermaster William Christie, who died in Albyn Place Hospital on Thursday, took place, with military honours, on Saturday, from Albyn Place Hospital to the Joint Station, en route for Kincardine O’Neil Churchyard. The bearers were all sergeants of the Gordon Highlanders from Castlehill, and the coffin, covered by the Union Jack, was carried on a gun carriage. The officiating clergyman was Rev. W. Hays”.
A letter on the file from his commanding officer in January 1918 reports, that Lieut. Christie “performed his duties in a thoroughly conscientious manner…”. Both his father and stepmother outlived him, Alexander dying at the age of 92 in 1924. He is buried in the churchyard at Kincardine O’Neil and commemorated, along with other members of the family, on a monument north of the west end of the ruined kirk.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers died in the Great War
Census 1871
Registers of Births, Marriages and Deaths
English Records of Births and Marriages
National Archives – Officers file WO 339/16348 [NB from the family history point of view there is a lot more detail in this officer’s file that may be of interest but has not been thought appropriate to include here]
Aberdeen Journal 12 November 1917
Aberdeen evening Express reports the death on the very day 8/11/1917 and “Friends to meet at Borrowstone about 11.30am”.
Tombstone in the old churchyard Kincardine O’Neil
Private A. Clark Can. Ex. Force
Andrew Clark was a son of Andrew Clark, shepherd, and Elsie Jaffrey who married at Fintry in 1887. He was born at Ythanbank Cottage, Dyce on 9 March 1892. In 1901, the Clarks were living at Pond Cottage, Torphins. There were four children – Mary aged 13, and three brothers, Alfred, Andrew and Alexander aged 11, 9 and 6 respectively.
As a young man Andrew Clark emigrated to Canada and, following the outbreak of war, enlisted in February 1915, as a volunteer in the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force at Belleville, Ontario. He was assigned to the Canadian (West Ontario) Regiment (18th Bn. No.412204) on 15 February 1915, giving his peacetime occupation as “labourer”. At the time of joining up, his mother was living at Torphins. She later resided at Forester Lodge, Pitfour, Mintlaw. His attestation paper states that he had previously served 3 years in the Scottish Horse, a territorial regiment which had a depot at Torphins.
The 18th Bn. left Canada on 24 June 1915, arriving in England on 3 July. In February 1916, his service record shows that he joined his unit in the Field. In the following month he was out of action for a week with a hand infection, but in June of the same year suffered a gunshot wound to his left arm resulting in an “incomplete fracture”. He was sent back to England on the hospital ship “Brighton” and admitted to West Dene Military Hospital at St Leonards-on-Sea on 16 June 1916. From there he was moved to the Pavilion Military Hospital, Brighton and then, on 20 July 1916 to the Canadian Division’s convalescent hospital at Woodcote Park, Epsom. He was discharged as fit for duty on 17 August. At some point Pte. Clark made a will leaving everything to his mother, giving her address at that time as Learney, Torphins. She later lived at Forester Lodge, Pitfour, Mintlaw.
Private Clark's service record notes that on 31 March 1917 he rejoined his unit, and shortly after, on 9 April 1917, he was killed in action.
The 18th Canadians were an infantry battalion forming part of the 4th Infantry Brigade of the 2nd Canadian Division, who were among the Four Divisions of the Canadian Corps deployed, as part of the Arras Offensive, to capture Vimy Ridge, a strategically important escarpment which had been under German control since the invasion in 1914. They were part of the main assault beginning on 9 April 1917. After days of fierce fighting and very heavy casualties, the ridge was captured by the Canadians by the evening of 12 April. This soldier died on the first day of the assault. His death was posted in the Aberdeen Evening Express 4 May 1917 – “Killed in action on 9th April, Private Andrew Clark, Canadians, second son of Mr and Mrs Clark, Chapelwell, Learney, Torphins, aged 25 years". He is buried at Nine Elms Military Cemetery, Thelus.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Register of Births
Census 1901
Library and Archives of Canada – Personnel Records of the First World War – file B1724-SO21
Ancestry.co.uk – Canada, Soldiers of the First World War, 1914-1918
Aberdeen Evening Express 4 May 1917
[Inconclusive passenger list search in ancestorsonboard and findmypast]
Driver M.K. Clark R.F.A.
Malcolm Kellas Clark, born Keith on 25 May 1897, was a son of Alexander Clark, farmer Upper Mulben, Boharm (near Keith), and Isabella Malcolm, domestic servant. His name is sufficiently unusual for there to be little doubt about the identification, but his connection with Kincardine O’Neil is unclear. His mother Isabella was the daughter of William Malcolm, a Shepherd at Mains of Rhynie and his wife Isabella Edward. In 1881, the Malcolm family were at Soundmoor, Boharm in the county of Elgin. The 1891 Census found them at 9B Mill Wynd, Keith. In 1901 young Malcolm, then aged 4, was living in his grandmother Malcolm’s household at 25 Wellington Terrace, Keith with his mother, two other boys who may have been siblings – James Grant aged 13 and George Clark aged 5 months, and Isabella’s older brother John. On 26 September 1902, Malcolm and George were both baptised in the Roman Catholic Church.
In 1905, Isabella married Alexander Morrison, but it appears that, in 1909, tragedy struck the family when Alexander, a marine stoker on the Buckie steam drifter “Jeannie Murray”, died by drowning in Stornoway Harbour in the early hours of a Sunday morning, along with five others, who were being conveyed in a rowing boat to their own vessels at anchor in the harbour. In 1910 Isabella married a man called John Abernethy Murdoch. On 1 November 1914, grandmother Isabella died at Keith of apoplexy, aged 81.
Clark became a Gunner (No. 549 and 630227) in the Royal Horse and Royal Field Artillery 104 Brigade. The Brigade were part of Kitchener’s New Army, established in 1914. This was a heavy artillery brigade armed with 18-pounder field guns, serving as part of the 23rd Division until January 1917, and thereafter as 104 Army Field Artillery Brigade. 104 Brigade were deployed in the Battle of Loos from late 1915 until the end of January 1916 and remained on the Western Front, taking part in the action at Vimy Ridge in May 1916, and in various phases of the Battle of the Somme.
Gunner Clark’s record shows that he was a volunteer, as he was sent to France in November 1915, and presumably shared the fortunes of his brigade on the Western Front throughout this time. In the absence of his personal service record it has so far proved impossible to tell exactly what became of him, other than that he died of wounds inflicted in the course of service, aged 21, in the very last weeks of the war, on 3 October 1918. He is buried/commemorated at Tincourt New British Cemetery.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths
Scottish Roman Catholic Parish Baptisms
Census 1881, 1891 and 1901 [Not traced despite extensive search in 1911]
National Archives - Medal Index card WO 372/4/133000 and 104 Brigade RFA War Diary WO 95/2176/1
www.longlongtrail.co.uk
Sapper J. W. Coutts R.E.
This is James Winchester Coutts, Sapper in the Royal Engineers 21st Div. Signal Coy. (No. 402951). He was a son of Joseph Coutts and Catherine Winchester Coutts, and was born in Kensington in December 1888. Both his parents, however, were born in Scotland – father in Aboyne and mother in Morayshire. In 1891 two-year-old James and his parents and three older brothers, Joseph, David and Gordon, were at Ballogie Stables though Joseph, despite his Stables address, gave his occupation as “Coachman Out of Employment”. By 1901 he was in work again as a domestic coachman, and the family were at 19 Elvaston Mews, Kensington. Records show that, at some point after that, they returned to the North-East.
On 20 July 1912 James Coutts, then a Journeyman cabinetmaker, married Helen Carnegie Wilson, both of 144 Wellington Road, Aberdeen. His father (who had retired by the time of the marriage in 1912) died at the age of 67 in December 1916 at Cochran Cottage, Kincardine O’Neil.
According to a notice in the Aberdeen Weekly Journal, Coutts died of wounds received in action on 27 May 1918 at the age of 29 years and 7 months, “dearly beloved husband of Nellie Wilson, 18 Granton Place Aberdeen, and dearly beloved youngest son of Mrs J Coutts, Cochrane Cottage, Kincardine O’Neil, Aberdeenshire. So loved so mourned”.
The Company’s War Diary makes no mention of any fatality on 27 May 1918, though there is a record of enemy bombardment and the launching of an attack at 1am. Sapper Coutts is commemorated in France at Marfaux British Cemetery.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Census 1891 Scotland and 1901 England
Free BMD birth index at www.findmypast.co.uk
National Archives - 21 Division Signal Co RE War Diary
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 23 August 1918 – Roll of honour - Helen at 15, Ferryhill Terrace, Aberdeen.
Capt. D.H. Davidson Seaforth Hrs.
Duncan Hemeline Davidson was born at Craigmyle House on 28 March 1877. He was the second child, and first son, of Duncan Davidson DL, JP, of Inchmarlo and Flora Frances Davidson daughter of Sir Francis Burdett of Foremark, Derbyshire. They had married at Richmond, Surrey in 1874 and had two sons and two daughters. The family lived first at Craigmyle, later at Inchmarlo. On 6 January1884, when young Duncan had not quite reached his seventh birthday, his mother Flora (said to have “endeared herself to all by her kind and charitable disposition”) died of diphtheria at the age of 32. His father remarried in 1887.
After attending school at Harrow, Duncan Davidson’s coming of age in 1898 was a big event in the county, attracting detailed coverage in the local press. The culmination of jollifications at Inchmarlo which included a large family dinner, picnics and a bicycling party, was a grand dinner at which the Farquhar and Pickeringfamilies were well-represented, along with 170 tenants who enjoyed a “sumptuous repast”. There were numerous toasts and replies. It was announced that the young man had adopted farming as his profession. After dinner, all adjourned to the drawing room where there was “a choice programme of music” followed by bonfires at the house and on Sluiehill, and a firework display in front of the house.
Unfortunately, the War Office file on this officer appears to have been destroyed, but other sources show that his plans to settle to a life of farming took a different turn. Having served with the Gordon Militia, he obtained a commission in the Seaforth Highlanders at the outbreak of the Boer War in 1900. He was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant in 1902, and Captain in 1911, serving initially with the Seaforths in Egypt and India. Between 1909 and 1913 he was Adjutant to the 4th Seaforths at Dingwall. When war broke out in August 1914, Duncan Davidson was in Agra, and in October 1914 he was transferred with his regiment to France.
On 17 December 1914 he was badly wounded and returned home for a time, re-joining the battalion on 28 March 1915. Rev J. McNeil, Chaplain to the Seaforths, left an account of this episode: “I remember the first time he was wounded, when he came into the ambulance from Le Touret, from the trenches at Festubert. There was one of our men beside him, who he thought needed more care than he did, and when his own time came, he would not let himself be touched till the others had been dressed – it was the spirit in which he acted”.
On 20 February 1915 the Aberdeen Journal reported that he had been awarded the DSO “in recognition of the conspicuous gallantry and ability he displayed on 11 November 1914 on the Ypres-Menin Road when, after his senior officer had been killed, he commanded his company with great success”, commenting that he had been already twice mentioned in dispatches.
At the time of his death, on 9 May 1915 at the age of 38, Davidson was serving with the 1st Battalion Seaforth Highlanders in an attempt to breach the German front line by an assault on Aubers Ridge in the Battle of Neuve-Chapelle. The Battalion War Diary of the day describes repeated unsuccessful attempts to make an assault on the enemy trenches, under heavy Maxim and rifle fire, following a largely ineffectual bombardment (with some shells falling on the friendly side of the German lines). This culminated in an order to withdraw, “seeing that the task was not feasible and the men had lost most of their officers”. During this action, between 5am and 2pm, the battalion suffered 138 fatalities, including Capt. Davidson, and 356 men were wounded.
In a letter to the bereaved parents, Capt. Davidson’s Colonel wrote: “He was twice wounded in the advance, but still went on until he finally fell still leading his company. He was a good officer and a great favourite, and was much loved by officers and men. We miss him very much. He was a gallant fellow…..It was he who led us in everything, no matter what; and Ritchie told me it was Hamlyn who reached the German trenches, in the fore front as usual. The 1st Bttn. have lost their bravest and most gallant officer, and his brother officers their dearest pal…..I and others of the two battns. who knew and loved your son so well, grieve with you in your great loss. A brother officer tells me that the moment he crossed the parapet they came under heavy machine gun fire. He was hit, got up again, hit again; and again up at the head of what remained of his company. Then he was hit again and fell near the German trenches, and he could not or would not retire”.
Capt. Davidson is commemorated at the Le Touret Memorial, on the Banchory War Memorial, and by a memorial stone within the grounds of Inchmarlo. His younger brother Major Leslie Evan Outram Davidson served in the Royal Field Artillery. He was awarded the DSO for gallant conduct in September 1914, and survived the war.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Census 1881 & 1891
Register of births – Hemeline on his birth certificate but later sometimes Hamlyn.
Free BMD index at www.findmypast.co.uk
National Archives – War Diary of the 1st Bn Seaforth Highlanders WO95/3941/1
De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour
Harrow Memorials of the Great War Harrow School Roll of Honour at www.harrowschool-ww1.org.uk
Anne Park: Banchory War Memorial (Aberdeen & North-East Family History Society 2003)
Margie Trewin & Edgar Trewin: The Inchmarlo Story (1998)
Many local newspaper reports on Davidson family including but not limited to:
Aberdeen Journal 1 April 1898 – very full and detailed report of the coming of age “Rejoicings on the estate – Dinner to the tenantry”;
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 6 April 1898 – shorter report of the coming of age party;
Aberdeen Journal 20 February 1915 – reporting on DSO
Aberdeen Evening Express 17 May 1915
Scotsman 17 May 1915
Newcastle Journal 20 May 1915
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 21 May1915 - photo.
Aberdeen Evening Express 24 December 1915 – left personal estate of £4629 of which £50 in Scotland.
Aberdeen Journal 15 March 1919 – father’s obituary.
Pte. W. M. Davidson CAN. EX. F.
This soldier is one of two commemorated on the Torphins memorial but not in Kincardine O’Neil. William Malcolm Davidson was born on 11 December 1883 at Greenhills in the parish of Coull. He was a son of Williamina Davidson, domestic servant. Williamina, as revealed by the census in 1891, was born at Tough, and on census night that year, she was living at Greenhills in the household of her 81year old widowed father who was a farmer. Young William was noted aged 7, along with other grandchildren of Mr Davidson, who may or may not have been his siblings, and four boarders.
In 1896, William’s mother married James Anderson who was a farm servant on her father’s farm. By 1901 the couple were registered at Balnacraig Cottage, Lumphanan with three young sons of their own, James, Charles and Frank, and James’s stepchildren, Barbara, and Jessie. William would have been 17/18 years of age, and he was no longer part of that household. In 1911 James and Williamina Anderson were at Woodside, Beltie, with James, Charles and Frank, and a further two children Annabella and George. William (who would then have been 28) does not appear to be in the 1911 census and it may be that by then, if not by 1901, he had emigrated to Canada.
William Davidson’s Canadian army service record shows that he joined up (No 80279) at Calgary on 8 May 1915, giving his occupation as Logger and his marital status as single. He became a Private in the 31st Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force. The 31st sailed for England on 17 May 1915 on the RMS Carpathia – the same celebrated Carpathia that had gone to the aid of Titanic passengers in 1912 (she was sadly torpedoed and sunk in 1918). He made a will on 31 October 1915, leaving everything to his mother who was by then residing at Backhill, Trustach. In November 1915, he contracted bronchitis which became acute, but was discharged to duty on 25 November 1915.
From 27 March to 16 April 1916, the CEF were deployed in actions at the St Eloi Craters as part of the 2nd Canadian Division. Both sides engaged in mining and counter-mining in excavations under no man’s land. British explosives placed under the German lines were detonated on 27 March. Fighting then ensued to capture the craters created by the explosions, in circumstances of almost impossible communications and confusion under heavy barrage in severely muddy conditions with few trenches for cover. Canadians relieved the British in the front line on 3 April. On the night of 5/6 April 1916, the 31st Canadian Bn. repulsed an attack on crater 6. The Canadians lost 1,373 men in the fighting at St Eloi.
William Davidson was killed in action on 5 April 1916. He is commemorated at Spoilbank Cemetery.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Registers of Births and Marriages
Censuses 1891-1911
Library and Archives Canada – Service record B2329-5024 (birth date on enlistment wrongly stated as 1886)
Sergt. J. Durward Gordon Hrs.
John Durward was a Lance Serjeant in the 1st/7th Bn. Gordon Highlanders (No.290611). He was born 28 March 1892, the son of Samuel Durward, farmer at Milton of Ennets, and his wife Ann. Samuel was a native of Kincardine O’Neil and Ann came from Kineff. Their children were all born in the parish – first Samuel in about 1882, who in due course carried on the farm, then Mary two years after and John who, in 1901 at least, was the youngest.
Durward enlisted at Banchory, joining the 7th (Deeside) Battalion of the Gordon Highlanders. In the absence of his service record, nothing is known about the circumstances of his death, other than that he died of wounds aged 25 on 28 April 1917. He may well have been a casualty of their involvement at that time in the diversionary Arras offensive. The 7th Gordons, as part (at that time) of the 153rd Brigade and 51st (Highland) Division were in the forefront of an attack on the German line which commenced on 23 April 2017 and developed into “perhaps the most savage infantry battle that the Division took part in”*, as the advance was met with heavy machine-gun fire and a ferocious artillery barrage.
He is buried at Étaples Military Cemetery.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Register of births
Census 1901
National Archives – War Diary of the 7th Gordon Highlanders - WO95/2882/1
*Major F.W. Bewsher: The History of the 51st (Highland) Division 1914-1918” (The Naval & Military Press 2009)
Online sources re 7th Gordons in April 1917
Aberdeen Press & Journal 2 May 1917
Private W. Esson Gordon Hrs.
William Paterson Esson’s family had strong links with Crathie, but his father was born in Lumphanan and his parents later lived at Morven Villa, Torphins, hence the connection with the parish. He was born on 22 August 1892 at Street of Monaltrie, Crathie, son of Robert Esson, General Labourer, and Margaret Paterson who had married at Crathie in 1889. In 1891 Robert, Margaret and their three-month-old daughter Marjory were living at Crathie with Margaret’s mother, also Marjory, who gives her occupation in the census as “Merchant”.
In the 1901 Census, Marjory and William (“Willie”) aged 10 and 8 respectively, were with an uncle Adam aged 39, at Esson Cottage, Glenmuick. Adam was a post boy. There was another occupant of the household – Helen C. Esson aged 26, also a niece of Adam and a housekeeper. Marjory and Willie were attending school.
William Esson joined the 7th Battalion Gordon Highlanders (No. 512) at Banchory and was 23 when he was killed in action serving as part of “A” (Banchory) Coy. on 4 August 1916 in the Battle of the Somme. It is not clear exactly what happened to him that day. Between 1 and 6 August the 7th were in bivouacs north-east of Méaulte, having been relieved of front-line duty and there is no note of any casualties on that date. In the last week of July, however, they had been engaged in very fierce and costly fighting around Mametz, Bezantin and High Wood. Possibly the date is not quite accurate, or he died of wounds.
Private Esson is buried at Dartmoor Cemetery, Bécordel-Bécourt.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Register of Births
Census 1891 and 1901
National Archives – War Diary of 7th Bn Gordon Highlanders WO95/2882/1
Private G. S. J. Ewen North’d. Fus.
This is George Skene Illingworth (I. not J.) Ewen. He was born at West Town Tarland on 1 September 1895, forty minutes before his twin sister Annie. The twins were children of John Ewen, Farmer and Isabella (Isie) Ferries, who had been married at Leochel Cushnie in 1878. In 1901 they were at Knocksoul Cottage, Logie Coldstone. John was employed at that time as a general labourer. Five year old George had brothers Alexander and Charles (12 and 9) as well as his twin sister Annie. He may be the fifteen-year-old George Ewen employed as a cattleman on the farm of Alexander Troup at East Pett, Tarland in the 1911 Census, but there were a lot of Ewens in and about Tarland at that time and it is not possible to be sure.
George Ewen gave his address on enlistment as Torphins, and served in the Army Service Corps (no. 2598282) then the 11th (Service) Bn Northumberland Fusiliers (No.55703). The 11th were formed in 1914 as part of Kitchener’s Third New Army, and served initially on the Western Front as part of the 68th Brigade and 23rd Division of the British army.
In autumn 1917, reinforcements from French and British forces were sent to support the Italian army which had been driven back by German and Austrian forces to the Piave River, following the Battle of Caporetto. Some of these men returned to the Western Front to assist in resisting the Spring Offensive of 1918, but the 11th Northumberland Fusiliers remained and took part, in June 1918, in the Second Battle of the Piave River which ultimately resulted in a victory of the Italian army against the Central Powers. It was a significant victory which is reckoned to have marked decisively the beginning of the end of the Austro-Hungarian empire as a political entity, and of its army.
This soldier was killed in action at the age of 22 on the first day of the battle, 15 June 1918. He is buried at Magnaboschi British Cemetery. He is also commemorated on the Tarland memorial.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Registers of Births & Marriages
Census 1901
Census 1911– he may be George Ewen cattleman age 15 b Tarland, at East Pett in household of Alexander Troup Farmer, No likelier matches in Scotland. But could he have been in England as he enlisted in Bradford?
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 5 /7/1918 “Killed in action on 15th June, Pte George S. I. Ewen, youngest son of the late John Ewen, late farmer, Westtown, Tarland, and of Mrs Ewen, 3 Grove Terrace, Torphins, aged 22 years”.
National Archives - War Diary of the 11th Northumberland Fusiliers WO95/2182/4 August 1915 to October 1917 seems to be the only one available?
www.forces-war-records.co.uk
Wikipedia on the Piave
Alexander Morren – The Cromar War Memorial Book at www.cromarhistorygroup.org.uk. This notes an address at 3 Grove Terrace, Torphins.
NB Same name/initials on Tarland memorial but 1/7 Gordon Highlanders. This doesn’t seem right as 1/7 GH were in France June 1918.
Private J. Ewan Gordon Hrs.
There are two likely candidates for this entry: James Esson Ewen (not Ewan), whose parents were both from Kincardine O’Neil though there is no record of him having lived in the parish, and Joseph Ewen (not Ewan) who was from Glassel. Both deserve to be remembered, but it is difficult on present information to know which of them is intended to be commemorated here.
James Esson Ewen (no. 3/5915)
This may be the more likely of the two possibilities, because the mis-spelling of the name on the war memorial replicates a mis-spelling in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission record, though that may be no more than coincidence.
James Esson Ewen is an all-too-rare instance of a soldier who served in the ranks whose records were not destroyed by incendiary bombing in 1940. He was born at Heatheryhaugh in the parish of Strachan near Banchory on 28 April 1894. His father was Alexander Cooper Ewen, a shepherd, and his mother was Jessie Anderson who were both born in Kincardine O’Neil. They married at Logie Coldstone on 24 November 1871. This establishes a link with the parish, though the family’s connections later were with Banffshire, Rhynie and Huntly. In the 1901 census they were living at Rochomie in the parish of Rathven in Banffshire. James was then aged 6 and the youngest of a family of 6 including, in the household on census night, four sisters and a brother.
By 1911 young James had left home and, up to 9 November 1911, he was employed as a farm servant by a Mr Craigie at Pennan Farm, Aberdour, East Aberdeenshire. Mr Craigie advised the army that that James had come from his father to work for him two or three years previously, he had last seen him on 9 November that year, and James had left, as they “could not agree about wages”. Mr Craigie appears to have borne no ill feelings towards his former employee, rating him as sober and honest, and “a nice obliging young lad”. James Ewen was 18 years three months old and single when he joined up in 1912 for six years’ service in the 1stbattalion Gordon Highlanders (no. 3/5915).
He did not survive even to the first Christmas of the war that was supposed to be over by Christmas. He was mobilised on 8 August 1914 and spent the last few weeks of his life, from 7 October, in France. In November the battalion was in trenches near Ypres, having already participated in heavy fighting in the early weeks of the war, and been subjected to shelling and aerial bombing. The weather was characterised by heavy rain and sleet, and there were several cases of frostbite. On 9 – 10 December they moved to fresh billets at Westoutre, and on 11 December were joined by a draft of 202 NCOs and men. The writer of the war diary records “This and the two preceding drafts included some very old soldiers, one of whom had fought with the battalion at Tel-el-Kebir. Several others were obviously unsuited for a winter campaign in the trenches. The majority of the younger men appeared to have received practically no military training before being sent out, their service varying from 3 to 10 weeks”. On 12 December three officers were sent out to reconnoitre ground in front of the German trench near Maedelstraede farm, two miles east of Kemmel, with a view to an attack, and one was killed. Next day the battalion marched to Kemmel in heavy rain. At midnight that night they received orders to attack at 2.30am.
The battalion war diary contains a detailed timeline of the action that day. It began with a wholly ineffective artillery bombardment at 7am in which many shells fell short of the German lines and “some even in the rear of our reserve”. When the first two platoons of “B” and “C” Coys advanced at 7.45am, they were met with very heavy rifle and machine gun fire from the other side, despite which they pushed on as best they could. “The sodden nature of the ground and the fact that the men had been standing for several hours in trenches deep in mud rendered a rapid advance impossible”. They were then followed at a distance of 50 yards by the remaining platoons and “D” Coy, leaving “A” Coy to man the trenches from which the attack had been launched. The attacking companies soon disappeared from view and it was impossible to tell how they were progressing. An orderly was sent out to find out but this was unsuccessful. By 9 am telephonic communications with Brigade HQ had entirely failed. News came at 10.55, via an ammunition carrier, that the advance parites were 50 yards short of the German lines unable to advance and this message was sent, by orderly, to Brigade HQ. A reply was received at 2.30pm that there was to be a further bombardment between at 3.30 and 4pm, under cover of which a fresh effort was to be made, and that two companies of the Middlesex Regiment were being sent up as a reserve.
The reserves did not arrive. The commanding officer on the spot considered that it would be “highly injudicious” to send the remaining reserve company, practically the only garrison of the fire trenches, into a further attack. Finally after 4.15 pm messages began to be relayed from the junior officers in command of the advance parties that they were unable to advance as the German trenches were strongly held, and these detachments were withdrawn. It was noted that “B”, “C” and “D” Coys had lost more than 75% of their officers and 50% of their men – some killed, some missing.
By far the largest number were missing, and it looks like James Ewen was one of them. His body was not immediately (or perhaps ever) recovered, as his record bears the following bleak note more than a year later on 26 February 1916: “The Army Council has decided that this soldier is to be regarded for official purposes as having died on or since 14 December 1914”. In further fighting over the same ground in 1917, the skeletal remains of the Gordons who fell in the action on 14 December 1914 were recovered and buried – most were unidentifiable.
Pte. Ewen’s personal possessions were to be sent to Agnes Ewen living in Merkland Road Aberdeen, but it was his father who in 1922 acknowledged receipt of the 1914 clasp sent to him in recognition of his son’s war service. He is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) memorial.
Alexander Ewen outlived his son by 36 years, dying at the age of 89 in 1940 at Grange in the county of Banff.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Registers of Births and Marriages
Census 1901 and 1911
National Archives – Service record: WO363 E589 p465 ; 1st Gordons War Diary WO95/1421-1
http://www.thgordonhighlanders.co.uk/Pages/Diary.htm
thelonglongtrail – Winter Operations 1914-15
Joseph C. Ewen (no.4023)
A possible alternative is that this was Joseph Ewen, Private 4023 in the 4th Gordons, who died of wounds at the tender age of 16 on 22 May 1916 and was a son of Joseph C. and Harriet F. Ewen of Easter Beltie, Glassel. Given his age at date of death, this soldier must have lied about his birth date, as the lower age limit for enlistment was 18.
The 1901 Census disclosed that the Ewen family were then living at Damhead, Alford. Joseph C. senior was employed as a Horseman on a farm, having been born in Monymusk. His wife, Harriet and their eldest child Jane age 6 were born in Aboyne, but younger children Martha aged 4 and young Joseph C. aged 1 were both born in Alford. In the 1911 Census, Joseph was a schoolboy and the family were still in Alford but at Balnellan, Greystone, where Joseph senior was now a farm grieve. They later settled at Easter Beltie, Glassel.
In May 1916 the 4th Gordons were serving as part of the 154th Brigade in the 51st (Highland) Division in the Pas de Calais region on the Western Front, moving around Écurie, Elron and La Sablière. The unit war diary is unenlightening as to what happened to Private Ewen, or when he sustained the wounds from which he sadly died on 22 May 1916.
He is buried or commemorated at St Pol. Communal Cemetery Extension, and his commemorative stone bears the inscription: “FROM MEMORY’S PAGE WE’LL NEVER BLOT THREE LITTLE WORDS FORGET ME NOT”.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Registers of Births and Marriages
Census 1901 & 1911
National Archives – War Diary of the 4th Bn. Gordon Highlanders WO95/2886_1; Medal card WO372/7/2141.
Lieut. A. C. N. Farquhar Royal Navy
Several members of the Farquhar family of Drumnagesk are commemorated at Christ Church Episcopal Church in Kincardine O’Neil - in plaques on the north wall and in the burial ground. A brass plaque in the chancel commemorates Admiral Sir Arthur Farquhar KCB (1815-1908), recording that the church bell was given by his children. The Admiral had thirteen children. One of those was Albert Farquhar. Albert married Alice Jane Nicol, daughter of the Lord Provost of Aberdeen, at St Andrews Episcopal Cathedral in Aberdeen in 1887, and went out to Iowa to be a ranchman, which is where their son, Alastair Charles Nicol Farquhar, was born on 4 March 1888.
In the summer of 1900, Albert travelled to Kalgoorlie along with Alice to take up an appointment as assistant general manager of the Lake View and Ivanhoe Mines. A new residence was built specially, but in November of the same year Alice died, and later that month Albert sailed for London. The following year, the Census found young Alastair at school at Segensworth in Hampshire. Following the death of the old Admiral in 1908, Drumnagesk was sold and came into the ownership of Herbert Lawford, Wimbledon Champion of 1887, who retired there. However the Farquhars retained links with the neighbourhood.
It is an understatement to say that there was a strong naval tradition in the family, and it seems highly likely that the future Lieutenant’s choice of service was influenced by the glittering careers of his forebears. His great-grandfather, Sir Arthur Farquhar (Knight Commander of the Hanoverian Guelphic Order and Knight Commander of the Sword of Sweden b.1772 d. Carlogie 1843) joined the Navy in 1787 and ended his career as Rear Admiral of the White. His illustrious grandfather mentioned above was an Admiral, and there were uncles who were also officers in the Royal Navy. Young Alastair joined the navy in 1904 as a cadet at the age of 16, shortly after became a Midshipman, and rose to the rank of Sub-Lieutenant in 1907 and Lieutenant in 1910.
At 00.45 hrs on the morning of 17 June 1916, at the age of 28, Alastair Farquhar was the Commander of the destroyer HMS Eden as she escorted a troopship, SS France from Southampton to Le Havre. The France had been launched in 1910 as an opulent trans-Atlantic liner (with a notorious rolling tendency). The vessels collided, about 15 miles from Le Havre, in poor visibility (neither showing any lights) and in heavy seas. Eden found herself across France’s bows and France cut her in two, so that she sank with her three senior officers and 39 of her crew, though 31 crew members were saved. France was holed on the port side forward and her steering gear disabled.
An inquiry taking the form of a court martial of the surviving officers and crew took place at Portsmouth the following month, presided over by the Deputy Judge-Advocate of the Fleet, and its papers now lie in two neatly bound bundles in the National Archives. The terrible events of the night were vividly recorded in a statement by the only surviving officer, Artificer Engineer Herbert G. Ram, of which the following is a slightly edited version:
HMS Eden left Portsmouth Harbour about 7pm on the 16th June 16 and proceeded off Bembridge to await Transport due about 7.45pm. About 8.00pm HMS Eden took up position about 1 mile ahead of Transport France & proceeded to sea, the average speed being about 19 knots. I left the deck about 9.30pm. About 12.45am the following morning speed was reduced & I proceeded to the Engine Room hatch in readiness for any further evolutions. I also observed the Transport approaching us amidships starboard side about 50 yards distant & no lights showing. The Engine Room Telegraphs at the same moment being put “Full Speed Astern” port and starboard…. Within 30 seconds of the order by telegraph for “Full speed Astern” the collision occurred. Both port and starboard main steam pipes were severed, all steam pressure had gone and all electric lights put out, leaving the secondary lamps alight in the engine room only. I went on deck to ascertain further the extent of the damage & if possible to localise & use any steam pressure for emergency purposes, finding the breach some 12 feet forward and aft and extending inboard beyond the centre line of ship, also the forward and aft parts of the ship working and straining in opposite ways & sinking in the vicinity of the breach ….When I went on deck to ascertain the damage I saw the Transport backing out of the breach & gradually let us drift away. Being on the aft part of the ship I assisted to get the Carley Floats overboard. The Gunner Mr O’Brien was attending to lowering the Whaler & Dinghy which was manned; also everybody I could see had “life-belts”. After the Whaler & Dinghy & Floats had left the ship Mr O’Brien & myself with 15 Petty Officers and men were left on the aft part being some 10 to 15 Minutes after the collision. We stood by to await any assistance which may be sent us. About 20 Minutes from the time of the collision the fore part of the ship heeled to port and broke away then up-ended & stood bows uppermost quite 40 feet high out of the sea for about ¾ of an hour. By this time the Transport was quite 1½ miles away. We waved an electric torch and hoped by this means to attract attention to our position but no assistance came from the Transport. Between 2 & 2.30am three ships passed about 1 mile away. We hailed & used our torch but no assistance was given us. About 3.15am HMS Teviot came in sight & we asked if she could tow us stern first into harbour. After difficult effort a line was secured but just as that had been done the after part settled down. The Teviot had lowered her Whaler & taken 5 men I believe when the remainder of us had to jump. Owing to the very heavy sea running we were scattered which made rescue very difficult. The Teviot by means of buoys & lines did the very best they could under difficulties…”.
The court found in light of all the available information that, twelve minutes before the collision, SS Francesignalled she was easing down with her steering gear out of order, in response to which Eden reduced her speed but France did not. About 8 minutes before the collision, both vessels altered course to starboard to avoid colliding with a steamer, but the troopship altered course to a lesser extent than her escort and resumed her course sooner. It concluded that the primary cause of the collision was that France was doing 16 and a half knots when Eden was doing only 10. There was no doubt that the troopship transmitted a signal that she was reducing her speed, but the Master of the France denied giving any order for the signal to be made, and the court found there was no evidence that such an order had been given. No blame was found attributable to any of the surviving officers or crew.
The Master of the France said he tried to rescue people from the bow as he could see the aft section remained afloat. He lowered one of his lifeboats, but only one as France was rolling heavily and he was afraid of losing all the troops that were on deck, as with the boat lowered there was nothing to stop them sliding overboard. He was carrying 838 troops and 17 officers and there was insufficient room for the men on decks to be accommodated below. Also, given the weather, there was a risk of the boats being smashed against the ship’s side. They had lights out in accordance with sailing orders. He told the destroyer Teviot escorting the Bellerophon to go to the aft part and render assistance.
The official papers record Lieut. Farquhar as “Drowned 16th June 1916”. This loss must have been all the more distressing to Albert following news the previous month that his brother Capt. Hobart Brooks Farquharwas missing in action. The disaster in the Channel made international news, but the Aberdeen Journalsupplied the local angle in a report on 19 June 1916 – “Lieut. Alistair (sic) C. N. Farquhar, the Commander of the Eden who is missing, is 28 years of age, a son of Mr Albert Farquhar and a grandson of the late Admiral Sir Arthur Farquhar K.C.B. of Drumnagesk, Aboyne. His mother who died in 1900 was the second daughter of the Late Lord Provost Alexander Nicol, Aberdeen. The family of Farquhar is very well known in the Navy, having given no fewer than three Admirals to the British Fleet. Admiral Sir Arthur Murray Farquhar, who received his knighthood in November of last year, and whose residence is at Granville Lodge, Aboyne, retired only the other day with two others in order to make room for the promotion of younger men. He is a son of the late Admiral Sir Arthur Farquhar K.C.B. who was a son of Admiral Sir Arthur Farquhar K.C.B. of Garlogie (sic). The family has also provided another officer of high naval rank in Rear-Admiral R. B. Farquhar, brother of the present Admiral Sir Arthur Farquhar”.
Within two weeks, Alastair Farquhar’s body was recovered and brought back for burial at Kincardine O’Neil. The Aberdeen Press & Journal reported on 29 June 1916, that he had been recovered “by a vessel in Government employ”, and conveyed from Portsmouth to Torphins by train. From there, the coffin was taken by a horse-drawn vehicle to Kincardine O’Neil, draped in the Union Jack, and escorted by Riflemen of the 3rd Battalion Gordon Highlanders, as well as a party of naval ratings, drummers, pipers and buglers. Local residents lined the streets. Sailors carried the coffin into the church where the funeral service was held. At the burial in the Farquhar family plot in the adjacent churchyard, the Riflemen discharged three volleys and the Last Post was sounded. The Press & Journal noted that a naval career of high promise had been tragically cut short. Lieut. Farquhar is commemorated on a headstone along with his parents, and by a brass plaque on the north wall of the church. He is also listed on the war memorials at Banchory and Aboyne.
In 1917 some excitement among lawyers ensued when the Admiralty, having been rebuffed in a claim for compensation directed against the owners of the SS France, raised proceedings, but as the owners were the French State Railways (effectively the French government), from whom the Admiralty had chartered the vessel, appointing their own English Master, it was thought best as a matter of policy not to proceed with this. The wreck of the Eden now lies off Fe’Camp on the eastern end of the Seine Bay at a depth of 34 metres. It was one of a class of torpedo boat destroyer of which 34 in total were built in the early years of the 20thcentury and was launched in 1903. France continued her war service as a hospital ship in the Dardanelles and after the war returned to her former trans-Atlantic activities which continued into the 1930s.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Census 1891 and 1901
Free BMD Deaths Index
National Archives – Service record ADM 196/139 and 144; Collision papers ADM1/8463/179
The Navy List
Aberdeen Journal 19 June 1916
The Times Monday 19 June 1916
New York times 18 June 1916
Aberdeen Press & Journal 29 June 1916 – full account of the funeral
The West Australian 19 June 1934
Anne Park: “Banchory War Memorial” p.8
www.naval-history.net
www.channeldiving.com
www.scottishsporthistory.com
Armorial Families : A Directory of Coat-Armour at www.ancestry.co.uk
Memorials at Christ Church Episcopal Church, Kincardine O’Neil
Sergt. A. M. Farquhar Gordon Hrs.
Alexander Milne Farquhar was born in the parish of Kincardine O’Neil on 26 January 1893, the son of Alexander Farquhar and Mary Milne, both of whom came from Lumphanan. In 1901 the family was living at Woodside in Aberdeen. Alexander had a sister May, who was two years younger. Later, Alexander (senior) and Mary lived at Sawmill Cottage, Torphins. In 1911, aged 18, young Alexander was employed by Charles Birse as a horseman at Little Maldron, Torphins, where there was a water-and horse-driven mill.
Alexander Farquhar enlisted in the 9th Bn. Gordon Highlanders (Service no. 705). The 9th were a pioneer battalion. In the early part of June 1917, they were on the Western Front behind the lines of the Ypres salient, engaged in drill and training. On 17 June they were transported by train to the railhead at Hopoutre near Poperinghe. (It is said that the soldiers, displaying our national genius for mangling other people’s languages, liked to say that Hopoutre was so named as it was where they were accustomed to “hop out”, or in the case of the Gordons probably “hop oot”, of the trains transporting them back to the front). In the latter part of the month, the 9th were deployed in digging and repairing trenches, sandbagging and laying cables and trench boards, at times under heavy fire. Farquhar died of wounds on 28 June 1917 at the age of 24.
The battalion diary sheds no light on when Sergt. Farquhar was injured or what exactly happened to him. His personal service record was destroyed in the bombing of London in September 1940. Possibly his wounds were sustained in the course of the battalion’s operations in late June 1917, but it is impossible to tell. His place of burial suggests a strong likelihood that he was treated at the medical facilities close to Lijssenthoek. He is commemorated at Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, Belgium.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Registers of Births and Marriages
Census 1901 and 1911
National Archives – War Diary of the 9th Gordon Highlanders WO95-1929-3
Capt. H. B. Farquhar C. S. Rifles
Hobart Brooks Farquhar was the youngest son of Admiral Sir Arthur Farquhar KCB of Drumnagesk and his wife Ellen, born at Carlogie, Dess on 16 April 1874. The 1881 census finds him there aged 6, living with his parents, sisters Jane and Alice and brother Charles. He was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge.
Farquhar’s military career seems to have begun in the 1890s. Aged about 21, he went to South Africa in 1895, serving as a private in the Rhodesian Volunteers in the Matabele rebellion of 1896. He then joined the Civil Service but interrupted his career to serve again in the Boer War, first with the rank of Sergeant in the Rhodesian Volunteers, later as a Lieutenant in Thorneycroft’s Mounted Infantry. In 1904 he married Ida Violet Wolfe Barry at St Margaret’s, Westminster. She was four years younger, and the daughter of a civil engineer. From 1904 – 1912 he was a local authority District Auditor first in Lancashire then in Staffordshire, during which time, in 1909, he was called to the bar of the Inner Temple. In 1913 he became Inspector of Audits in the office of the National Health Insurance Commissioners.
By the time he joined up in September 1914, Hobart Brooks Farquhar was no longer a particularly young man. He had passed his 40th birthday, and had an established career and family responsibilities. He was living in Woking and had three children: Nesta aged 9, Phoebe 8, and Anthony aged a year and four months. A further daughter Felicity was to be born in August 1915. He appears, bespectacled and studious in his military uniform, in the pages of his old school’s “Memorials of the Great War”. Perhaps, as his earlier life suggests, he had a taste for soldiering, or an overpowering sense of patriotic duty, or a combination of the two. Maybe he missed the action-packed life of his twenties. He was appointed to the London Regiment (Prince of Wales Own Civil Service Rifles) 15th Battalion as a Lieutenant then promoted to the rank of Captain. He probably saw his family for the last time in February/March 1916 when, after two weeks of bronchitis, he was allowed home for a short period of leave.
Capt. Farquhar was posted “Wounded and missing on 21-23 May 1916”. The unit War Diary records the circumstances. The battalion began the day with a Church Parade at Camblain L’Abbé. By the evening they had moved up the line and were in position to mount an attack on enemy trenches. At 10.15pm Capt. Farquhar with “B” Company reported to Brigade Headquarters and they were issued with 200 extra rounds of ammunition per rifleman, and extra bombs. At 2.10am “B” Company moved forward attacking in two lines, under very heavy musketry and machine gun fire supported by a strong artillery barrage. At 2.45am “B” Company was reinforced by two platoons of “D” Company. By 4am on 22 May the line was “generally speaking quiet”, and some ground had been gained. At the end of the diary entry that day, it was noted that 2 officers, including Capt. Farquhar, were wounded and missing, 8 other ranks were missing; there were 9 killed and 73 wounded.
A number of men were interviewed about what had happened to Capt. Farquhar. The War Office file discloses that the precise circumstances and even the fact of his death proved hard to establish. There was at first some evidence from a stretcher bearer that he had been wounded and brought in by the Field Ambulance but this rumour, which Mrs Farquhar checked out in person at the Fulham Military Hospital on the morning of 7 June 1916, appears to have been incorrect. L/Cpl Watson who was also wounded in an attack on German trenches on the night of Sunday 21 May reported being told “that Capt. Farquhar had been hit. Shortly after he saw a figure in a hollow in the open which he is sure was an officer and feels certain was Capt. Farquhar. The night was dark – he did not go close enough to clearly identify the Officer – he spoke to him but got no reply though he saw the Officer wave his cane”.
There was also a daring attempt to recover his body, which the file suggests earned the author of the following piece the Military Cross:
“On the morning of the 22nd May 1916 at about 1 A.M. “B” Company with Captain F. i/c was sent up to counter-attack.
At 1.45 a.m. (about) Colonel W. sent me up with two platoons to re-inforce “B” Company. On reaching the “front line” (a series of little pieces of blown in trench) I found the remnants of “B” Company mostly wounded crawling in from No Mans land. I asked one or two of these men where Captain F was and they told me they had seen him fall wounded near the German wire. I got up on top and crawled out to find him. Some more wounded men lying in shell holes showed me the direction he was supposed to be but though I hunted about a good while (it was then beginning to get a bit light) I could find no trace of him… As you very well know it is a most difficult thing to find anyone during an engagement of that kind, particularly as the men of F’s Company did not seem absolutely sure where he had gone.”
Another member of the Captain’s Battalion claimed to have information that his body was found on the German wire in front of Vimy in about July of 1916, and he believed that the body had been brought in and buried.
In these uncertain circumstances, clinging desperately to the hope that her husband might have been taken prisoner, Mrs Farquhar strongly petitioned the War Office to make no official declaration of his death until the war was over; but in April 1919 she officially accepted the inevitable conclusion that he had died at some time on 21-23 May 1916.
This soldier is commemorated at Christ Church Episcopal Church, Kincardine O’Neil, by a fine brass plaque on the north wall of the chancel, placed by his wife “In memory of my beloved husband…Killed in action at Vimy Ridge on May 22nd 1916”. Mrs Farquhar lived on until 1959 when she died in Surrey. It seems she did not remarry.
1916 must have been a miserable year for the Drumnagesk Farquhars. Capt. Farquhar had gone missing in May, and in June his nephew Alastair (see Lieut. A. C. N. Farquhar) went down with his ship in the Channel.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Register of Births
Census Scotland 1891
Census England 1891
England & Wales Free BMD index 1837-1915 (in Ancestry.com)
National Archives – Officer’s file WO/374/23618; War Diary of the London Regiment (Prince of Wales Own Civil Service Rifles) 1/15thBattalion WO95-2732
Cambridge University Alumni 1261-1900
Harrow Memorials of the Great War Vol 6 (Internet Archive) with photo
Aboyne War Memorial
Private R. J. Findlay King’s Royal Rifles
This is James Reid Findlay (J.R. not R.J.). He was born on 31 July 1889 at Blairhead Farm, Campfield, near Torphins, son of a farmer, George, and his wife Isobella Reid who had married at Coull in 1882. In 1891, he was the youngest child of a large family and in 1901 he was the middle child of five still living at home, having three sisters and a brother. He enlisted at London (though his address at the time was Stonehaven), and became a Rifleman of the King’s Royal Rifle Corps 2nd Bn. (No. R/17568). He was killed in action on the Western Front on 30 June 1916 possibly in a frustrated attack on enemy lines that evening.
The battalion War Diary records preparations for an attack on enemy trenches in the days preceding 30 June 1916, including practice in model trenches, and gives a vivid account of the day. On 30 June there was a “quiet morning and afternoon” and at 7.30pm the battalion, less parties selected for the attack, moved into billets. The remainder moved into the starting places allotted to them, and by 8.30pm were all ready. At 9pm bridges were put up and the enemy either saw this or the men assembling in the trenches, and opened heavy fire with trench mortars and artillery causing many casualties. At 9.15pm three mines were sprung and at 9.16pm the column went over the parapet. The diary noted that the two parties on the right failed to penetrate defensive heavy wire and consequently “what remained of them” turned south to join up with and assist the Royal Sussex Regiment, but their joint efforts were unsuccessful on account of wire and machine gun fire. The centre column reached and entered the enemy trench, but found its right on the receiving end of a bombing attack, and did not succeed in joining up with the left column. The senior officer on the spot, Major W.D. Barber, ordered a withdrawal. The left column rushed the trench appointed to them and remained in action till 3am, when they were also ordered to withdraw. The battalion’s casualties of this unsuccessful raid were 35 officers and men killed or died of wounds, 173 wounded and 24 missing.
Private Findlay is commemorated on the Arras memorial.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War [they spell his surname Findley]
1891 and 1901 Census
Register of births
National Archives Kew – War Diary of the 2nd Bn Kings Royal Rifles WO95/1272/6
Aberdeen Evening Express 30 June 1917 – In memoriam notice and verse.
Lieut. L. H. V. Fraser Middlx. Regt.
Lachlan Henry Veitch Fraser was the youngest son of Major Francis and Alexia Mary Beatrice de Dombal Fraser of Tornaveen, Torphins. He was born at Tornaveen on 22 April 1894, the fourth of five children, having two older brothers, one older sister and one younger.
He attended school first at St Helens College, Southsea, then (from 1908) at Malvern College, where he was a member of the OTC. He was registered at 8 The College, Malvern in the census of 1911. We know a lot about the young Lachlan from his form of application for a cadetship in the Royal Military College in December 1912. His headmaster, giving a somewhat tentative reference, told the army “He has considerable force of character…He is somewhat thoughtless and impetuous, but shows courage and dash…A fine football player… This boy has plenty of life and go about him & will make a good soldier but I should think he may not be exactly easy to manage…I recommend this boy because I believe that he will come on well, but of course that is rather a matter of instinct than of knowledge on my part”. He further advised: “He comes of a fighting stock”.
Indeed he did. His form gives particulars: great grandfather Francis Fraser, a Captain in the Royal Navy, great uncle Col. R. Winchester of the Gordon Highlanders who fought in the Peninsular War and at Waterloo, grandfather Capt. Henderson Macdonald of the 78th Highlanders who served in Persia; a great uncle who served in the Crimea and another in the Baltic; father a Major in the 3rd East Yorkshire Regiment; brothers Francis in the Seaforths and Douglas in the 3rd Gordon Highlanders; cousins the Hon. R. Robertson and Oliver Haig, who had both been in the South African campaign; another cousin Capt. A.W. Robertson-Glasgow of the Garhwal Rifles, who was also a brother-in-law married to his older sister Violet, and finally cousin Lt. Gen. Sir Douglas Haig, later Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Forces in France and Flanders.
Fraser succeeded in his application to the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. He embarked for France in September 1914 as part of the British Expeditionary Force, was promoted to the rank of temporary Lieutenant in the 4th Battalion, Duke of Cambridge’s Own (Middlesex Regiment) on 15 November and became a Lieutenant on 1 January 1915. He was Mentioned in Despatches for gallant and distinguished service in the field, only a week before being killed in action at Ypres on 24 February 1915, a few weeks short of his 21stbirthday.
The 4th Middlesex had relieved the 2nd Bn Royal Scots in the trenches on 22 February. On 23 February they sent upThe battalion were not engaged in any particular action on 24 February, when the War Diary entry reads as follows:
“Nothing happened during the day. Lieutenant (Temporary) L. H. V. Fraser and 3 men killed and 4 men wounded during the evening. A Company was relieved by B Company , C Company by D Company. There was a bright moonlight (sic) and 5 of the casualties occurred during this relief. There was a heavy bombardment on our left all day and heavy rifle fire all night but our front was fairly quiet. The Brigade Major went round all our trenches in the evening and suggested the building up of another row of sandbags all along our line. This was immediately taken in hand”.
A note in the margin of the diary at this point reads: “During this tour of duty in the trenches, the Germans had a trench mortar shelling along our M section every night but it did very little damage only cutting the wire in places”.
A telegram to Major Fraser at Tornaveen on 26 February from the War Office carried the news: “Deeply regret to inform you that Lieut. L.H.V. Fraser 4 Middlesex Regt was killed in action 24 February. Lord Kitchener expresses his sympathy”. Press reports at the time noted that Fraser’s commanding officer described him as “a universal favourite in his regiment and did not know what fear was” and that he was killed instantaneously.
In April 1915, the Malvernian printed an obituary: “Naturally brave and regardless of risks he was well qualified for the work which our officers have been called upon to perform in the war”. It quoted a fellow officer who wrote of him that the men would have done anything for him or have gone anywhere.
Lachlan Fraser was buried at Godezonne Farm Cemetery. Mrs Fraser took up correspondence with the War Office regarding her son’s missing effects – his sword, revolver and pocket book. In August that year at least two other children of the family were in France: older brother Francis, who earned the Military Cross, and went on to train for the new-fangled Royal Flying Corps, and younger sister Carey then aged 19 and at Dinan, whose later war service in France with the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry earned her the Croix de Guerre andLégion d’Honneur in 1918. Both survived the war. Francis went on to serve in World War II.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Census Scotland 1891 and 1901
Census England & Wales 1911
National Archives - Officers File WO339/11152; 4th Bn War Diary WO95/1422/2_1
Aberdeen Evening Express 27 February 1915: “TORPHINS All in this district are greatly pleased to learn of the high honour won by Lieutenant L. H. V. Fraser of the 4th Battalion Middlesex regiment, son of Major Francis Fraser of Tornaveen, who was mentioned in Sir John French’s latest dispatch. This, together with his rapid promotion, is very gratifying”.
Aberdeen Evening Express 4 March 1915
Aberdeen Press & Journal 5 March 1915
Dundee Evening Telegraph 5 March 1915
Malvern College Roll of Honour
Imperial War Museum obituary
De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour 1914-1924
Private W. G. Fraser N.Z. Ex. Force
On the Kincardine O’Neil memorial this soldier’s initials are W. G. but on the Torphins memorial D. R. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission have no record of a New Zealand casualty with the initials W. G. and no one on their list of W. G. Frasers appears to have any connection with Kincardine O’Neil, though these records are by no means the final word on the matter.
There is however a New Zealand entry for Duncan Reid Fraser, matching the Torphins initials, who was a son of James Fraser of Gallowcairn, Torphins, born 26 January 1892. He emigrated to New Zealand and settled in Auckland. In the spring of 1915, he embarked on military training, giving his occupation as “Farm Labourer”. This must have been voluntary as conscription was not introduced until the following year. He was certified fit in April, and assigned on 28 May 1915 as Rifleman (no. 24/145) to the New Zealand Training Unit, Trentham Regiment, 2nd Battalion, Company “A”.
Private Fraser took ill, and was admitted to hospital in Wellington on 22 June 1915. He died there, a month later on 21 July, of cerebro-spinal meningitis. His body was moved to Auckland for burial, as his sister was there. He is buried in the Fraser Road Public Cemetery, Pokeno. Aucklandmuseum.com’s online Cenotaph has a tinted portrait of him pre-war, a photograph of his funeral procession, and of his gravestone “Erected by his Comrades”.
Fraser’s father remained at Gallowcairn until after the war, though he was at Broombrae when he acknowledged receipt of a memorial plaque and scroll (possibly in the early 1920s - the papers are undated). The family had a strong connection with the locality, as revealed by an article in the Aberdeen Press & Journal on 7 June 1919 celebrating Fraser’s centenarian granny Mrs George Fraser, under the heading “An Echt Centenarian”. Mrs Fraser’s husband had farmed at Upper Fittie and, despite her very advanced age, it was noted that she had made her own contribution to the war effort: “She has always been a great knitter and regularly wove [yes, wove] socks for the soldiers”.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Register of Births
Archives New Zealand – Military Personnel File 24/145
Auklandmuseum.com
Aberdeen Press & Journal 7 June 1919
[No definite ID in passenger lists]
Private J. Gavin Aus. Ex. Force
John William Gavin was born at 13 St Peter Street, Peterhead on 9 November 1890, son of Grain Merchant John Gavin from Udny and Mary George Cruikshank from Elgin, who had married at Fraserburgh in 1888. In 1891 the Gavins were at Peter Street, Peterhead, including four month old John William and his two-year-old brother, Thomas R. Ten years on they were at Mill of Leslie, Insch, where father John was working as both miller and farmer; the family had expanded to five boys and three girls. John Gavin later had the mill at Mill of Ennets, within the parish of Kincardine O’Neil, and the children attended school at Tornaveen.
Gavin emigrated to Australia, in about 1910, to work (like George Gordon and William Bews) on the railways. He volunteered for service in 1915. His enlistment papers, signed at Keswick, South Australia on 16 July 1915, show that he was employed at that time as an engine cleaner. He was allocated to the 9th Light Horse Regiment of the Australian Infantry Force (no.1385), and dispatched to the Dardanelles as part of the 3rd Light Horse Brigade. He sailed to Heliopolis in December 1915 at about the time of the Allies’ withdrawal following unsuccessful efforts to capture the Gallipoli peninsula. The regiment proceeded to Serapeum at the end of February 1916 where the 3rd Light Horse as part of the ANZAC Mounted Division participated in the defence of the Suez Canal from the Turks, at a time when the Allies were striving to push the Ottoman army out of the Sinai Peninsula. On 9 August 1916 the 9th Light Horse were engaged in a confrontation with Turkish artillery. In the course of this action John Gavin was first thought to be missing, having been taken prisoner, but it was after confirmed that he had been killed in action.
On 23 September 1916 the Aberdeen Journal reported: “Official information has been received by Mr John Gavin, 52 Whitehall Place, and late of Mill of Ennets, Torphins, that his son, Trooper J. W. Gavin, Australian Imperial Force, has been killed in action. Trooper Gavin, who was 25 years of age, was for six years engaged on the South Australian Railways. Prior to emigrating to Australia he was employed with the Caledonian Railway Company at Glasgow”.
Mrs Gavin received a memorial scroll and plaque and her son’s effects: an identity disc, wallet, 2 letters, photograph, postcard, writing paper case, musketry book, letter, pipe, badges and handkerchief.
Private Gavin is buried or commemorated at Kantara War Memorial Cemetery in Egypt, on the east side of the Suez Canal, and is also commemorated on the Aberdeen City Roll of Honour.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Register of Births
Census 1891 and 1901
National Archives of Australia – Service record – Series B2455 item 4028560 at naa.gov.au
alh-research.tripod.com - unit history and war diary for 9/8/1916
www.aif.adfa.edu.au – re Anzacs in the Great War
www.awm.gov.au
Aberdeen Journal and Aberdeen Weekly Journal 29 September 1916
2nd Lieut. W. O. Gilmour Scott. Horse
Williejohn Oberlin Gilmour was born at Armadale in Sutherland on 30 May 1884, son of William Gilmour B.A. and Barbara Learmonth Gilmour. There was a lot of teaching in the Gilmour family: William was a teacher; Barbara was a teacher’s assistant; Williejohn became a teacher and in due course married a teacher.
Williejohn Gilmour was the eldest of at least six children. He had four younger sisters and a younger brother notably named Marcus Aurelius. His mother was a native of Orkney, born in Stronsay. The family appear in Westray, Orkney in 1891 where Marcus Aurelius and his sister Barbara were both born, two years apart. By 1901 the family were living in the School House, Huntly. Williejohn was educated first at his father’s various schools, then at Robert Gordon’s College in Aberdeen.
He served in the Scottish Horse Imperial Yeomanry from 1904-8 and appears after that to have remained a member of the University troop while at Aberdeen University. Graduating with an M.A. degree in 1911, he was one of two students taking degree examinations in Greek. He taught for a time at Paisley Grammar School as an assistant and, on the outbreak of war, was a master at Leith Academy, Edinburgh. On the day war was declared (4 August 1914), he re-enlisted as a Trooper in his old regiment, despite the offer of a commission in the Gordon Highlanders. In November 1914 the Scottish Horse moved from Scone to Northumberland. In January 1915 they were attached to the 63rd (2nd Northumberland) Division working on coastal defences.
On 25 May 1915, Williejohn Gilmour married Madge Gordon Sim, schoolteacher, at Torphins. They were to enjoy married life together for no more than about ten weeks. He was sent to Gallipoli as Quartermaster-Sergeant in the 1st Brigade, embarking from Devonport on 15 August 1915 and arriving at Suvla Bay, via Malta, on 1 September. On the evacuation of Gallipoli in December that year, the 1st Scottish Horse moved to Egypt. Gilmour spent a couple of weeks in hospital in Alexandria with jaundice in January 1916. In February the battalion was absorbed into the 1st Dismounted Brigade under the orders of the 52nd (Lowland) Division, engaged in Suez Canal defences. On 10 March 1916 he was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant. Twelve days later, his wife gave birth on 22 March to a son, James Gordon Gilmour, at her parents‘ address, Auchintoul in Torphins.
On 1 October 1916, the 13th (Scottish Horse Yeomanry) Bn. Black Watch was formed of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd dismounted battalions of the Scottish Horse. They (and Gilmour with them) moved to Salonika, joining the 27th Division 81st Brigade.
2nd Lieut. Gilmour was killed while on patrol, near Kakaraska on the Struma front in Macedonia, on 15 May 1917 at the age of 32. His unit at that time were attached to the South Nottinghamshire Hussars. At the time of his death, both parents, his younger brother and four sisters lived at Crathes Schoolhouse. His parents later resided in Peterculter. In 1921, Madge, still living at Auchintoul, married Robert Davidson, a Torphins railway signalman.
According to the records of his old university,
“Lieutenant Gilmour’s death was a great blow to his numerous friends and comrades-in-arms, as his cheerful and obliging disposition made him a general favourite both in school and on service”.
He is commemorated on the Doiran Memorial – also on the War Memorial at Banchory.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Registers of Births & Marriages
Censuses 1891 & 1901
Soldiers Died in the Great War – they have date of death wrong (1915 instead of 1917) and also have him as Willis John.
National Archives: Officers file - WO 374/27407; British Army WW1 Medal Rolls Index Cards
Aberdeen Press & Journal 19 November 1911
Aberdeen Evening Express 27 May 1915 - Marriage
Aberdeen Press & Journal 25 March 1916 – birth of son; 25 April 1916 – promotion (+ photo)
Aberdeen Evening Express 5 June 1917 – Roll of Honour – killed on patrol – attached to S. Notts Hussars
University of Aberdeen Roll of Honour
Robert Gordon’s College Roll of Honour (+ photo)
Anne Park:”Banchory War Memorial” p.10
www.longlongtrail.co.uk
The Wartime Memories Project
Private G. Gordon Aus. Ex. Force
Private R. R. Gordon Royal Marines
These two were brothers, six years apart. They were sons of John Gordon, Farmer, and Georgina Ingram who had married at Oldmachar Aberdeen in 1878. The family appears in the 1891 census living at Pitmedden Farm, Craigmyle. John Gordon is stated to have been born in the parish, and his wife came from Banffshire. In 1891 there were six children, of whom George was the second youngest. John’s mother Mary and two servants lived with them. By 1901 George had two more brothers William and Robert then aged 8 and 6. George and Robert died within a very few months of one another in the last year of the war.
Private G. Gordon
George Gordon was born on 17 February 1888 at Pitmedden, Torphins, and appears with the family in the censuses of 1891 and 1901. In 1911 he emigrated, sailing
for Australia from London on board the “Durham” on 27 June 1911, as one of a large gang of “railway workers” which included William Bews who was also to become a casualty of the war. Gordon and Bews were born only weeks apart, and it seems likely that at the very least they knew one another and may possibly have been friends. Work was about to begin on the construction of the trans-continental Australian railway from Port Augusta to Kalgoorlie; possibly labour was being imported for that purpose.
George Gordon enlisted, as a volunteer, at Mount Gambier South Australia on 6 March 1916. He gave the name of his mother, still residing at Pitmedden, as his next of kin. The enlistment papers note his occupation as “Farm labourer” and he was then 27 years old. He was appointed to “B” Company 2nd Depot Battalion, then 50th Battalion of the A.I.F. and shipped to Tel-el-kebir, possibly for training. From there he was transferred to Alexandria, then embarked in early June 1916 on the “Arcadian” bound for Marseilles where his unit were to join the British Expeditionary Force. After about six weeks in France, Gordon spent a short time in hospital suffering from gastro-enteritis, but rejoined his unit at the beginning of September 1916. On 30 March the following year, he took sick again with a case of “S.T.A. Foot” which kept him out of action until 20 April. Then on 10 June 1917 he suffered a gunshot wound to the hip, rejoining the battalion on about 26 July.
On 24 April 1918, German forces captured the village of Villers-Bretonneux in Picardy. It was recaptured, in the course of that evening and the following day, by Australians of the 4th and 5th Divisions of the First Australian Imperial Force, including the 50th Battalion, at the cost of massive Australian casualties. Private Gordon was one of them. He died on 25 April 1918.
A note in his service record states that “Owing to the severity of action the body was not recovered by this Battalion”, but possibly that was superseded, as a separate note reads “Buried 500 yds S. of Villers-Bretonneux”. He is commemorated on the Villers-Bretonneux memorial.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Registers of Births & Marriages
Census 1891 and 1901
National Archives of Australia: Series B2455 - Item No. 4774613
www.ancestorsonboard.com
Wikipedia re 50th Bn. AIF’s involvement at Villers-Bretonneux April 1918
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour at awm.gov.au
Aberdeen Evening Express 17 May 1918
Private R. R. Gordon
On the outbreak of the First World War a brigade of Marines was formed for service ashore. Robert Gordon served in one such brigade. At the time of his death he was an Able Seaman of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, Hawke Bn. R.N. Division (Service no. ClydeZ/1754).
Robert Reid Gordon was born at Torphins on 25 November 1894. In 1901 he was the youngest of 8 children. In 1911, aged 16, he was working on his father’s farm.
Robert Gordon enlisted as a volunteer in the first weeks of the war, on 25 October 1914, the month before his twentieth birthday. At that point in time he gave his occupation as farm servant, living still at Pitmedden. He was assigned to Benbow Bn., Blandford. In June 1915 he was transferred from Benbow to Anson Bn. and despatched to Gallipoli. On 16 September 1915 he was taken ill with enteritis and transported by the hospital ship “Somali” to hospital on Malta. On 8 October 1915 he was sent back to England on the “Massilia” and admitted to Haslar Hospital with dysentery. By early November 1915, he was fit enough to return to duty. In July 1916, having been transferred to Hawke Bn. part of the British Expeditionary Force, he disembarked at Boulogne from England where his unit joined the 63rd Royal Naval Division, and on 13 September 1916 he joined the 8th Entrenching Bn. He had a period of leave from 29 August 1917 to 8 September 1917, which was probably his last.
Private Gordon was 23, and back in the care of the 149th Royal Naval Field Ambulance, France, when he died of wounds to his left shoulder on 2 January 1918, about three months before George. He is buried at Villers-Plouich Communal Cemetery.
No details of the precise circumstances of Robert Gordon’s death have been found. However, the 63rd Royal Naval Division took part in the second battle of Passchendaele in October and November 1917, suffering massive losses, and were also involved in the action of Welsh Ridge on 30 December 1917; his place of commemoration at Villers-Plouich Communal Cemetery suggests he was probably a casualty of those engagements.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Census 1901 and 1911
National Archives - Service record GBM_ADM339-0025
Online sources regarding RND action late 1917
Aberdeen Press & Journal and Aberdeen Evening Express 17 January 1918.
Bombardier W.H. Hall R.H.A.
This is William Harry Hall, son of John Hall, groom, and Catherine Fraser, domestic servant. His father came from Aberdalgie in Perthshire and his mother from Old Deer, so neither was a native of the parish. They married at Crimond. William was born on 5 June 1886 at Slains Castle, and in 1891 when William was four, parents and five children were living at the Coachman’s Rooms, Slains Castle with Mrs Hall’s mother. William was at that time the middle child of five, having two older sisters and two younger brothers.
By 1901 the family were at Kincardine O’ Neil, at an address known as “Coachman’s Cottage” (probably Dess). Mr Hall was employed as a coachman, his two eldest daughters, Mary aged 18 and Catherine 16 were in service, and young William then aged 14 was employed as a stable boy. A further three girls had been born since 1891 – Helen, Christina and Elizabeth. Mr and Mrs Hall later lived at Dess Cottage, Dess Station.
When he enlisted, Hall himself was living in Inverness. He most probably joined the 1st Inverness-shire battery of the Royal Horse Artillery, The function of the R.H.A. was to provide support for the cavalry using comparatively light, mobile, guns. They were deployed in the Middle-East from 1915 for the duration of the war. The Inverness-shire batteries became part of 18 Brigade in which, at the time of his death, Hall was an acting Bombardier (no. 600110). The RHA (“S” Battery) were encamped at Shahroban throughout September and October of 1918 with no particular activities noted in the War Diary.
Bombardier Hall died in Egypt aged 32 on 4 November 1918, missing the armistice by only a week and having apparently fallen victim to disease. The Aberdeen Weekly Journal on 6 December 1918 reported that he had “died of pneumonia and malaria at an hospital in Egypt…son of John Hall, Chauffeur, Dess”.
He is buried at Ramleh War Cemetery and also commemorated in the south-west corner of the old parish churchyard at Kincardine O’Neil, along with his mother, who died in 1916, and father who lived till 1945.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Registers of Births & Marriages
Census 1891 and 1901
National Archives – War Diary of the Royal Horse Artillery “S” Battery WO95/5087_5
Kincardine O’Neil old churchyard – memorial in south-west corner
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 6 December 2018
Army Register of Soldiers’ Effects 1901-1929 on Ancestry.co.uk
Longlongtrail.co.uk
Private W. Hepburn Can. Ex. Force
Private A. Hepburn H.L.I.
These two men were brothers. William was born in 1892; Alexander in 1894. Their elder brother Charles (born 1890) also served with the Canadians.
William, Alexander and Charles were sons of James Hepburn, Farm Overseer, and Helen Walker who was a native of Lumphanan where the couple married. The family lived for a time at Hillhead, Peterculter, then Danestone and, during the war at Milton, Campfield, Glassel. In October 1914, Mr Hepburn contributed to Lady Sempill’s Aberdeenshire fund for motor ambulances for the front in a conflict that was to claim two of his sons in 1917.
Private William Hepburn
William was born on 30 December 1892 at Banchory. He emigrated to Canada and became a Motorman (driver) on the Toronto Street Railway. He was unmarried when he enlisted at Toronto on 13 August 1915 in the 92nd Overseas Bn (48th Highlanders) of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (no. 192525). His unit sailed from Halifax on 20 May 1916 on the “Empress of Britain”, arriving in England on 29 May where he appears to have remained for a few months before proceeding to France in September, following a transfer, in August to the 42nd Bn. of the Canadian Infantry (Quebec) Regiment (Royal Highlanders of Canada).
The 42nd, as befitted their Scottish origins, supported their own pipe band. They remained in France and Flanders throughout the war, as part of the 7th Infantry Brigade of the 3rd Canadian Division. In the final week of March 1917 they were involved in the allied advance on the Hindenburg Line.
Private Hepburn died on 28 March 1917. An extract from the battalion War Diary on that day suggests he may have been the victim of a sniper: “From No.3 Longfellow Post Snipers were able to enfilade Blurt Trench and several hundred yards of the Artillerie Weg, where they had numerous targets and claimed several hits”.
He is buried at Écoivres Military Cemetery, Mont-St.Eloi.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Scottish Statutory Register of Births
1901 Census
Ancestorsonboard (uncertain passenger list identification – possibly “Saturnia” 20 March 1913)
Library and Archives of Canada – Personnel Records of the First World War – file B4283-SO35
Internet Archive - War Diary of the 42nd Bn. Canadian Expeditionary Force
Veterans.gc.ca (includes photo of his tombstone at Écoivres).
Aberdeen Journal 14 April 1917
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 20 April 1917 - “Intimation has been received by Mr and Mrs Hepburn, Milton of Campfield, Glassel, that their second son, Private William Hepburn, had been killed in action on 28th March. He joined the Canadians, and came to this country in the end of 1916”.
Alexander Hepburn
Alexander was born on 8 December 1894 at Hillhead of Cults, Peterculter. He joined up at Aberdeen and became Private no. 31109 in the 14th (Service) Bn of the Highland Light Infantry – one of the “Bantam Battalions”. (George Taylor was in the same battalion). The 14th HLI were sent to France for service on the Western Front in June 1916 becoming part of the 120th Brigade in the 40th Division.
It was reported in November 1917, when Mr and Mrs Hepburn were no doubt still trying to come to terms with the loss of William in March, that their eldest son, Charles, was suffering from gas poisoning and had been admitted to hospital in England. Not long after, they must have received the even worse news of Alexander’s death on 24 November 1917.
It is impossible to know exactly what happened to him, but the battalion War Diary offers some insights into the events of that day. On the evening of 23 November 1917 they were ordered up to the Hindenburg Support Line (two or three hundred yards beyond the Germans’ defensive Hindenburg Line) to support the 121st Brigade but were stood down as not required. The Battalion diary records “Men very tired”. The following morning, under orders to capture the village of Bourlon, they moved to Bourlon Wood through a barrage at Graincourt, and on to Anneux Chapel and, in the course of the afternoon, entered and occupied the village. Needless to say there had been casualties along the way, one platoon having, as the Diary puts it been “knocked out” in the barrage.
He is commemorated at the Cambrai Memorial, Louverval.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Register of Births
1901 Census
Aberdeen Press & Journal 13 November 1917 – re Charles
National Archives - War Diary of the 14th Bn HLI WO 95/2612/1
Private J. P. Kemp R.A.S.C.
Joseph Petrie Kemp was born at Aboyne on 17 February 1889. He was the son of Albert Kemp, woollen manufacturer who was born at Leochel Cushnie, and Annie Winks Kemp (nee Petrie), born Kincardine O’Neil. In 1891 the family were living at Waulkmill, Dess. In 1901 he was the eldest child living in the household at Gordon Mills, Aboyne on census night, having four younger brothers and two sisters. By 1911 the family were at 61 Cross Street, Fraserburgh. They had clearly begun a relationship with the new-fangled motor car, as Albert was working as a doctor’s chauffeur and Joseph as a domestic chauffeur. On 4 April 1913, at Glasgow, Joseph Kemp married Janet Mason Young, known as Jenny and described on their marriage certificate as a “Vocalist”.
By 1916 Joseph Kemp was working for the Royal Hotel, Fraserburgh, as appears from a report in the Aberdeen Journal on 19 April 1916 about a meeting of the conscription appeal tribunal before Provost Finlayson. Among other things it was noted that “Joseph Kemp (29), motorman at the Royal Hotel, was appealed for by his employer, Mr Alex. Davidson, who said Kemp was a married man, and had three brothers serving…..”. Conditional (and presumably temporary) exemption was granted, but in due course Kemp was recruited to the Royal Army Service Corps (M338240) and the 42nd Motor Ambulance Convoy.
On 18 November 1918 the Aberdeen Journal carried the following news of Private Kemp’s death two weeks previously on 4 November 1918: “Private Joseph Kemp, motor transport, A.S.C…… was formerly chauffeur at the Royal Hotel, Fraserburgh. His wife and children reside in Glasgow”. The children were Agnes aged 5 and Joseph aged 3, and Mrs Kemp was living at 791 Gallowgate, Glasgow. The Aberdeen Weekly Journal of 27 December 1918 has a photo of Kemp wearing goggles over his cap at a rakish angle – one of several occupying much of a full page spread under the heading “DIED FOR KING AND COUNTRY”.
He is buried or commemorated at Étaples Military Cemetery.
In July 1919 this soldier was honoured as a member of Solomon Lodge, along with 46 other members of local masonic lodges, at a memorial service in Fraserburgh Parish Church conducted by five ministers of the town with the Fraserburgh Pipe Band.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War [National Archives say enlisted Glasgow; Naval & Military Press say enlisted Fraserburgh]
Register of Births
Census 1891, 1901 and 1911.
Aberdeen Journal 19 April 1916
Aberdeen Journal 18 November 1916
Aberdeen Weeky Journal 27 December 1918
Aberdeen Journal 15 July 1919
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 18 July 1919
Capt. J. M. McLaggan M.C. R.A.M.C.
James Murray McLaggan was born on 19 July 1891 at the Town & County Bank, Torphins. He was the son of a banker, James McLaggan of Tollapark, Kinross, and his wife Sarah Ann Murray, who had married at Newburgh in 1882. In 1901 the family was living at Bank House, Torphins and at that time James was one of six children - four girls and two boys - ranging in age from 16 to 4. He attended Torphins school, and later Robert Gordon's College. From 1908, he was a student at the University of Aberdeen where he graduated Bachelor of Medicine in 1913.
The young Dr McLaggan was working as a house physician at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary when war broke out, and immediately enlisted, receiving a temporary commission in the Royal Army Medical Corps on 22 August 1914. He was sent to Nettley Hospital and was then attached to the 3rd Bn. Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment), with whom he served throughout the war, first of all in France from January of 1915. He was awarded the Military Cross at the battle of Loos “For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty during the operations of 27th to 30th September 1915, when he attended to the wounded in the firing line under heavy shell and rifle fire. His coolness and skill undoubtedly saved many lives. For three days and four nights he worked incessantly with unflagging energy”.
Following the Battle of Loos, the 3rd Bn were ordered to Salonika via Egypt in order to support Serbian forces against the Bulgarians. In July 1918 they moved back to France where Capt. McLaggan was offered, and refused, an administrative job. He was killed in action three months later, on 4 October 1918.
On that date, the battalion was engaged, as part of the 149th Brigade of the 50th Division, in the Allied advance on the Hindenburg defences between Le Catelet and Vendhuile towards a redoubt at Richmond Copse. They had to descend a slope to the Scheldt Canal and then climb up the opposite side, under heavy fire. In so doing they took prisoner a large number of enemy machine-gunners, but had to retreat more or less to their starting point, finding themselves practically isolated at the point of their objective. Casualties were extremely heavy, though the capture of enemy gunners facilitated a subsequent more lasting advance over the same ground.
In the course of this action, only five weeks before the Armistice, Capt. McLaggan was shot and killed by a sniper while tending a wounded man. The Division’s Assistant Director Medical Services wrote of him: “Captain McLaggan had a very high sense of duty, and his constant thought was for the well-being of the men. The manner of his death was exactly like his life – with complete disregard to his personal safety he went to attend to his fallen C.O. when he himself fell a victim”. He is buried at Prospect Hill Cemetery, Gouy.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Register of births
Censuses 1901 & 1911
London Evening Standard 5 November 1915 (widespread press reports on that date)
University of Aberdeen Roll of Honour
Aberdeen University Review vol VI p 76 – brief obituary
www.ramc-ww1.com
[War Office file destroyed]
Various internet sources – see esp “The Royal Fusiliers in the Great War” by H.C. O’Neill – Internet Archive.
Private R. MacLagan Gordon Hrs.
The identity of this soldier is not entirely certain, but there is a reasonable likelihood that he is Robert McLaggan* (not MacLagan) of the 7th Bn, Gordons (no.2760), son of William McLaggan and Jane Low or McLaggan of 40 King’s Crescent, Aberdeen.
As appears from William and Jane’s marriage certificate, he was a granite polisher (son of a granite quarry worker) and she a domestic servant. William came originally from Lanarkshire and Jane was born at Daviot, near Inverurie, Aberdeenshire. Robert was a twin, born at Pitblain, Daviot, on 27 March 1893; his elder brother Andrew died after only 23 days. In the 1901 census the family were at 40 Kings Crescent, Aberdeen. By this time there was a younger brother Charles aged 3. The four of them were still at that address in 1911, when Robert was 18 and gave his occupation (following in the family tradition) as “apprentice stonecutter”.
If this person is no. 2760 of the 7th Gordons, he gave his residence on enlistment as Banchory, his surname being noted as McLaggan. That would be one point of tenuous contact with the parish of Kincardine O’Neil. Another might be, given his occupation, possible employment at the quarry at Craiglash.
Robert McLaggan no. 2760 died on 5 June 1915 at the age of 22. The unit war diary contains an entry recording the activities of the 7th Gordons between 4 and 6 June 1915 when they were at La Quinque Rue, behind the allied lines, close to Festubert. The writer of the diary noted that on 4 June the 7th Gordons took over trenches from the 7th Black Watch who were about to relieve the 6th Black Watch in the front line. The battalion were employed during those three days in making and improving trenches, and gathering arms and ammunition, in working parties varying from 300 to 550 men. Casualties in the week 31 May to 6 June 1915 were noted as 32 wounded and, among the ‘other ranks’, one killed. Private McLaggan is commemorated on the Le Touret Memorial.
*On his birth certificate he is neither MacLagan nor McLaggan but McLagan, but the prevalent spelling of his parents’ names and his in the available records is McLaggan.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Registers of Births, Marriages and Deaths
Census 1901 and 1911
National Archives - War Diary of the 7th Bn Gordon Highlanders WO95/2882_1
Private D. Merchant Gordon Hrs
This is David Smith Merchant of the 9th (Pioneer) Bn (no. S/11218) Gordon Highlanders. He was a son of Alexander Merchant and Martha Ross or Merchant. Alexander farmed Burnside of Ennets and was a native of Lumphanan. Martha began life at Leochel Cushnie. Their son David was born at Burnside of Ennets on 21 April 1891. The 1901 Census reveals that Alexander and Martha had at least four children besides ten-year-old David, all born in the parish of Kincardine O’ Neil, namely older sisters Jane and Mary (16 and 13), George (8) and Maggie (3).
In the 1911 Census, David Merchant is registered living away from home as a farm foreman at Little Kinnord, and in the household of George Milne, Farm Grieve. In due course he enlisted and was taken into the 9th (Pioneer) Battalion of the Gordons with whom, (as part of the army’s 15th Division) he was killed in action aged 25 on 25 July 1917.
In the weeks before 25 July 1917, the 9th Gordons had been engaged in repairing roads and bridges, clearing and repairing shelled trenches, renewing sandbagging, creating a new cable trench and laying cables, erecting wire and camouflage, making and clearing drains, and in the construction of a light railway. The battalion war diary reported that work was regularly stopped by bombardments and gas shelling, sometimes continuing from dusk till dawn.
Orders on 23 July 2017 revealed that an offensive involving the 15th Division was imminent, in which the role of the battalion, working with the Royal Engineers, would be to construct tracks for supporting artillery and horse transport. On 29 July the GOC 15th Division commended the 9th Gordons on the manner in which they had carried out their work over the past 4 weeks “under conditions of considerable difficulties”. It is unclear exactly what happened to Private Merchant but the difficulties in his case clearly proved fatal. He is buried or commemorated at Ypres Town Cemetery Extension.
After the war, David Merchant’s bereaved parents were living at Gallowfields, Findrack.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Register of Births
Censuses 1901 and 1911
National Archives - War Diary of the 9th Gordons – WO95/1929_3
Private J. Michie Gordon Hrs
Joseph Michie was a Private in the 1/7th Bn Gordon Highlanders (No. 290425). He was born on 29 January 1892 at Maryculter, the son of Arthur Michie (a native of Kincardine O’Neil) and Mrs Mary Michie (born in Fyvie). The couple had married at Kincardine O’Neil in 1884, at which time Arthur was a farm servant at Mains of Findrack. In 1901 the Michies were in Laurencekirk. At that point there were at least seven children of the family, of whom Joseph was the middle child. Later, Arthur was employed as a cattleman at West Maldron, Torphins, and Mary (at least from about 1917) came to reside at Powdagie, Craigmyle, Torphins. By 1911, Joseph Michie was working as a farm horseman at Lumphanan.
The 1/7th (Deeside Highland) Bn of the Gordon Highlanders were a unit of the Territorial Force having their headquarters at Banchory. After a time at Bedford following the outbreak of war, they were sent to Boulogne in May 1915 and served on the Western Front as part of the 153rd Brigade of the 51st Highland Division (a Division of the British Army famously known to the Germans as “the ladies from hell”). The 51st Division was involved in the Battle of Arras in April and May 1917 which resulted, at huge cost in human lives, in a significant advance ending in prolonged stalemate. The involvement of the 51st Division in this action officially came to an end in about the middle of May.
It is not clear in what circumstances precisely Private Michie lost his life on 1 June 1917. The war diary noted a quiet day, except for a period of heavy shelling in the early afternoon, in which two men were killed, just by the battalion headquarters. His death at the age of 25 must have come as a particularly heavy blow to Mrs Michie, as her husband Arthur had died of peritonitis on 9 February that year, after being kicked by a horse in the course of his employment. It also made an inevitable impact on the local community, as this report in the Aberdeen Evening Express of 23 June 1917, in an account of recent doings at Lumphanan parish church, records:
“At the close of the service in the Parish Church on Sunday last the Dead March in “Saul” was played in memory of Private Joseph Michie who, though not a native, left this district when the Territorials were mobilised, and has recently fallen in the great struggle. Private Michie was a member of the Church, a farm servant at Cairnbeathie, and was a respected young man”.
He is buried or commemorated at Mindel Trench British Cemetery, St.Laurent-Blagny.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Registers of Births and Marriages
Censuses 1901 and 1911
National Archives – War Diary of the 1/7th Gordon Highlanders WO95/2882/1
Scotsman 4 March 1918.
Online sources re 1/7th Gordons
Lieut.- Col. J. A. Milne D.S.O. Aus. Ex. Force
John Alexander (“Jock”) Milne had a truly remarkable career. He is much celebrated in what became his home town of Bundaberg in Queensland and has earned a place in the Australian Dictionary of Biography. Researchers sponsored by the Returned & Services League in Australia have developed a claim that actions led by Colonel Milne on 4 and 5 April 1918 at Villers-Bretonneux played a crucial part, hitherto insufficiently recognised, in ending the war. By all accounts, he was an outstandingly brave and effective officer.
Thanks to the Australian sources, and the preservation of this soldier’s record in the online Australian National Archives, we probably know more about his experiences of the war than about anyone else on the war memorial.
John Alexander Milne was born at Woodside, near Logie Coldstone in Cromar, on 23 March 1872, a son of labourer Alexander Milne and Jane McCombie, a dressmaker. His paternal grandfather lived in Torphins, and in 1881 the family were living at North Footie, Kincardine O’Neil. He had at least four younger brothers all born in the parish – George, Robert, David and James. By 1891 the family were living at Waulkmill. He attended school in Torphins.
In 1890, aged 18, the young Alexander emigrated to Australia aboard the Dorunda departing from London bound for Cairns. He found work as a farm labourer, miner, engine driver, farmer and commercial traveller in agricultural hardware. In 1898 he married Mary Elise May Bull at Kilkavian Junction, Queensland. They had three sons. He also had an interest in military matters and by 1908 was an officer in the 1st Battalion of the Wide Bay Regiment.
Milne (then aged 42) enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (9th Battalion) very shortly after the war broke out, on 20 August 1914. He was accorded the rank of Captain and dispatched to Gallipoli. The 9th Battalion were the first ashore at Gallipoli in the early morning of 25 April 1915. Milne led his company that day in the storming of Anzac Heights. The objective of this action was to capture a gun battery at Gaba Tepe. “A” and “B” companies of the 9th Battalion landing party having landed to the left of their intended objective, Captain Milne nevertheless led his isolated “C” company to the right, in a daring assault upon a strategically vital Turkish artillery battery, capturing it in the face of very heavy fire. In two separate incidents in the course of the day, he sustained serious wounds of the left hand and arm, resulting among other things in the amputation of the terminal phalanx of a finger, in hospital in Cairo a few days later. The wound then became infected.
Mrs Milne was advised in a telegram that her husband had been severely wounded. He was declared unfit for service for four months. A more favourable report was sent to her on 11 June, but a week later the patient was clearly far from well as he was shipped to England and admitted to the Royal Free Hospital in London. It was not until October 1915 that he returned to Egypt for duty.
Within a few weeks of his return he was promoted to the rank of Major but on 12 November he took ill with paratyphoid fever, and was transferred again to hospital. He wrote home from the 1st Australian General Hospital in Heliopolis in terms which clearly alarmed Mrs Milne, talking of further Mediterranean fever “caught too just as I was going to get a Temp. Lieut. Col. My luck is out. I am still very sick so you must just let me say a Merry Xmas + H N Year to you and the boys and all at St M…I am sick and lonely”. We have this letter because Mrs Milne sent it to the Base Records office on 30 December 2015, with a stamped addressed envelope for its return, complaining that she had not been informed of her husband’s illness and that her letters (“I send at least one by every mail”) were clearly not reaching him. She enquired as to his present condition and whereabouts. No doubt she was much cheered by a telegram on 11 January 1916, informing her that her husband was on his way back to Australia on the Ulysses (following certification by a medical board) for “three months change”.
On his return home, Major Milne was enthusiastically received, made recruiting speeches, unveiled the honour board at St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Bundaberg, and went on a fishing holiday at Urangan. In May 1916 he embarked again from Sydney, this time for France via England. A mysterious note in his record dated 5 September 1916 reads “Rejoined Unit from Cookery School Weymouth” (where there was an AIF command depot). He then proceeded to Le Havre from Southampton on 25 November. In February 1917 Major Milne was attached to the 36th Battalion, and in the following month granted the temporary rank of Lt. Col., the temporary promotion being made permanent in April. In May 1917, he had a week’s leave in England, after which he rejoined his unit.
On 25 August 1917, Lt. Col. Milne was awarded the DSO for gallantry at St Yves 7-12 July 1917. The citation reads:
“For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He showed great capacity and initiative in commanding his battalion when on carrying party duty. He kept the front line well supplied with stores, ammunition and water, and arranged for the relief of the parties in a most efficient manner although constantly depleted by casualties and exhaustion”.
In November 1917, Milne was granted a week’s leave in Paris, during which he again received recognition for his gallant conduct, being mentioned in dispatches “for Distinguished and gallant Services & devotion to duty in the field during the period 26 February 1917 to midnight 20/21 September 1917”.
In January 1918 he was sent for a few days’ flying course in Belgium, followed by a month’s leave in the UK. During this time he was in Scotland and bought a shotgun, which Mrs Milne understood was to be given to his eldest son (also on active service) if anything happened to him. It was to be his last period of leave. In March 1918, Mrs Milne, anxious for news as she had not heard from her husband since a cable of Christmas greetings on 16 December, wrote again to Base Records “I know he was not too well, result of being blown up by a gas shell but he was still in action Nov.28th”. A reply came back on 14 March 1918 reassuring her that no report of casualty had been received.
March 1918 marked the beginning of a German offensive on the Western Front, masterminded by General Ludendorff which aimed to attack, break through and separate French and British lines. On 21 March 1918, the Germans launched a major offensive against the British Fifth and Third armies between the Somme and Flanders. This forced the greatest retreat of the war by the British army. By the end of March, the allied line had been pushed back by about 20 miles. Casualties were massive on both sides.
By 4 April 1918, a crucial point of allied communications at Amiens was under threat of imminent capture. The allies under General Gough had established defences at Villers-Bretonneux. The village was strategically vital, as capture by the enemy would bring their artillery within range of bombarding Amiens. On the afternoon of 4 April 1918, the British artillery began to withdraw in the face of what seemed to be irresistible opposition. However, a small force of British and Australian reserves led by Col. Milne made a spectacular charge on the German lines. This counter-attack was led by the 36th Australian Battalion, supported by a company of the 35th Australians and soldiers of the 6th Battalion London Regiment. Against daunting and improbable odds, they successfully pushed back the 9th Bavarians despite being greatly outnumbered. This had the effect of rallying others, and inspired further counter-attacks.
By next evening it was clear that the assault on Villers-Bretonneux had failed. General Ludendorff wrote of this episode in his war memoirs: “It was an established fact that the enemy’s resistance was beyond our strength…In agreement with the commanders concerned, G.H.Q. had to take the extremely difficult decision to abandon the attack on Amiens for good…The battle was over by the 4th April…”.
Researchers in recent years under the sponsorship of the Returned & Services League of Australia, have argued that this action marked a fundamental turning point in the course of the war. Certainly, Col. Milne and the Australians played a pivotal role in the action on that day.*
Eight days later, on 12 April 1918, Milne’s brave and illustrious career came to an end at the age of 46. A report from Lieut. Dunn, Assistant Adjutant, records: “Colonel Milne was badly mutilated by a shell that exploded right into Headquarters whilst he was dictating orders to the Adjutant. He was buried…about 20 yards from the spot at which he was killed. A suitable wooden cross was prepared and erected”.
When the news reached Bundaberg, flags were flown at half-mast as a mark of respect. The army forwarded to Mrs Milne the insignia of her husband’s DSO in January of 1919. Correspondence followed regarding his various belongings. In April Mrs Milne wrote enquiring, pointing out that a year had passed since her husband’s death, and was informed (the news lagging some considerable time after the event once again) that three packages, sent from England on the S.S Barunga the previous June, had gone down with the ship when it was lost in transit as a result of enemy action. Inventories of Milne’s belongings were preserved. They betray a more than passing interest in both fishing and the various accoutrements of smoking, but also included books and letters, mathematical instruments, a portable camera, photographs and map of Paris. His kit bag, retrieved from the field, contained “Scotch heather” – a souvenir perhaps of the trip to Scotland shortly before his death.
According to the Australian Dictionary of Biography, drawing among other things on personal information, Jock Milne was an excellent rifle-shot, “Strong, broad-shouldered, seemingly fearless, with a powerful voice and marked Scotch accent, the sandy-haired Milne was well-liked and respected by his troops. A rugged individualist, with little respect for formality though a rigid disciplinarian, he was an eminently practical and competent soldier with a strong sense of duty”.
In 1919 the Adelaide Observer reported on a court application by Mrs Milne to set up the terms of a will which her husband had made, commenting that he was killed on active service by a shell “which blew him to pieces and destroyed the will which he had in his pocket”. On 24 March 1921, the Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser reported on the completion of a Milne memorial Challenge Shield for the Wide Bay and District Rifle Association, featuring a photograph surrounded by a laurel wreath flanked by the Union Jack and Australian flags.
Lt. Col. Milne was reburied in 1920 at Heath Cemetery, Harbonnières.
*See in particular (sources provided by Ray Phillips):
The [Queensland] Courier & Mail 25 April 2017: https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/time-to-fight-for-our-unsung-hero-john-alexander-milne/news-story/fe0a8a09b7e75a1eb8b6dcd411c7a4f8
Also YouTube war documentary Line of Fire 7 – The Kaiser’s Battle 1918 - 40 minutes in and following.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
1881 and 1891 Census
The V.C and D.S.O. Book Vol III (Naval and Military Press)
National Archives of Australia 11545760
National Library of Australia at www.nla.gov.au
Australian Dictionary of Biography
https://www.awmlondon.gov.au/battles/villers-bretonneux
Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918 Vol. I (11th Edition 1941) pp226-7 and 339-43 on Gallipoli; Vol. V (8th Edition 1941) pp342-355 re Villers-Bretonneux.
General Ludendorff: My War Memories Vol II (London: Hutchinson & Co.) on Internet Archive pp 599-600
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Avre
https://www.cwgc.org/our-work/blog/the-battle-of-villers-bretonneux-how-australian-troops-halted-the-german-advance/
Department of Trade outgoing passenger lists found at www.ancestorsonboard.co.uk
Sydney Mail 5 July 1917 and 22 May 1918 p 27 and Brisbane Courier 27 April 1918 p6 - both at www.nla.gov.au
Australian web search brings up a great deal of material on this officer.
Photo – www.recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=32519378
Private W. Morgan Gordon Hrs.
William Morgan was born at Newton of Drumgesk, Aboyne on 30 October 1880. His father John Morgan, a farmer of 70 acres, and mother Margaret Coutts had married there in 1879. The family were at Newton of Drumgesk on census night 1881; William was 5 months old and had a brother James aged 1 last birthday. Ten years later they were at Tillyduke, Coull, by which time William had five younger siblings. In 1911, John Morgan was established as the farmer of Lower Dagie at Tornaveen, and William now aged 30 was part of the household along with his mother and five brothers and sisters.
In May 1916 he was still at Lower Dagie with his parents, as appears from a newspaper report about Lord Roberts’ Fund for Indian Troops, to which William and his parents contributed. Newspaper evidence suggests he joined up shortly after that. He enlisted at Banchory and became a Private in the 1st/5th Bn Gordon Highlanders (No.242204).
The 1st/5th Gordon Highlanders as part of the 152nd Brigade of the famous 51st (Highland) Division were preparing to engage in the Battle of Arras which began on Easter Monday 9 April 1917 and continued to 16 May - a diversionary tactic designed to draw German troops away from major points of attack on their front line at the beginning of the spring offensive of 1917 which it was hoped would bring the war to a swift conclusion. The formal commencement of the engagement was preceded by four days of intensive bombardment.
Private Morgan was 36 when he died of wounds on 5 April 1917. It is not clear exactly when, or in what circumstances, he was wounded. He is buried at Aubigny Communal Cemetery Extension.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Register of Births
1881-1911 Census
Online sources re Battle of Arras
National Archives – War Diary of the 1/5th Gordon Highlanders WO95/2881/1
Aberdeen Evening Express 13 May 1916 – Lord Roberts’ Fund
Aberdeen Evening Express 17 June 1916 – account of his appearance before Sheriff after failure to respond to call-up papers suggests among other things possible religious objection.
Corpl. W. Mowatt Gordon Hrs.
This soldier is probably in fact Corpl. James Mathieson Mowat (“J. Mowat” on the Torphins memorial), no 290877 of the 7th Bn. Gordon Highlanders, born in Stonehaven on 5 September 1876. He was the son of a joiner, Archibald Mowat and his wife Margaret Mathieson who married at Rickarton in 1875. He grew up in Aberdeen, appearing in the 1881 census at 3 South Bridge, Old Machar age 4, and ten years later as a message boy living with parents and brother and two sisters at 84 Holburn Street. By 1901 the family had moved to 132 Holburn Street, and he was working as a monumental mason.
James Mowat married Elizabeth Tosh (or possibly Josh) Mackay in 1904 at the Richmond Café in Correction Wynd, when he gave his occupation as journeyman stonecutter. By the time of the 1911 census he had moved with his family to Torphins, was living at Woodlands Cottage and was employed as a fire and insurance agent. By that time he also had children – Margaret (5), William James (3) and Gilbert Thomson (under three months).
The 7th Gordons were a territorial unit based in Banchory, part of the Gordon Brigade, Highland Division. They were deployed on the Western Front from May 1915 and participated in many of the major battles of the war. In the spring of 1917, they were involved in the Arras Offensive and, as at the date of this soldier’s death, were about to participate in the opening action of the Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele) which commenced on 31 July 1917.
Corpl. Mowat died aged 41 on 30/7/1917. He is buried or commemorated at the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial. Given the date and his place of commemoration, it seems likely that he was a casualty of the activities surrounding preparations for this action. The Aberdeen Press & Journal reported that he had been killed by a shell: “Corporal James Mowat…was an insurance agent on Deeside for the British Legal Insurance Company…He had been two and a half years in the Army, but had only been in France for a month. He has left a widow and family of four at Woodlands Cottage, Torphins, and his mother resides at 132 Holburn Street, Aberdeen”. His name also appears on the Aberdeen City Roll of Honour.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Registers of Births and Marriages
Census 1881-1911
Ancestry.co.uk- family tree
Aberdeen Press & Journal 17 August 1917
Aberdeen City Roll of Honour – gives date of death as 29 July 1917
Private A. Murdoch Royal Scots
Alexander Scott Murdoch was the son of George and Mary Murdoch, born at Felix Cottage, Victoria Street, Dyce on Christmas Day 1893. The Felix Cottage connection went back at least as far as George and Mary’s marriage (according to the forms of the Free Church) in 1885. George, at the time of the birth, was a brewery-carter, native of Forgue; Mary came from Belhelvie. In 1901 the family were at Felix Cottage, and by this time Alexander was the youngest of five, having older brothers William (15) who was an apprentice engineer, James K. (14) described as a grocer, Andrew M. (9) who was at school, and sister Mary (13) also still at school.
It is not wholly clear how this particular soldier comes to be commemorated in Kincardine O’Neil. A tenuous connection to the parish may appear from the immediately preceding entry in the 1901 census. This records a household consisting of William F. Still, a joiner born Belhelvie (his age is illegible) and his wife Mary, aged 44. Mary was born in Kincardine O’Neil, daughter of Andrew and Mary Clark. This William was Alexander’s uncle – his mother’s brother. A search of the censuses shows what appears to be Mary’s family living at Raefield, Kincardine O’Neil in 1881 and then at Mill of Dyce in 1891.
In 1911 the Murdochs were still at Felix Cottage. By this time Andrew was a butcher and Alexander was a butcher’s messenger.
As a singed fragment of his Army Service Record shows, Alexander Murdoch, by then a Postman, joined the Royal Scots at Aberdeen just a month before his 22nd birthday on 2 December 1915 and became a signaller in “D” Coy. 16th Bn Royal Scots (Lothian Regiment) (no. 27952), famously known as “McCrae’s Battalion”. His service record shows he was mobilised on 24 January 1916. He appears to have been part of the 46threinforcement to the 2nd Bn on 23 September 1916 and joined that battalion in the field on 24 October 1916.
Private Murdoch died aged 23 on 9 April 1917 – the first day of the Battle of Arras. British troops had succeeded in recovering part of the village of St Laurent-Blangy in March 1916. The rest was taken, more than a year later, on the day of Private Murdoch’s death. He is buried or commemorated at Bailleul Road West Cemetery, St Laurent-Blangy, where one hundred casualties of the action on 9 April 1917 are buried. He is also commemorated on the Dyce War Memorial in Dyce Old Churchyard.
As at May 1920, it seems Private Murdoch’s father, who was named as his next of kin on enlistment, was no longer alive. The papers at that time note that his family consisted of his mother, brothers William living in Kilburn, James Keith at Woodbine Cottage, Dyce, Andrew Milne in Toronto and sister Mary in Lochmaben, Dumfriesshire.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Registers of Births and Marriages
Censuses 1881-1911
Army Service Record from British Army Service Records 1914-1920 at findmypast.co.uk
Jack Alexander: McCrae’s Battalion (Edinburgh 2003)
Aberdeen Press & Journal 21 April 1917
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 27 April 1917
Dyce War Memorial
www.findagrave.com
Capt. R. W. Murray R.A.M.C
Robert William Skinner Murray was born at Woodside, Aberdeen on 23 May 1886, younger son of John Murray, grocer, draper, JP, Chairman of the local School Board, and his wife Elizabeth. The Murrays were in Kincardine O’Neil from at least 1891, living at “Murray’s Buildings”. He went to school first at Kincardine O’Neil, then Robert Gordons College from the age of thirteen. Following in the footsteps of his older brother John who was six years ahead of him, Robert studied medicine at the University of Aberdeen. He graduated MB in 1912 (aged 25) and obtained a Diploma in Public Health in 1913.
In May 1914, Robert Murray was house surgeon at the Tunbridge Wells General Hospital. He joined the Royal Army Medical Corps in October 1914, was commissioned as a Lieutenant, and sent to Millbank for a special course in sanitation, then to Llandudno lecturing to troops, before being sent to France in May 1915 when he was promoted to the rank of Captain. Soon after the Battle of Loos, he was wounded and sent home. Possibly this enabled him to attend his father’s funeral in February 1916 along with his brother John, then in private practice in Middlesborough, before he was despatched to Egypt in May 1916. He served in Egypt and Palestine and survived the Armistice when he transferred to the Royal Air Force, attending no. 5 Fighting School, only to succumb to bronchial pneumonia in Cairo on 6 May 1919 aged 32.
Capt. Murray is buried at the UK Cairo War Memorial Cemetery. He is also commemorated in the old churchyard of Kincardine O’Neil beside the west outside wall of the ruined kirk.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Register of Births
1891-1911 Censuses
Robert Gordons College Roll of Honour
University of Aberdeen Roll of Honour
University of Aberdeen Roll of Service in the Great War 1914-1919 Edited by Mabel Desborough Allardyce (AUP 1921)
Aberdeen University Review Vol VI page 278 - obituary
City of Aberdeen Roll of Honour
Aberdeen Journal 29 March 1912
Aberdeen Journal 9 July 1913
Kent and Sussex Courier 29 May 1914- emergency admission of a child.
Aberdeen Journal 4 March 1915 –temporary RAMC commission in the regular army
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 13 August 1915 – promoted to Captain from 28 May 1915, serving in one of the general hospitals in France
Aberdeen Journal 4 and 10 February 1916 – obituary and funeral of father
Aberdeen Journal 14 May 1919 – service and death in Egypt
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 16 May 1919
Old churchyard Kincardine O’Neil
[War Office file destroyed]
Lieut. T. S. Nash R.A.F.
Thomas Stuart Nash was a son of Rev. Cecil William and Meriel Nash of The Rectory, Kincardine O’Neil. TheRev. Cecil served as Priest in Charge at Christ Church Episcopal Church for 38 years from 1885 to 1923 and is commemorated by a sundial in the churchyard. He himself was born in England but his wife Meriel originated in Haddington. She was a daughter of the Rev. F. L. M. Anderson of North Berwick, and the couple were married at North Berwick in 1885. Their son Thomas was born on 27 March 1889 in Kincardine O’Neil and grew up in the village. At the time of the 1891 Census, they were at the Rectory and had two children – Meriel aged 4 and Thomas, then aged 2 - and three resident servants – cook, nurse and parlourmaid. Ten years later, a third child George appears in the census, younger brother of Thomas by nine years. Thomas Nash attended school in Kincardine O’Neil, then Ellesmere College in Shropshire for a term only; his final three years of school were at Robert Gordon’s College in Aberdeen between 1903 and 1905.
On 7 August 1914 (three days after the outbreak of war with Germany), Thomas Nash appears in the outgoing first class passenger list of the “Mooltan”, bound for Sydney under the captainship of Capt. R. L. Haddock. His ultimate destination was Penang where he was to take up employment as a merchant in the London firm of Boustead & Co.
In April 1917, Nash returned from the Far East and enlisted in the army (regimental number 83617), giving his occupation as “Merchant’s Assistant”. Then, in September that year, he was technically discharged, being appointed to a temporary commission as “2nd Lieutenant (on probation) on the General List for duty” with the Royal Flying Corps. From April 1918 (when the RFC became the RAF) he was with the British Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders.
A note in his service record reads “Since joining the R.F.C. flown DH6 Aircos [trainer bi-planes], Sopwith Scouts and Sopwith Camels”. In May 1918, as part of No. 80 Squadron, he was in Sopwith Camel B5576 when it was damaged by enemy action on an offensive patrol to the Somme. The Camel was a single-engine bi-plane substantially constructed of plywood, fabric and aluminium, fitted with twin machine guns and able to carry four 24lb bombs. According to the Operations Record Book, No. 80 Squadron was constantly engaged at this time in following up and harassing the retreating enemy, and was twice mentioned in French Army dispatches.
Fighter planes of the RAF were deployed on the Western Front as part of an allied offensive launched on 8 August 1918. On the morning of that day, in the course of a patrol taking off at 10.15 from Vignacourt for operations towards Bray-sur-Somme, Nash, flying B5587, was “reported to have crashed a Fokker DVII at Morcourt south of the Villers-Bretonneux road which is east-southeast of Amiens” and was then “set upon by four Fokker DVIIs and, severely wounded, he managed to crash-land in front of our advancing troops who pulled him from the remains of his aircraft”.* He was taken to no.61 Casualty Clearing Station, and died there of his injuries the following day. He was 29 and unmarried.
Tom Nash was highly thought of. His commanding officer wrote to the bereaved parents:
“He was a most gallant officer, always quiet and unassuming, and most highly popular with both officers and men. He was wounded on the 8th Inst. in a fight with four enemy machines just after he had brought down one. The German airman crashed well over the lines, and your son flew down over him. He told me that the German pilot got out of the crash and waved to him, so he could not shoot at him again. He therefore waved to him and started for our lines. He was then attacked by four more enemy machines, and was shot through the back and crashed, but was later picked up by our advancing infantry and sent back to the C.C.S. We buried him in the little cemetery nearby. The war is going splendidly, but it mars one’s enthusiasm when one loses pilots like your boy”**.
He is buried at Vignacourt British Cemetery. Rev. Nash instructed an inscription on the standard issue Commonwealth War Graves headstone: “Jesu Mercy, Grant Him Thine Eternal Rest”. He is also commemorated in a stained-glass window in his father’s church at Kincardine O’Neil. His medal surfaced in an auction sale on 19 November 2019 and was sold as part of a small collection for £350.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Registers of Births & Marriages
Census 1891 and 1901
Robert Gordon’s College Roll of Honour
De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour
National Archives - War Office files AIR76/367/126 and WO339/112259; Air Ministry and Royal Air Force Records AIR27/669 (including photos of 80 Sqn. in 1918)
*W. R. Chorley: “Royal Air Force & Australian Flying Corps Squadron Losses 1 July – 11 November 1918” p.129 (Mention the War Ltd 2019)
Copy service record at findmypast
** London & China Telegraph 26 August 1918
Aberdeen Press & Journal 15 August 1918
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 16 August 1918
Passenger lists leaving UK 1890-1960 at findmypast
Christ Church Episcopal Church Kincardine O’Neil - eastmost window on the south side
www .spink.com/lot/903214 Medal for sale as part of a batch.
www.theaerodrome.com – quotes RAF Communiqué No.19: refers to a large number of combats on the battle front. “Lieut. T. S Nash, 80 Sqn., Fokker DVII crashed south of Morcourt at 10:15/11:15” and “Lieut. T. S. Nash (Wia; dow), 80 Sqn, Camel B5587 – crashed on offensive patrol Bray 10:15/11:15”
www.airhistory.org.uk – 10/5/18 – Sopwith B5587 damaged by enemy gunfire on offensive patrol to Somme; 8/8/18 – B5587 Sopwith Camel crashed on offensive patrol Bray.
Private H. Noble Gordon Hrs.
This is Hendry (with a ‘d’) Noble, born at *Drumlausie, Kincardine O’Neil, on 19 March 1895. His parents were David Noble, master millwright and engineer and a native of Midmar, and Elizabeth Hendry, born at Rayne. They married at Daviot in 1887 when both were living at Monymusk, and David was a journeyman millwright and Elizabeth a domestic servant. In 1901, at Drumlaussie, Hendry aged 6 had four brothers, two sisters, and a half-brother George Castle aged 8, who was a son of Elizabeth and stepson of David. In 1911 Hendry’s mother and siblings were registered at Drumlaussie, and it seems reasonably likely that he was the sixteen-year-old Henry (spelt without a “d”) employed as a cattleman on the farm next door at Smith’s Croft.
Hendry Noble resided in Aberdeen at the time of enlistment, in the last months of the war on 24 May 1918, in what became an amalgamated battalion of the 6th and 7th Gordon Highlanders (No. S/24067). In October 1918 the 6th/7th Gordons became part of the 152nd brigade of the 51st Highland Division. That month they were deployed in operations on the Western Front in the advance towards Valenciennes. The battalion War Diary gives considerable detail as to their movements.
Private Noble was killed in action on 25 October 1918 but the precise circumstances are unclear. The Aberdeen Evening Express, on the day of the Armistice 11 November 1918, added a little detail: “Killed in action by the concussion of a shell, on 30 October 1918 [actually 25 October], Private Hendry Noble…fourth son of Mr and Mrs Noble, Drumlassie, Torphins”. He is buried at Valenciennes (Saint-Roch) Communal Cemetery.
* The spelling of this place name is almost infinitely variable, and in this note the various spellings in the particular documentary sources are adhered to.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Register of Births
Census 1901 and 1911
National Archives– War Diary of the 6th/7th Gordon Highlanders WO95/2868/2
Aberdeen Evening Express - 11 November 1918
Aberdeen City Roll of Honour gives an address of 28 Maberly Street, Aberdeen
www.forces-war-records.co.uk/umits/254/gordon-highlanders
Private W. D. Peter Gordon Hrs
This is William Daun Peter, born at Kemnay on 18 April 1896, son of William Peter and Mary McDonald. William and Mary married at Aberdeen in 1895. William is described in the records as a quarry labourer and farm servant. Something evidently have caused an upturn in the family’s fortunes between the births of their first three children, Mary Ann, William and James (all born Kemnay), and the subsequent two – John and Margaret (both born Kincardine O’Neil). By the time of the 1911 Census, William senior was farming on his own account at Balmannocks, Torphins, and William junior was employed working on the farm. The birth records of the children suggest a move to the parish some time between about 1899 and 1905.
William Peter enlisted and became a Private in the 1st/5th Bn. Gordon Highlanders (no. 242229) who in the spring of 1917 were serving on the Western Front as a part of the 153rd infantry brigade. He died aged 20 on 19 March 1917, apparently as the result of an accident. The battalion war diary records:
19 March 1917 – ANZIN ROCLINCOURT FIRING LINE “The period was quiet. A good deal of improvement was made on the trenches by our men. One other rank was killed and two wounded by the accidental discharge of a rifle”.
It looks as though Private Peter may have been that “other rank” recorded in the diary. He was buried at Maroeuil British Cemetery.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Registers of Births and Marriages
Census 1911
National Archives – War Diary of the 1st/5th Gordons – WO95/2881/1
Lieut-Col. F. A. U. Pickering D.S.O. 2nd Dragoons
(by his great-nephew Andrew Bradford)
Frank Pickering was born on 2 August 1881 and was educated at Eton where he achieved both distinction at his sporting skills being both a cricketer and footballer as well as notoriety for his misdemeanours. On the walls of Kincardine hang, not one but, two birches which were used to beat him. Apparently the sum of half a guinea (10/6d) was added to the miscreant’s school bill on each occasion ‘for extra tuition’ – but there was the compensation of being allowed to keep the birch. They are rather dried up now but one needs little imagination to think how actively wielded freshly made birches must have hurt on a naked backside. What crime deserved such punishment? Rumour has it that it involved some boys from Eton’s rival school Harrow and some buckshot which somehow peppered their backsides.
Frank was commissioned into the Royal Scots Greys in 1901 and departed shortly afterwards for South Africa where he served in the Boer War winning the Queen’s Medal with four clasps for his services.
A tremendous welcome was prepared for him when he returned, wounded, to Kincardine in September 1903. An evergreen arch was formed over the entrance gates sporting the words ‘Welcome Home Again’ in flowers. At the gates there were speeches and cheers. The scholars presented an address to Mrs. Pickering congratulating her on her son’s safe return and thanking her for her support. The horses of the carriage were then unyoked and ropes attached and a procession formed and, with tenants, feuars and villagers pulling the carriage and the others following behind, everyone proceeded up the drive to Kincardine.
From 1907 to 1909 he was an extra ADC to the Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief in the Dominion of Canada. In 1910 he married Angela Sutton at a glittering London society wedding. They later had two sons.
During the Great War Frank saw service on the Western Front in 1914 and in Gallipoli during 1915-16 and on returning from that disastrous adventure took a safe staff job for a time. Safety and staff jobs were, however, not for him and he asked to return to the front line. In 1917 he was in action once more and survived the horrors of trench warfare during the spring and summer. By December he was an acting Lt. Colonel in command of a Service battalion of the Rifle Brigade having won a DSO earlier in the year. On 23rdDecember he and his Adjutant were approaching the front at Passchendaele Ridge near Ypres when they were both killed by a shell.
The temporary wooden cross from his grave in Belgium stands now in the chancel of the little Scottish Episcopal Christ Church in Kincardine O’Neil above a commemorative brass plaque. Frank’s two children survived without offspring.
Sources
This piece was contributed by Andrew Bradford, great-nephew of Frank Pickering
Available primary sources include:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission – buried White House Cemetery, St Jean-les-Ypres
England & Wales Free BMD index 1837-1915 (in Ancestry.com)
National Archives – Officer’s file WO 374/54022
The V.C and D.S.O. Book Vol III (Naval and Military Press)
Private J. Reid R.A.M.C.
John Henry Reid was born at Stranduff, on 23 October 1871, son of Peter Reid, agricultural labourer (born Crathie), and his wife Mary Davidson (born in Lumphanan). In 1881 the family lived at North Road, Kincardine O’Neil. Peter was employed as a gardener; the ten- year old John was at school and had three younger brothers, George 7, Alexander 4 and Robert 1, all born in Kincardine O’Neil.
After the outbreak of war, Reid served in the 13th Coy Royal Army Medical Corps. (Army no. 26951). He died on 30 January 1915 aged 43. These are the few verifiable hard facts about John Reid, but the local papers offer further interesting background and some insights into his personality.
The Aberdeen Journal of 2 February 1915 carried a report of the death in its obituary column:
“MR J REID STATIONMASTER BANKHEAD. Intimation was received on Saturday evening at Bankhead of the death at Cromarty of Mr John Reid, stationmaster, Bankhead, who was serving there as a member of the R.A.M.C. Home Hospitals Reserve.
Mr Reid, along with several members of the Aberdeen (G.N. of S. Railway) Section of the St Andrews Ambulance Association, volunteered for service with the Home Hospitals Reserve and, soon after the commencement of the war, was dispatched to Cromarty Hospital. About a week ago Mr Reid contracted a severe chill, pneumonia supervening, and as stated passed away on Saturday evening.
Mr Reid had been about 20 years in the service of the G.N.S. Railway Company and was appointed to the agency at Bankhead about 2 ½ years ago on the retirement of Mr Fraser.
During the short time he had been stationed there he had, by his kind and obliging disposition and his unfailing courtesy, gained the esteem and confidence of the public using the station and he was a general favourite with his fellow-employees.
Mr Reid is survived by his widowed mother, a sister, and three brothers, one of whom is Sergeant William Reid, of the County Constabulary, Aberdeen, and another a guard in the company’s service at Elgin. Mr Reid’s death at a comparatively early age is deeply regretted by all, and the utmost sympathy is extended to his relatives in their bereavement”.
A few days later, on 5 February 2015, the Aberdeen Evening Express added some further detail, under the surprising heading “SUBURBAN GOSSIP” (reporting inter alia on a recent victory of the Mugiemoss Football Club, and the doings of the Stoneywood Whist Club:
“Profound regret was caused by the announcement that Mr John Reid, station agent, Bankhead, had died in the Military Hospital, Cromarty, on Saturday. Mr Reid was for several years signalman at Cults Station where he gained many friends. A more amiable and obliging servant the railway company did not possess, and when Mr Reid was transferred from Cults to Bankhead he received many assurances of the cordial esteem of the community. With characteristic public spirit and self-abnegation Mr Reid had, since the outbreak of the war, devoted himself to the service of his country”.
The Aberdeen Journal on 5 February also reported on Private Reid’s funeral which took place in Kincardine O’Neil, where his elderly widowed mother still lived at Cochran:
“The coffin, covered with the Union Jack, was borne from the church to the churchyard by colleagues of the railway service and friends of younger days. The Rev. Gavin E. Argo conducted the service in the church and at the grave.”
Private Reid is buried at Kincardine O’Neil old churchyard and commemorated on a fine granite tombstone in the south west corner. He is also listed on the memorial to railway employees at Aberdeen station.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commmission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Register of Births
1881 Census [Mysteriously seems impossible to find this person in any census after 1881 despite much searching]
1911 Census [Widowed Mary Reid aged 78 and two other women aged 81 and 76 all living in separate accommodation described as First Floor and Second Floor, Cochrane Village. OAPs with Private Means].
Aberdeen Railway Station Memorial
Aberdeen Journal 2 & 5 February 1915
Aberdeen Evening Express 5 February 1915
Private E. G. Ritchie Royal Hrs.
Eric Gordon Ritchie was born on Christmas Day 1898 at Craigour Road, Torphins, and appears in the 1901 census aged 2, the youngest of a family of six children – five boys and a girl ranged in age between 16 and 2. In 1901 they were living with their blacksmith father William and mother Mary at Boothnagowan, Torphins. William himself was born in the parish of Kincardine O’Neil and Mary in Fintry; the first three children were born in the next door parish of Birse and the final three in Kincardine O’Neil. Mrs Ritchie later had an address at East Wellgrove, Aboyne.
Eric Ritchie became a Private in the 8th Bn Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) (no. S23113, formerly no. 2352 of the 38th Territorial Reserve Battn). This renumbering indicates that he was initially recruited into a reserve battalion for basic training before posting to an active service unit. His brother Cecil (five years older) followed in his father’s footsteps and became a blacksmith. Possibly, on that account, he was granted temporary exemptions from service by the Deeside Military Tribunal sitting in Aboyne, until at least 28 November 1917. In April 1918, another brother Conrad, eleven years older than Eric and a Corporal in the Gordon Highlanders, was reported to be wounded in the right arm and in hospital in Chichester.
Five months later, on 1 October 1918, Private Ritchie was killed in action, aged 19 years and 9 months, in the course of an eastwards advance on enemy positions through the villages of Rolleghem-Capelle, Winkel, St Eloi, St Catherine’s cross roads and Harlebeke, as part of an attack on Passchendaele Ridge. This attempted advance on the morning of 1 October included Ritchie’s Battalion as part of the 26th Brigade of the 9th(Scottish) Division. Early progress was met with a heavy counter-attack and severe losses including, it would seem, Private Eric Ritchie. He is buried or commemorated at Dadizeele New British Cemetery.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission (including re fighting around Dadizeele)
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Register of Births
Census 1901
National Archives – War Diary of the 8th Black Watch WO95 – 1766/3-4
Aberdeen Journal 21 March 1917 – report of tribunal temporary exemption to “C G Ritchie”
Aberdeen Journal 18 June 1917 – “C J Ritchie” Blacksmith Boothnagowan given temporary exemption from service to 28 November 1917
Aberdeen Press & Journal 4 April 1918
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 12 April 1918
Private J. S. Robertson Gordon Hrs.
Private James Smith Robertson was a son of William Robertson and Barbara Maria Smith. William was born in Banchory Ternan and Barbara came originally from Echt. They married at Kincardine O’Neil in 1894. Their son James was born on 26 April 1895 at Pitcullen, Kincardine O’Neil, fifteen minutes before a twin brother, William. William (senior) worked at various times as a farm servant/labourer, ploughman at Milton of Learney and gardener. On census night in 1901, he was at Milton of Learney, and Barbara with the twins aged 5, sister Margaret (one year older) and their one-year-old brother Joseph were at Kirkbrae. Ten years later they were united under the same roof at Cothill (Craigmyle) and, after 1911, had an address at the Morrice School in Kincardine O’Neil village.
James Robertson enlisted at Aberdeen in the 1st Battalion Gordon Highlanders (S/13467). This was a battalion of the regular army, who were among the first to deploy in France, landing at Boulogne on 14 August 1914. Whether this soldier was already serving at that time we do not know. Certainly, he was in the ranks by 1916.
The battle of the Somme commenced on 1 July 1916 and continued to November when weather made it impossible for the fighting to continue. On 18 July the 3rd Division, of which the 1st Gordons formed part, had the task of recapturing those parts of Delville Wood from which the enemy had not been driven in the course of fierce combat in the preceding few days. Robertson’s battalion were ordered to make an assault on the village of Longueval, on the south-western edge of the wood.
On 15 July they moved to “Caterpillar Valley” in readiness for an attack planned for 18 July. On the early morning of 18 July, the battalion moved forward at 2am and an assault took place at 3.45am. They were successful in taking the village, but strong points north of Delville Wood remained in enemy hands, and the ground they gained had to be given up in the face of a fierce artillery bombardment. At about 4.20pm they were forced to evacuate all but the southerly points of the village. This was followed by seven hours of intense continued bombardment followed by a strong and determined counter-attack. There were
very heavy losses – “4 officers killed, 7 wounded, 321 ORs killed wounded or missing”.
Private Robertson was killed on 18 July 1916 in the course of the assault on Longueval. He is commemorated on the memorial at Thiepval.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Registers of Births and Marriages
Census 1901 and 1911
National Archives – War Diary of the 1st Gordons WO95-1435-1 (contains a detailed typed account of the action as well as the daily diary entry)
www.westernfrontassociation.com
www.thegordonhighlanders.co.uk/Pages/Diary.htm[hash]1916Jul
Terry Norman: “This is the Hell they call High Wood”.
Sergt. W. Robertson Gordon Hrs.
William Robertson was born on 14 August 1894 at Kildour, Glen Tanar, son of Robert Robertson, Joiner, and Annie Garden. His father later lived at Sunningdale, Torphins. He may be the William Robertson who appears in the census as an apprentice carpenter at nearby Glenmuick in 1911.
This soldier served in the 1/7th Bn of the Gordons (no 564). He must have joined up voluntarily, as it was reported in the Scotsman on 11 June 1915 (pre-conscription) that he had been wounded in the arm by a German sniper and was in hospital in France. The same article referred to Sergt. Robertson’s father as “Quartermaster-Sergeant Robertson retired”. A further, less informative notice appeared in the Scotsman on 30 May 1916, indicating that he was again on the wounded list.
As his records have been destroyed, it is impossible to tell when William Robertson returned to active service, but it seems that he recovered in time to be wounded again, as the Press & Journal on 24 November 1916 reported: “News has been received by Mr Robertson, carpenter and joiner, Torphins, that his son Sergt. William Robertson, Gordon Highlanders, has received a bullet wound in the left hip. Sergt. Robertson, who is 22 years of age, was working as a joiner with his father at mobilisation, and has two brothers in the army”. It is possible, but again impossible to be sure, that he was wounded in the course of the 1/7th Gordons’ activities in the final days of the Battle of the Somme which came to an end on 18 November 1916. The Aberdeen Weekly Journal of 19 January 1917 carried the report that he had died in hospital as a result of wounds on 11 January 1917 aged 22.
Sergt. Robertson is commemorated twice at Torphins burial ground (A275 on North boundary) - by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and on the family tombstone.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Identity uncertain in censuses of 1901 and 1911
Scotsman – 11 June 1915 and 30 May 1916.
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 19 January 1917
Family and CWGC tombstones
Capt. A.W. Robertson-Glasgow Garhwal Rifles
Archibald William Robertson-Glasgow, born 24 May 1880, was a son of Robert Bruce Robertson-Glasgow of Montgreenan, Ayrshire, and Deborah Louisa Grace Purdon whose family came from Co. Clare. The family had a strong connection with the parish, as Archibald’s older brother, Robert Purdon Robertson-Glasgow, for a number of years, owned the house and estate of Craigmyle, Torphins and was much involved in local affairs. He sold Craigmyle in 1911 to Lord Shaw of Dunfermline (see note on Capt. R. H. Vaughan Thompson below).
Archie Robertson-Glasgow was educated at Wellington House School, Westgate-on-Sea, Marlborough College and Sandhurst, becoming a career soldier in the Indian army. He assumed his first command in 1899, served in the Somaliland campaign against the Ogaden Somalis in Jubaland in 1901, and was promoted to Captain in 1908.
He was a brother-in-law of Lieut. L.H.V. Fraser, having married Fraser’s sister Violet on 19 January 1911 at St Peter, Cranley Gardens, Kensington. Violet’s full name was Philadelphia Constance Violet Flora Macdonald Fraser, and she was the eldest daughter of Major Fraser of Tornaveen. The Robertson-Glasgows and Frasers were already related by marriage.
At the time war was declared, Robertson-Glasgow was a Captain in the 2nd Battalion 39th Garhwal Rifles. He left India for France with his regiment, as part of the 7th Meerut Division, on 21 September 1914. On arrival in France he served initially as Railway Transport Officer before rejoining his regiment in November 1914. It was to be a very brief re-union. On the night of 13 November 1914 Capt. Robertson-Glasgow went missing. At that point in time, the 39th were on their sixteenth day in the trenches near Béthune, conducting periodic assaults on enemy lines. The battalion War Diary gives an account of the last few days of Robertson-Glasgow’s life and the circumstances of his disappearance.
Four days earlier, an evening raid on the enemy’s near trench resulted in the capture of some prisoners, but it was necessary to withdraw in the face of heavy fire. In the ensuing few days of mutual sniping and shelling, plans were laid for a renewed attack. At 9pm on 13 November, 300 men, including 250 of the 2/3 Garhwal Rifles, and 50 of the 39th led by Major Taylor, made a second attempt. They were met by heavy firing, and while a few reached the objective, there were heavy casualties. Several wounded men returned to the trenches but were unable to give an account of what was happening in front. There was no news as to what had become of Major Taylor and his men. The raid provoked fierce musketry fire from the other side.
It was decided to send out a further 22 men with Capt. Robertson-Glasgow to try and reach the other side, and at the same time ascertain what had happened to Major Taylor and his party. The advance was particularly difficult as it was made under the glare of enemy searchlights and a hail of artillery fire. Nothing further being heard of this second attempt on the enemy trenches, scouts were sent out to try and find out what had happened to both Major Taylor and Capt. Robertson-Glasgow, but they were unable to get very far. Following further attempts to advance in these difficult conditions, the assault was given up, and it was decided to leave the wounded till the morning in the hope that they could be recovered under the protection of the Red Cross.
Robertson-Glasgow lost his life in this raid, though his body was not recovered the following day, perhaps because he was too close to the enemy lines. According to his Colonel: “ He had charged right up most valiantly to the enemy’s trench and in a yard or two more would have been in it…”.
A fellow officer also recorded: “I spent a good time on the afternoon of that disastrous night attack with him. He was as cheery as ever, and told me all about the exciting time he had digging out some men who had been buried by the exploding of a heavy German shell. The trench was knocked in and cover practically nil, so the operation had to be carried out in full view of the Germans, who put a lot of shrapnel over him and his men”.
On Christmas Day 1914, the War Diary contained a surprising entry:
“About 3 o’clock the Germans, who since the morning had been shouting and singing in their trenches, made signs to our trenches that they wished to communicate with us, and eventually they began to climb out of their trenches. We did the same, as did also the regiments on our right and left. Both sides fraternised for about an hour, several Germans coming over to our trench and talking and conversing by signs with officers and men. They gave our men tobacco, cigarettes and newspapers, and for about an hour both sides walked about freely outside their trenches and in the open space between the lines.
Opportunity was taken to search for the bodies of the officers and men who were missing after the night attack on the enemy’s trenches on the night of the 13th November. Captain Burton found Captain Robertson-Glasgow’s body lying on the parapet of the enemy’s trench…
About 3.45pm both sides retired again to their trenches, but little or no firing took place for the rest of the day….
Orders received during the evening that such mutual armistices were not to take place in future”.
Archie Robertson-Glasgow was 34. He left not only a widow, but also a baby son, Archibald Francis Colin, born 31 July 1914. He is buried at Le Touret Military Cemetery, Richebourg-L’Avoué.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
London Marriages and Banns 1754-1921
Thepeerage.com
De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour (with photo)
Indian Army Quarterly list for 1 January 1912
[India Office file containing service record - L/MIL/14 British Library – on enquiring in 2019, informed this file is in Calcutta]
National Archives - medal card ref WO372/28/1969; War Office file on Lieut. L.H.V. Fraser - WO339/11152
“The Bond of Sacrifice: A biographical record of all British officers who fell in the Great War” (with photo) per www.findmypast.co.uk
London Gazette 25 January 1899, 17 July 1900, 23 August 1901, 24 April 1908
Aberdeen Press & Journal 20 and 21 January 1911 detailed account of wedding and celebrations at Torphins
The Queen – 28 January 2011 – wedding with pictures
Also commemorated on memorials at Wellington House School, Westgate-on-sea, Kent, Cotton House, Marlborough, St John the Baptist Church, Hinton Charterhouse, Bath.
Lieut. J. B. Smith Gordon Hrs.
James Bowman Smith was born at Drumduan, Dess, on 6 August 1896. His regiment was the Scottish Rifles, not the Gordon Highlanders. His grandfather John Smith farmed at Drumduan. On census night in 1901, James aged four was there in his widowed grandfather’s household with his mother Robina. Robina married Duncan Fowler at Lumphanan in 1905. In 1911 James was living with his mother and stepfather and a half-sister Catherine aged 5 at Birley Farm, Kincardine O’Neil. He went to school in Torphins, then Aboyne Higher Grade School, and from 1911 to 1914 was a pupil at Robert Gordon’s College in Aberdeen. In the year war broke out, having won a bursary in the Aberdeen University Bursary Competition, he began studies in Arts and Science at the University of Aberdeen which he was never to complete. Smiths are by their nature hard to identify definitively, but a James B. Smith featured in newspaper reports of University exam results in English and Mathematics in 1914 and 1915, and was runner-up for an English Essay prize in 1915.
When James Smith volunteered in November 1915, his file suggests he had had an address at 509 King Street, Aberdeen - time-honoured territory for Aberdeen student lodgings. He was appointed in May 1916 first to the 3rd then to the 14th (Service) Bn. Scottish Rifles (service no. 19314) and sent to join the British Expeditionary Force in France on 23 July 1916. In June of 1917, by which time he had attained the rank of Lance Corporal, he returned home to join an officer cadet unit, having applied successfully to be trained for a temporary commission. In this process Smith’s former headmaster at Aboyne, Mr Cruickshank, provided a favourable character reference. The family was by then living at Clashnadarroch, Birse.
Smith was in due course appointed 2nd Lieutenant in the 1st Battalion Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry, following further training. He returned to France in April 1918. In the final week of June 1918, the battalion was near Merville, and preparing for an attack on enemy lines. In the early morning of a “fine day” on 28 June, they were successful in attacking and capturing the enemy’s system of trenches. The attack seemed to take the enemy by surprise, and it met with very little opposition. The battalion captured one German officer and 32 other ranks, as well as a significant haul of weaponry. Two officers were killed and six others wounded. Overall, the battalion lost 40% of its strength, but most were wounded rather than killed. The day was regarded as a “brilliant success”.
However, it was also a day on which 2nd Lieut. Smith was killed in action – he being one of the two officers killed. A telegram was sent to Mrs Fowler at Clashnadarroch : “Deeply regret 2/Lt J.B. Smith D.C.L.I. Killed in Action June twenty-eighth Army Council Expresses Sympathy”.
The battalion War Diary records the bare fact, but the Aberdeen Weekly Journal, possibly drawing upon a letter to his family at that time, noted that Lieut. Smith and his company captured an important position near Merville, but while he was trying to reach an isolated outpost, a German machine gun opened fire and he was instantly killed. “He was 22 years of age [in fact 21] and was highly esteemed by all who knew him on account of his modest and unselfish nature.”
His place of burial is not known but he is commemorated on the Arras Memorial. A will made in July 1916 left everything to his half-sister Cathie. There is a photograph of him in uniform in the Robert Gordon’s Roll of Honour, looking serious, intelligent, and very young.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Register of Births
Census 1901 and 1911
National Archives – Service record WO374/63544 [NB this is unhelpfully, as at January 2022, archived under the Christian name Bowman and surname Smith. Correction has been suggested to the NA database]; War Diary of the 1st Battalion Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry WO95-1578/1
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 7 March 1919
Aberdeen Evening Express 4 July 1918
University of Aberdeen Roll of Honour
Robert Gordon’s College Roll of Honour p270 www.rgc.aberdeen.sch.uk – includes photo
British Newspaper Archive at www.findmypast.co.uk
Private J. H. Smith Gordon Hrs.
James Hay Smith was born at Heugh, Logie-Coldstone on 16 October 1889, which is also where his mother Elspet (known in the family as Elsie) was also born in 1863 and married in 1886. Elsie was the daughter of James Hay, a Farm Overseer at the time of her marriage. In 1891, Elsie and her husband James Smith, daughters Elsie aged 4 and Jeannie aged 3, and their youngest, James, were recorded living at Heugh Head with Elsie’s father James Hay, who by this time is described as a farmer in his own right. Ten years later, in 1901, James Smith had the farm of Dubbieford, Craiglash, Kincardine O’Neil. The family were still at Craiglash in 1911, where James and his younger brother Walter were both employed on the farm as horsemen.
The 1911 census is interesting on the family generally, as it notes that Elsie had in total 12 children of whom, happily, 12 were still living. These were Elsie born in 1887, Jane (known as Jeannie) 1888, James Hay 1889, Walter 1891, John 1893, George Cran 1894, Gordon 1897, Isabella 1898, Helen 1900, Hector Macdonald and Victor McNaughton (twins) in 1902 and finally Donald Dinnie in 1904 (they were related to Donald Dinnie, famous local strongman and athlete, through James Smith’s mother who was a Dinnie). Astonishingly, Elsie, despite her twelve children, worked as a teacher, at Dinnet, Logie Coldstone and Torphins.
James enlisted at Banchory in the 1st/7th (Deeside) Battalion Gordon Highlanders (No.3756). His battalion, as part of the 153rd Brigade of the 51st (Highland) Division, were deployed in the Battle of the Somme in July to 18 November 1916, in November of that year in fighting on the river Ancre, and in actions at Beaucourt and Beaumont Hamel, in which the 7th Gordons and the 6th Black Watch were successful in breaching the German front line following fierce fighting.
It is impossible to know without further information what part precisely Private James Smith played in this action. What we do know is that he was hospitalised in November 1916 suffering from Trench Fever, but was discharged after 28 days on 2 December 1916. He died of wounds at a casualty clearing station in France at the age of 27 on 8 January 1917.
A report in the Aberdeen Weekly Journal on 19 January 1917 noted that prior to joining the army Private Smith was engaged in the sheep trade, and that he had joined the Gordons in July 1915. He is commemorated at Contay British Cemetery. His brothers George and Gordon also served in the war, but survived it.
[I acknowledge with thanks the input of the late Mrs Irene Crawford, daughter of Victor, and niece of James Hay in compiling this information about her uncle.]
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Registers of births and marriages
Census 1891-1911
National Archives - War Diary of the 1st/7th Gordon Highlanders WO95-2882/1
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 19 January 1917
Aberdeen Press & Journal 27 January 1917
Aberdeen Evening Express 27 January 1917
Private A. Strachan Gordon Hrs
Regrettably this soldier has not so far been identified.
Private A. Stuart R.A.S.C.
This soldier has proved a little difficult to identify, but is almost certainly Private Alexander Stuart of the 6th Bn. Gordon Highlanders (though quite possibly also of the Royal Army Service Corps). He was born on 16 August 1893, son of Agnes Stuart, Domestic Servant, at Netherhill, Tough. Agnes was born in Kincardine O’Neil. By 1901 she had married John McIntosh, a native of Leochel Cushnie, and the extended family were living at Little Ennochie, Birse, where John was employed as a Farm Servant. Their household included Alexander aged 7, with his nine-year-old sister Marjorie and baby half-brother James.
Alexander married Mary Hay from Inverurie in the Church of Scotland manse at Inverurie on 17 November 1914. His address at the time was Gilmour Cottage, Kincardine O’Neil, and his stated occupation was “Soldier”. He has not been identified in the 1911 census which might have given a clue as to his pre-war occupation. He had enlisted at Alford, most likely some time between 1908 and 1914, in the 6th (Banff & Donside) Bn. Gordon Highlanders (no. 1389) who were a Territorial Force Battalion. In 1914, soldiers in territorial units could not be compelled to service overseas, but many volunteered and Stuart was one such volunteer. Possibly significantly, “E” Company of the 6th Gordons was based at Inverurie with drill stations at Pitcaple.
From 26 July 1916, the battalion were camped out at Mametz Wood, as part of the 152nd Brigade and 51st (Highland) Division, in readiness to support an assault on High Wood which was launched on 30 July 1916. This turned out to be a very costly exercise in the face of ferocious opposition, in the early weeks of the Somme Offensive. Stuart was killed in action on Sunday 30 July 1916. He is buried/commemorated at Dartmoor Cemetery, Becordel-Becourt. His memorial stone bears the words: “Christ shall clasp the broken chain closer when we meet again”.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Census 1901
Registers of Births & Marriages
National Archives – War Diary of the 6th Gordons WO95/2868
Longlongtrail.co.uk
Online sources re 6th Gordons
Corpl. G. H. Taylor H. L. I.
L/Corpl. H.C. Taylor Gordon Hrs.
Private A. Taylor Gordon Hrs.
Private J. M. Taylor N. Z. Ex. Force
These four brothers died in consecutive years of the war from 1916 to 1919.
The Taylor Family
On 8 December 1882, at Kincardine O’Neil, Francis Taylor from St Fergus married Mary Smith, a native of the parish. The Taylors lived for a time at Beltie Terrace, Torphins, and were there at the time of the census in 1901. At some point between 1902 and 1904 their home became the Toll House in Kincardine O’Neil, and they lived there through the years of the First World War. Later they moved to Norton Cottage, also in Kincardine O’Neil. Francis was employed as a labourer and a gardener at Kincardine, then Norton House, and became caretaker of Christ Church Episcopal church at the west end of the village.
Francis and Mary had fourteen children in all, and lived into the 1930s. They kept bees, and competed with some success in the Kincardine O’Neil Annual Bulb Show – an event which inspired intensive and detailed reporting in the local press. In 1910 the Taylor family were no doubt disappointed to take second place to Mr Nicoll of Stranduff Cottage in the Kincardine O’Neil Window Flower Box Competition. Thanks to the Aberdeen Journal we know that Mrs Taylor donated eggs and jam to the Aboyne Castle Hospital in September 1916.
A tall granite tombstone, to the west of the west gable of the ruined old kirk in Kincardine O’Neil, also records some of the history of the family. Francis and Mary outlived six of their children: William who died in his sixth year in 1898 after two days of bronchitis, Gordon their second youngest, who only survived to the age of two in 1906 and, in consecutive years from 1916 onwards, four sons - George, Herbert, Alexander and James - who died in the course of military service. Their stories are set out below in the date order in which they died.
Corpl. G. H. Taylor
George Hunter Taylor was born on 17 July 1890 at Torphins. He looks likely to have been named after George Hunter, who was one of the witnesses of Francis and Mary’s marriage in 1882.
He was living at Coull when he enlisted at Aberdeen. He joined the 13th (Service) Battalion of the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), who in early 1916 became absorbed into the 14th (Service) Battalion of the Highland Light Infantry in which George held the rank of Corporal. Both were so-called “Bantam Battalions”, formed to meet a demand for enlistment by men who had been rejected as failing to meet the army’s standard height qualification of five feet three inches.
In May 1916 the 14th HLI were stationed at Blackdown in Hampshire, destined for France in June. On 19 May, by special licence at Aberdeen, George married Jessie Williams Emslie Milne from Coull, the bride’s father being at that time a Private in the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders. The marriage was to be an extremely short one.
On 6 September 1916 the Aberdeen Press & Journal reported that Mrs Taylor had received information that her husband had been missing since a raid on the enemy’s trenches. It seems he was killed or fatally wounded on the night of 23 August 1916, the 14th Battalion having moved up to the front line at Calonne and Boyaux a few days previously.
The battalion war diary for the night of 22/23 August 1916 reveals that, that night, a raid took place on an enemy trench under the command of 2nd Lieuts. Carmichael and Stevenson. The raiding parties having been successful in entering the enemy trenches and surprising a small work party of German soldiers, these two officers returned briefly to their own lines, but shortly after set out again to look for six of the party who were still unaccounted for. It was noted that “after two repeat journeys they were all brought in with the exception of 1 N.C.O (missing)”. Possibly this was Corpl. Taylor.
He is buried at the Lens Eastern Communal Cemetery.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
National Archives – War Diary of the 14th HLI - WO95-2612
Aberdeen Evening Express 19 May 1916 - marriage
Aberdeen Journal 6 September 1916 and Aberdeen Weekly Journal 8 September 1916 - missing
Ray Westlake: Tracing British Battalions of the Somme [Pen & Sword Military 2009]
www.14hli.co.uk
www.1914-1919.net
L/Corpl. H.C. Taylor
In the late afternoon of 13 May 1897, Mary Taylor gave birth to twins. Herbert Charles was born at 5pm, ten minutes after his sister Maggie Ann Sim, later known as Maidie.
In the 1911 census Herbert was aged 13 and living at the Toll House with twin Maggie and three younger brothers.
Herbert enlisted at Banchory and served in the 7th (Deeside Highland) Battalion Gordon Highlanders. On 20 November 1917, the first day of the Battle of Cambrai, the 7th Gordons, as a part of the 51st Highland Division, were involved in the allied recapture of the village of Flesquières. They were to follow behind a somewhat experimental and, as it turned out, problematic advance movement of tanks which it was intended would breach German defences over an extended length of the Hindenburg Line, intercepting communications with the coast, forcing a German retreat and enabling the allies to retake Cambrai. There were heavy casualties.
Herbert Taylor was killed in action that day at the age of 20. Flesquières was captured on the night of 20/21 November, and held in the face of a determined counter-offensive, which in due course however forced an allied retreat over some of the ground gained in the first days of the battle.
The Aberdeen Weekly Journal of 7 December 1917 reported:
“Information has been received by Mr and Mrs Francis Taylor, The Tollhouse, Kincardine O’Neil, that their son, Lance-Corporal Herbert C. Taylor, Gordon Highlanders, has been killed. Corporal Taylor has been on active service for more than two years. His brother, Corporal George Taylor, was reported as having died of wounds in Germany, in September of last year”.
He is buried at Orival Wood Cemetery, Flesquières.
Sources
National Archives – War Diary of the 1/7th Gordon Highlanders WO95-2882/1
Aberdeen Press & Journal 3 December 1917
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 7 December 1917 – Roll of Honour and short article under “District Casualties”.
Cyril Falls: The Gordon Highlanders in the First World War 1914-1919 - The Life of a Regiment Vol. IV pp165-170.
Online sources re Battle of Cambrai
Private A. Taylor
Alexander Taylor was born on 20 March 1895 at Torphins. In the census of 1911, he may be the sixteen-year-old Alexander Taylor who was working as a cattleman on the farm of Strathweltie at Coull, as he gave his residence as Tarland on enlistment.
Alexander became a Private in the 1st Battalion Gordon Highlanders. He was killed in action, at the age of 23, on 29 August 1918 on the Western Front. At that time the 1st Battalion were participating in the final allied push against a gradually weakening German defensive line culminating in the Armistice in November. The battalion war diary notes that on 26 August the 1st Gordons moved to trenches in front of Hamlincourt. On 27 August there was intermittent shelling. On the night of 28 August they moved forward from the trenches in front of Hamlincourt, and relieved the 2nd Grenadiers in the front line south-west of Écoust.
On 29 August it was noted: “Battn. pushed out patrols out to keep in touch with the enemy, one platoon of the Left Coy advanced too far and was practically wiped out by MG fire from the flank”. It may be (though it is impossible to be sure without more precise information) that Alexander was a victim of that attack. He is buried or commemorated at the H.A.C. Cemetery, Écoust-St.Mein.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
1911 census– uncertain identification
National Archives – War Diary of the 1st Bn Gordon Highlanders WO95-1435-3
www.thegordonhighlanders.co.uk
Cyril Falls: The Gordon Highlanders in the First World War 1914-1919 - The Life of a Regiment Vol. IV pp222ff.
Private J. M. Taylor
James Melvin Taylor was born on 19 July 1888 at Beltie. In 1911 he was in employment as a chauffeur, living in Aberdeen with his sister Jessie and her Police Constable husband James Lobban. By 1913 he was resident chauffeur at Parkhill House, Dyce. That year, at Aberdeen, he married Elizabeth (Bessie) Adams Main who, like Jessie, was a dressmaker. Daughters Agnes Cumming and Helen Isobel were born to James and Bessie in 1913 and 1914.
Having no doubt acquired some skill with the new-fangled motor car, James Taylor was recruited to the Army Service Corps and was, at least latterly, attached to the New Zealand Motor Transport Division. It must have come as a relief to the family when he survived the Armistice in 1918. Sadly, however, while awaiting demobilisation, he died of influenza and pneumonia, at No. 44 Casualty Clearing Station in Cologne on 14 February 1919 aged 30 – probably a victim of the “Spanish” flu which in the end claimed several times as many lives as the war itself. He is buried at Cologne Southern Cemetery. Bessie remarried (a blacksmith named Robert Reid) in 1922. Private Taylor is also commemorated on the War Memorial at Dyce.
Sources
Registers of Births and Marriages
Census 1911
Aberdeen Journal 26 February 1919 – “Private James M. Taylor, New Zealand Motor Transport Division, who died of pneumonia at a military hospital in France, was a son of Mr and Mrs Francis Taylor, Tollhouse, Kincardine O’Neil, who have now lost four sons in the service of their country. Private Taylor leaves a widow and two children, and before enlisting he was chauffeur at Parkhill House, Dyce”.
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 28 February 1919 - Roll of Honour – Taylor – At a military hospital in France (of pneumonia), Pte. James Melvin Taylor, aged 32, New Zealand Motor Transport Division, third son of Francis and Mrs Taylor, Tollhouse, Kincardine O’Neil, and husband of Mrs Taylor, Viewfield, Dyce – deeply regretted.
Immediately below is printed what may be a corrected version:
At No. 44 C.C.S. Cologne, Germany (of influenza and pneumonia) Private James M. Taylor A.S.C. (M.T.) late of The Garage, Parkhill House, aged 30 years, third son of Mr and Mrs Francis Taylor, Toll House, Kincardine O’Neil, and dearly beloved husband of Bessie Main, Viewfield, Dyce, deeply mourned.
After the war
Mary Taylor died in January 1932, and Francis the following year on 10 November 1933 at Norton Cottage, aged 75. On 15 November 1933 the Aberdeen Journal printed a short piece about Francis, describing him as one of Kincardine O’Neil’s “oldest and most esteemed residents”. It noted that he had been an enthusiastic bowler and took a keen interest in the social club and that, each year, he made a wreath and laid it at the War Memorial.
Herbert’s twin sister Maidie became a nurse, and in 1932 she married a policeman named Alexander Gorrie. She outlived her twin by 75 years, and indeed outlived all her siblings, surviving to the age of 95 when she died, at Allachburn care home, Aboyne, in 1992.
Sources on the family
Registers of births and marriages
Census1891,1901 and 1911
KON old churchyard – family memorial at west side.
Newspaper sources on local KON news, including:
Aberdeen Journal 4 May 1908 – spring show
Aberdeen Journal 5 October 1910 – window boxes
Aberdeen Journal 20 April 1914- bulbs
Aberdeen Journal 20 September 1916 – donations to Aboyne Castle Hospital
Aberdeen Journal 15 November 1933 – obituary
Correspondence in 2015 with Kathleen Hawthorn, whose father was the youngest child of Francis and Mary. George, Herbert, Alexander and James were her uncles.
Gunner A. J. Thomson R.F.A.
This is likely to be Alexander John Thomson of the Royal Horse Artillery and Royal Field Artillery 113 Bde. (no. 192592). He was born at Glassel on 6 August 1896 to John and Mary Jane Thomson, who married at Fyvie in 1895 and farmed at Strath, Campfield, Glassel.
In 1901 he was the eldest of their three children, having a younger brother and sister. The 1911 census records him at age 14 working on the farm, now with three younger siblings. He gave his residence as Banchory when he joined up.
The Royal Horse Artillery provided artillery cover for the cavalry, using light mobile guns. The Royal Field Artillery provided artillery support for the infantry using medium calibre guns and howitzers drawn by horses. Their field of operations was necessarily close to the front line.
Gunner Thomson was 21 years of age when he died of wounds on 21 March 1918. Co-incidentally or not, this date marked the launch of the German Spring Offensive and the biggest artillery bombardment of the First World War. It seems a reasonable conjecture that he fell in the course of Allied resistance to the German advance at that time. He is buried/commemorated at Grevillers British cemetery.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Registers of births and marriages
Census 1901 and 1911
Online sources re Royal Horse Artillery and Royal Field Artillery
L/Corpl. J. Thomson Aus. Ex. Force
Lance Corporal John Thomson of the Australian Army Medical Corps 15th Field Ambulance (Service no.1273) was born at West Rumblie, Corse, Coull on 22 March 1883, son of John and Mary Ann Thomson, latterly of Daisy Cottage, Torphins. His father was born in Lumphanan and his mother in Logie Coldstone. In 1901 John, Mary, young John aged 18 and another five siblings, were living at John’s farm at West Rumblie.
By the time of the war, John Thomson was living in Australia. A file exists in the Australian National Archives, providing the sort of information that has mostly been lost for British soldiers when records were destroyed in 1940. These show that, when he joined up on 14 September 1914 at Blackboy Hill, West Australia, he was then unmarried, aged 31 and was a carpenter by trade, having served 5 years of an apprenticeship in Aberdeen. He stated that he had previous military experience in the Foot Guards in London and perhaps on that account was promoted to Lance Corporal on 4 December 1914.
Thomson’s record suggests he embarked from Australia shortly after enlistment. He proceeded to Gallipoli with the 2nd Australian Stationary Hospital, was transferred to the allied base at Mudros on Lemnos in August 1915, from there to Alexandria in January 1916, to Tel el Kebir in May, and back to Alexandria in August.
Having survived Gallipoli, the 15th Field Ambulance were then sent to the Western Front. From September of 1916, after a short time at a military camp at Parkhouse on Salisbury Plain, L/Corpl. Thomson served in France with the British Expeditionary Force, spending two periods of leave in England in the summer of 1917 and February 1918. In June 1917 he declined to make a will.
In March 1918, three weeks or so after his return from leave in February, while temporarily attached to the 58th Australian Infantry, he was killed in action aged 34 on 13 March 1918. The 58th, as part of the 15th Australian Brigade and the 5th Australian Division, had participated in the Battle of Paschendaele between July and November 1917. In March the following year, on the eve of the great German Spring Offensive, they were engaged in operations close to the Somme and Villers-Bretonneux.
The War Diary of the 15th Field Ambulance on 13 March 1918 notes: “Letter received from C.O. 58th Aust. Infantry Battalion advising that Lce. Cpl. J. THOMPSON [sic] Supernumerary to Establishment detached for duty with 58th Battalion as R.A.M.C. detail was killed in action during the afternoon”.
On the same date the diary of the 58th Australian Infantry records a day of heavy shelling and artillery exchanges, resulting in 3 killed and 2 wounded. L/Corpl. Thomson, is commemorated on the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux. His effects were posted to his mother at 691 George Street, Aberdeen.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
1901 Census
National Archives of Australia:
Service record 183813; War Diary of the 15th Field Ambulance AWM4 Subclass 26/58/23 March 1918; War Diary of the 58th Australian Infantry AWM4 23/75/26 March 1918.
Aberdeen City Roll of Honour – gives a date of death 12 March 1918. This is probably wrong in light of the diary entries. Two wounded were recorded on 12 March 1918 but no fatalities.
Private W. Thomson Gordon Hrs.
This is a common name, and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission record 11 instances of a Private W. Thomson (or Thompson) of the Gordon Highlanders who was killed in World War 1. It is not possible to be exactly sure who this is, but a likely match is William Simpson Thomson, born 21 April 1898 at Greenburn Cottage, Torphins, son of Alexander Smith Thomson, Quarry Labourer, and Annie Farquharson who had married at Birse. In 1901 the family were living in Torphins and William was the fifth of six siblings. By 1911 the Thomsons had moved to Hawthorn Cottage and he was attending school.
William Thomson enlisted at Aberdeen in June 1915 (no. 3963) in the 3/4th battalion Gordon Highlanders, a territorial battalion formed in February that year. He must have seen very little of the war before being killed in action only weeks later on the first day of the Battle of Loos, 25 September 1915.
On 24 September the 4th battalion was entrenched in Sanctuary Wood, preparing to participate in a major offensive commencing in the early hours of the following morning. Following coffee at 1.30am, the men moved into position and a preparatory bombardment began at 4.05am. After some initial success in penetrating the German front line, it proved impossible to retain control of the ground that had been gained. Heavy artillery fire intercepted the supply of ammunition and bombs, and the battalion was forced to withdraw to the position from which it had set out. Casualties were heavy, and William Thomson, aged 17, appears to have been one of them.
The Aberdeen Evening Express, on 1 November 1915, reported under the heading “Glassel Man Missing” – “Official intimation has been received by Mr and Mrs Alexander Thomson, Woodbank Cottage, Glassel, that their son, William S. Thomson, 4th Gordon Highlanders, has been missing since 25th September. Private Thomson joined the 3/4th Gordons early in June, and left for France a few months later. Prior to enlistment he was employed at Mrs Duncan’s sawmills, Inchmarlo, near Banchory”.
According to a report in the Aberdeen Daily Journal on 2 November 1915, Private Thomson’s father had by then moved into the slightly gentler employment of gardener at Glassel House and Learney, and was now living at Woodbine* Cottage, Glassel.
He is commemorated at the Menin Gate, Ypres.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Register of Births
Census 1901 and 1911
Aberdeen Evening Express 1 November 1915
Aberdeen Daily Journal 2 November 1915
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 5 November 1915
Aberdeen Evening Express 29 November 1916 – timing unexplained
*Woodbine is probably correct, not Woodbank.
Corpl. A. Turner Cameron Hrs.
This is probably Corporal Alfred William Turner of the 6th Bn. Cameron Highlanders (Service no. 3/6317). If so he was born in the district of Bow/Poplar in Greater London in 1874. He resided at Edmonton in Middlesex when he enlisted at Aldershot. His connection with Kincardine O’Neil is that he was Butler at Dess when, in 1911, the Census picked him up there, presiding over a staff of footman, cook, lady’s maid, two kitchen maids and two housemaids. He was 37 in 1911 and about 41 when he was killed in action on Sunday 26 September 1915, the second day of the Battle of Loos. Army records suggest he was then a Lance Corporal, and acting Corporal at the time. He must have volunteered, despite his mature age, as conscription was not introduced until 1916.
The 6th Camerons were raised at Inverness in September 1914 as part of Kitchener’s Second New Army. They became a part of the 45th Brigade in the 15th (Scottish) Division. The battalion proceeded to France in July 1915, after a period of training in the south of England, and were involved in the Battle of Loos which began on 25 September 1915 and continued to 19 October.
Corpl. Turner died on the second day of the battle. Following an artillery bombardment, hostilities began with the release by the British of 140 tons of chlorine gas on 25 September, which at various points along the line blew back because of a change of wind direction. This was the first use of gas on the Allied side though it had been deployed by the Germans at Ypres in April of the same year. Despite this, progress was made on the first day, but on the second (the day of Turner’s death), German reinforcements arrived and thousands of men died under enemy machine gun fire. According to the War Diary the 6th battalion suffered huge losses on this day.
Corpl. Turner is commemorated on the Loos Memorial along with 20,647 others.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
1911 Census
www.findmypast.co.uk
National Archives – War Diary of the 6th Bn Cameron Highlanders WO95-1945_1
Online sources re Battle of Loos
Capt. R. H. Vaughan Thompson Royal Fus.
Richard Henry Vaughan Thompson, born 20 October 1883, was the only son of Col. Edward Vaughan Thompson and Emily Charlotte Vaughan Thompson (née Beachcroft) of East Sheen. Col. Vaughan Thompson was a colonel in the 3rd Volunteer Battalion East Surrey Regiment and for a time, pre-war, young Richard served as a volunteer in his father’s regiment. However, his connection with the parish of Kincardine O’Neil was through his father-in-law Lord Shaw of Dunfermline, Liberal Member of Parliament for Hawick, and eminent lawyer and judge, who became a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary in 1909, purchased the estate of Craigmyle in 1911 and was created a life peer in 1929, taking the title 1st Baron Craigmyle.
He was educated at Somerfields, Oxford and, from 1897-1902, Winchester College, where he was a rower and runner and participated in the Rifle Corps. In 1902 he went up to Oxford and graduated with an Honours degree in Jurisprudence from Trinity College in 1905. He was an only son, but had a sister, Dorothy Mary, who married a Derbyshire Vicar in 1910, when the family home was at Westhay, East Sheen. He practised as a solicitor in the family firm of Beachcroft, Thomson & Co. in Theobalds Road, London and was elected to Holborn Borough Council.
In the 1911 census, Richard Vaughan Thompson was with his widowed mother and three domestic servants at Sheen Wood, Christchurch Road, Mortlake. He gave the same address when, on 31 August 1914, he signed up to the Inns of Court Officers’ Training Corps at 10, Stone Buildings, Lincoln’s Inn, and applied for a temporary commission for the duration of the war. In December he was accorded the rank of Captain in the 11th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers.
The Aberdeen Press & Journal was among many newspapers which in January 1915 reported an engagement to The Hon. Isabel, youngest daughter of Lord and Lady Shaw, providing some family background: “Captain Thompson is the nephew and partner of Sir Richard Melvill Beachcroft, a well-known city solicitor, who was for years the leader of the Moderate party in the London County Council, and the chairman of that body…and grand-nephew of Dean Vaughan*, the eloquent preacher, who was for many years Master of the Temple”.
The young couple married, on 6 February 1915, at what the papers reported as a “quiet” wedding at South Kensington Presbyterian Church. The Scotsman gave a detailed account. The groom was dressed in khaki and his best man was a brother officer Captain Leslie Nash. It was a choral service. A violin concerto was played during the signing of the register. Afterwards there was a reception at 1 Palace Gate, the Shaw family London residence, before the newly-weds departed on a brief honeymoon, “the bride wearing a pale blue dress, with a long coat of natural musquash trimmed with skunk…”.
The Aberdeen Weekly Journal reported regularly on the new Mrs Vaughan Thomson’s doings in the county. In August 1915 she was at Craigmyle for the opening week of the grouse shooting, when the lessee of the Learney shootings received a telegram informing him of the death of his brother at the front, and there was also a report that Private David Milne of the 7th Battalion Gordon Highlanders, gardener at Tillydrine and bandmaster of the district brass band, had been wounded by shrapnel.
In January 1916, Mrs Vaughan Thompson received a telegram to the effect that her husband had been admitted to a Red Cross hospital in Rouen with fractured nasal bones. He was discharged after about two weeks, but on 1 October 1916 much worse news was conveyed in a telegram to 1, Palace Gate:
“Deeply regret to inform you that Capt. R. H. Vaughan Thompson 11 Royal Fusiliers is reported wounded believed killed Sep 26. The Army Council express their sympathy”.
A further telegram the following day confirmed that he had been killed in action.
On the reported day of his death the 11th were involved in the attack and capture of Thiepval, one of many notoriously costly episodes in the course of the Battle of the Somme. The battalion War Diary records that on the day in question Capt. Vaughan Thompson was in command of “D” Co. He was killed leading his men in an attack on a strong point in enemy Brawn Trench.
The telegrams were sent to Palace Gate, but in fact Mrs Vaughan Thomson was at Craigmyle, as appears from an article in the Aberdeen Journal on 7 October 1916 when it reported on the annual meeting of the County of Aberdeen Branch, British Red Cross Society, held in the ballroom of the Music Hall on Union Street, Aberdeen. Lord Shaw sent apologies for his absence, the chairman reading out a letter from him as follows:
“The War Office reports by telegram that my dear son-in-law, Captain Vaughan Thomson, is believed to have been killed in action on the 26th September. I accompany my stricken daughter to London. In the circumstances your committee will, I am sure, forgive my absence”.
The Holborn & Finsbury Guardian printed an obituary on 20 October 1916, noting among other things:
“He went to the front in July, 1915, and was in command of his company when he was killed, having previously taken part in several severe actions.
…The major of his battalion writes of him that he was killed ‘while most gallantly leading his company against one of the strongest positions, and I feel I have lost not only, most probably, the finest officer of my battalion, but also a true friend’ “.
Also on 20 October 1916, a memorial service was held at Christ Church East Sheen.
In July 1917, a memorial was erected in that church, in the form of a carved oak canopy over the bishop’s chair. Tribute was paid in the parish magazine to Capt. Vaughan Thompson’s dedication to local public service as someone who “until the day of his death on the battlefield had the interests and welfare of the parish at heart”.
Capt. Vaughan Thompson was Mentioned in Dispatches, and is commemorated at Authuille Military Cemetery.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Census England & Wales 1911
National Archives: Service record – Officers file WO339/19867; War Diary of the 11th Royal Fusiliers WO95 – 2045 – 1_1
Derbyshire Advertiser and Journal 18 November 1910
London Gazette 11 September 1914
Aberdeen Press & Journal 12 January 1915 – engagement
Daily Mirror 6 February 1915 - engagement
The Scotsman 8 February 1915, 4 October 1916 and 28 May 1918
The Sketch – 20 January 1915 – nice photo of Isabel
Holborn & Finsbury Guardian 20 October 1916 Obituary
Richmond Herald 21 October 1916 – memorial service
Richmond Herald 30 December 1916 – left estate of £12,988
Richmond Herald 7 July 1917 – re memorial
British Newspaper Archive at www.findmypast.co.uk – lots of material on Mrs Vaughan Thomson
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography entry re Lord Shaw, 1st Baron Craigmyle.
Ray Westlake: Tracing British Battalions of the Somme [Pen & Sword Military 2009]
www.winchestercollegeatwar.com
Trinity College Oxford archives - biographical letter from Isabel to the college and oak memorial board at entrance to War Memorial Library.
*Rev. Charles John Vaughan D.D.(1816-97) Dean of Llandaff and Master of the Temple, also Headmaster of Harrow 1844-1859.
Private E. Walker R.A.S.C.
Edward Walker, who became a baker in the Royal Army Service Corps, was born at Resthivet, Chapel of Garioch on 9 May 1893. He was a son of Alexander Walker and Jane Middleton who married at Chapel of Garioch in 1878. It seems he came to live in Kincardine O’Neil in 1911 or 1912, joining his brother in the bakery there.
In 1891, Alexander and Jane were at Resthivet with daughters Annie and Mary aged 12, and 1 respectively, and three sons: Alexander 10, Peter 8, and Robert 5. At the time of Edward’s birth, two years later, Alexander was noted as being a farmer’s son who worked on the farm. In 1901 the family still lived at Resthivet where Alexander was a crofter and farm ploughman, and Edward had two older sisters and one younger. In the 1911 census, aged 17, Edward is described as a farmer’s son working on the farm at Hillhead, Chapel of Garioch, a household which, at least on census night, included his older sister Mary aged 21 and ten-year-old younger sister Beatrice. The same census found Peter Walker, then a “Baker’s assistant” aged 28, at Insch with his wife and two-year-old son.
In the Aberdeen Journal of 10 May 1911 (five weeks after census night), there was an announcement in the agricultural pages that Mr Peter Walker, baker at Premnay and Insch had taken over the bakery business at Kincardine O’Neil. In September 1912, the same newspaper reported that Edward Walker was one of the organisers of a “young men’s annual reunion” in the Public Hall, Kincardine O’Neil (“the first dance of the season and …much enjoyed by all”) at which tea was served by Mr and Mrs Walker, The Bakery, “with their usual good taste”.
By the time Edward Walker enlisted, he had joined his brother in the bakery, and he continued to use those skills after enlistment, when he was assigned to the 72nd Field Bakery (S4/157489). He died on 1 August 1917 aged 24, while serving in East Africa.
A lesser-known aspect of the world war, the German East African campaign, centred on German-occupied Tanzania. August 1914 in Europe was mirrored by a German attack in the same month on the neutral Belgian Congo. Under the command of a formidable commander – General Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck - it was intended, as well as achieving German colonial expansion on the continent, to divert men and resources from the Western Front, and did so effectively. August 1917 marked the beginning of a new Allied offensive under the command of South-African Major-General Jacob van Deventer. The war in Africa endured until the German surrender there on 23 November 1918 two weeks after the general cessation of hostilities.
The Aberdeen Journal of 10 August 1917 carried a brief report of Private Walker’s death: “Pte. Edward Walker, A.S.C., who has died, was the youngest son of Mr Alex. Walker, late of Hillhead, Chapel of Garioch. He was 24 years of age, and previous to the war was a baker with his brother Mr Peter Walker, Kincardine O’Neil.
He is buried at Morogoro Cemetery, near Dar-Es-Salaam in Tanzania.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Register of births
Census 1891, 1901 and 1911
Aberdeen Journal 10 May 1911
Aberdeen Journal 19 September 1912 – young men’s annual reunion
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 8 August 1916 – Mr Walker took over the bakery from Miss Spark who carried on the business following the death of her husband.
Aberdeen Journal 10 August 1917 – Notice of death
Same death notice Aberdeen Weekly Journal 17 August 1917
Wikipedia on the German East African Campaign
Ross Anderson: “The Forgotten Front 1914-18 - The East African Campaign”(Tempus Publishing Limited 2007)
Private A. H. Watt Gordon Hrs.
Alexander Herd Watt (No S/4856) of the 8th Bn. Gordon Highlanders, was in fact a Corporal, not a Private. He was from Huntly and his connection to the parish of Kincardine O’Neil is that he was a signalman at Torphins before the war. He was born at Nether Auchmull on 3 August 1892, son of a quarry labourer, William Watt, and his wife Helen who lived at Bridgend, Kinnoir, and later at 58 Bogie Street, Huntly.
In 1901 he was the middle child of three, having an older brother William aged 12 and four-year-old younger sister, Christina. He is probably the Alexander Watt who appears in the 1911 census as a boarder in the household of George Milne, Crofter, at Little Haddoch, employed by the Great North of Scotland Railway as a porter – maybe at the nearby station of Cairney on the Keith-Huntly line. His fellow boarder was a signalman. According to newspaper reports at the time of his death, Watt must have moved shortly after that to become signalman at Torphins, which was his place of employment for about two years before the outbreak of war.
Alexander Watt enlisted as a volunteer shortly after the outbreak of war, joining the 8th Gordons who were formed at Aberdeen in August 1914 as a part of Kitchener’s New Army. After training they landed at Boulogne on 10 May 1915. In the weeks before Corporal Watt’s death they were attached to 26th Brigade in the 9th (Scottish) Division – first of the new volunteer Divisions. The Battalion was engaged in training and route marches in hot weather around Armentières and later Rieux in preparation for proceeding to the front line. According to newpaper reports, he had been in France for only 6 weeks and at the front for a short time only, before dying of wounds on 23 June 1915 aged 23.
He is buried at Lillers Communal Cemetery, and his name also appears on the War Memorial at Huntly, the parish church at Huntly, and on the memorial plaque to railway employees at Aberdeen Joint Station.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Register of Births
Census 1901 and 1911
www.1914-1918.net/gordon.htm
The Scotsman 6 July 1915 - Report of death.
Aberdeen Weekly Journal - 9 July 1915 – HUNTLY GORDON KILLED Mr Wm Watt, 58 Bogie street, Huntly (late of Bridgend, Kinnoir), has received information from the War Office that his son, Corporal A. H. Watt, of 8th Batt, Gordon Highlanders, died of wounds on 23rd June. Corporal Watt joined his regiment shortly after war broke out, and went to the front a short time ago. Prior to joining the battalion he was a signalman on the Great North of Scotland Railway for about two years, his last station being Torphins. The deceased was the second son of Mr Wm. Watt, 58 Bogie Street, Huntly, and was in the 22nd year of his age.
National Archives – War Diary of the 8th Gordon Highlanders WO95- 1767-2 p.20 [from the family history point of view there is more detail which may be of interest which it has not been thought appropriate to include here]
Aberdeen Journal 29 March 1921 - account of unveiling and dedication of memorial in Huntly Parish Church
Memorial at Aberdeen Joint station
John Ross and Keith Fenwick – The Great North of Scotland Railway Memorial [Great North of Scotland Railway Association 2009}
Private C. Watt Gordon Hrs.
Two local men, both Gordon Highlanders named Charles Watt, fell in the First World War. One was from Aboyne and served in the 4th Gordon Highlanders (no. 202185); the other had a Banchory connection and also served in the 1st/4th Gordons (no. 202335). It is probable that the man on the Kincardine O’Neil memorial is no. 202335, because Charles Watt from Aboyne had a brother Alexander who was also a casualty of the war. The brothers are commemorated together on the Aboyne memorial and it would be odd if only one of them made it onto the Kincardine O’Neil memorial.
Assuming this person, therefore, to be Charles Watt no. 202335, he was a son of John and Jessie Moir or Watt of Birks Lodge, Banchory, born at East Mains, Inchmarlo, on 5 March 1898. The local connection, as revealed by the 1891 Census, may be that in that year John (described as a labourer) and Jessie and their three children were living at Waulkmill in Kincardine O’Neil parish. There was also a Lumphanan connection, as John and two of Charles’s older siblings, had been born in Lumphanan (the third in Tarland). In 1901 the family, by then including Charles aged three, were at East Mains, Inchmarlo. In 1911 they were recorded at East Lodge Inchmarlo, and Charles was 13 and attending school.
When Private Watt died of wounds on 7 April 1918 at the age of 20, he was serving in the 4th Gordons. The battalion war diary records heavy casualties in fighting towards the end of March 1918 in what became known as the First Battle of Bapaume, the first part of the German offensive launched on 21 March 1918 which aimed to drive allied forces back to the Channel ports. As part of the 154th Infantry Brigade of the 51st Division, the 4th Gordons were struggling to hold existing allied lines in the face of fierce opposition. It is unclear exactly when or in what circumstances Private Watt sustained the wounds from which he died.
He is buried/commemorated at the Valenciennes (Saint Roch) Communal Cemetery, and is also listed on the Banchory war memorial.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Censuses 1901 & 1911
National Archives Kew War Diary WO95/2886
Bradford
In loving memory of Brigadier Berenger Colborne Bradford, DSO, MBE, MC, The Black Watch. Born 15th October 1912; Died 4th March 1996. His grave lies at Kincardine.
Location: South wall of chancel.
Bradford
In loving memory of Susan Bradford of Kincardine. Dau. of Mary Ursula Umfreville Vaughan-Lee. Born 11th August 1918; Died 17th January 2008. Her grave lies at Kincardine.
Location: South wall of chancel.
Farquhar
In loving memory of Admiral Stuart St. John Farquhar Born 1865 Died 1941 and Marguerite Ada Gilbey Farquhar Born 1883 Died 1950.
Location: North side of Chancel
Farquhar
To the glory of God and in loving memory of Admiral Sir Arthur Farquhar KCB. Born January 9th 1815. Died January 29th 1908. The bell in this church is given by his children.
Location: North side of Chancel
Farquhar
In memory of Admiral Sir Arthur Murray Farquhar KCB, CVO. Born 19th January 1855. Died 16th November 1937.
Location: North side of Chancel
Farquhar
In memory of my beloved husband Captain Hobart Brooks Farquhar, Civil Service Rifles. Killed in action at Vimy Ridge on May 22nd 1916.
Location: North side of Chancel
Farquhar
In memory of Commander Charles Robert Stanier Farquhar OBE Royal Navy. 9 April 1906 – 4 February 1968.
Location: North side of Chancel
Farquhar
Lieutenant Alastair C N Farquhar, R.N. Commanding HMS Eden who lost his life in the service of his country.
Location: Below Window North 4
Farquhar
Alice Jane wife of Albert Farquhar of Drumnagesk, who died at Boulder, West Australia on the 13th Nov. 1900.
Location: Below Window North 2
Fraser
Francis Baird Fraser of Findrack, who died at Mombasa, East Africa, on 8th April 1890.
Location: Below Window South 3
Fraser
Francis Garden Fraser of Findrack, Capt. East Yorkshire Regt. who died 6th December 1883, and of Elizabeth MacKenzie Stewart Menzies Irvine, who died 30th January 1911.
Location: Below Window South 4
Fraser
Peter, youngest son of William Fraser of Findrack and Philadelphia Iambe his wife who died 14th October 1879, aged 20.
Location: Below Window North 3
Hart:
James Christine Hart, Died 12th March 1876.
Location: In the East Window.
Inglis
In loving memory of Arthur Inglis, Priest. Rector 1927-1930.
Location: North side of Chancel
Lumsden
In memory of Chris Lumsden 24th July 1900 – 1st June 1982 the wife of Lt. Col. W V Lumsden of Sluie who played the organ of this church for 25 years.
Location: South side of Nave.
Lumsden
Lt. Col. William Vernon Lumsden DSO, MC, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, Born January 1st 1887, Died December 28th 1966.
Location: Below window South 2.
Nash
In memory of The Rev. Cecil William Nash who served this Church from 21st September 1885 until he died 21st May 1923. Aged 67.
Location: North side of Chancel.
Nash
Thomas Stuart Nash, RAF, died of wounds 9th August 1918 aged 29 years.
Location: South Window 1
Pickering
In loving memory of Francis Alexander Umfreville Pickering 2nd Dragoons (Royal Scots Greys). Killed in action Dec 23rd 1917 on the Passchaendale Rige while commanding the 9th Batt. Rifle Brigade.
This cross came from his grave in the Whitehouse Cemetary, near Ypres. “Their name liveth for evermore.”
Location: South side of Chancel.
Pickering
In loving memory of Mary Pickering of Kincardine. Born Feb. 3rd 1855. Died Apl 3rd 1930. Her grave is within the walls of the old kirk of Kincardine O’Neil.
Location: South side of Chancel.
Reidford
To the Glory of God and in Memory of Marcus Reidford. Died in infancy 23 April 1977. Beloved son of Quentin and Cynthia.
Location: North side of Nave
St. John
To the memory of Adeline St. John widow of the Honble E T St. John, Rector of this Church 1876 to 1881 and daughter of Admiral Sir Arthur Farquhar KCB of Drumnagesk.
Location: South side of Nave.
St. John
The Rev. Honble. Edmund Tudor St. John, who was for years incumbent of this Church and of St. Lesmo's, Glen Tanar.
Location: West Window.
Vaughan-Lee
In loving memory of Mary Ursula Umfreville Vaughan-Lee of Kincardine. Daughter of Mary Pickering. Born 18th July 1878; Died 24th August 1970. Her grave lies within the walls of the Old Kirk, Kincardine O'Neil.
Location: South wall of chancel.
KINCARDINE O’NEIL WAR MEMORIAL – BY JEAN ABBOT
Nine men connected with the Christ Church congregation died in the First World War: Alastair Farquhar and Hobart Brooks Farquhar (nephew and uncle), Lachlan Fraser, Thomas Nash, Frank Pickering, and four sons of Francis and Mary Taylor – George, Herbert, Alexander and James.
The Farquhar family lived at Drumnagesk, and were much involved with the founding and building of the church in the 1860s. They donated the (still active) bell. Lachlan was the youngest son of the Fraser family of Tornaveen who had strong connections with Christ Church, and were friendly with the then Rector Rev. Cecil Nash and his wife and family, including their son Tom. Frank Pickering’s mother bought the Kincardine Estate in 1888. She recovered the temporary wooden cross marking Frank’s grave, which is now in the chancel. Francis Taylor, had been gardener at Kincardine and Norton House, and became caretaker of Christ Church. He and his wife Mary lived just across the road at the Toll House.
These 9 deserve special mention here as having a particular connection with Christ Church. The notes below include more information about each of them, and (in alphabetical order) the other 57 men whose names are listed on the parish war memorials in Kincardine O’Neil and Torphins.
References to the censuses and registers are to Scottish records unless otherwise stated; "National Archives" denotes The National Archives, Kew.
Private F. G. Beaton Gordon Hrs.
This is probably Private Fraser Singer (not G) Beaton of the 52nd Bn. Gordon Highlanders. He was born in Aberlour on 5 June 1899. His parents were Farquhar Beaton, a baker, and Isabella Forbes Singer, who married at Inverurie in 1894. In 1901, the family were living with Isabella’s parents at Urybank, Keithhall, Inverurie. Fraser had an older brother Farquhar. His grandparents, Francis and Isabella Singer, also had 7 children living with them at that time, the eldest being 35 and the youngest 6.
In the census of 1911 the Beatons, including Fraser aged 11, were registered at Myra Cottage, Torphins, by which time he had twin younger sisters aged 9. He gave Aberdeen as his place of residence on enlistment in the Gordons (No. TR1/10586). Records show that he had registered as a member of the National Union of Railway Workers in April 1917, so his war service may have been quite short, as he died aged 18 at Colchester on Tuesday 12 March 1918.
The Aberdeen Weekly Journal on 22 March 1918 gave an account of how this came about: “Private Fraser S. Beaton, Gordons, who died of pneumonia in a military camp in England, was buried with military honours in Inverurie Churchyard on Tuesday afternoon. The Rev Wm Cruickshank, U. F. Church, conducted the service. The local Volunteer Company and also the soldiers employed at the Locomotive Works, under the command of Captain P. W. M. Laing were present. The firing party was in the charge of Sergt. Wm Park. Private Beaton was a son of Mr Farquhar Beaton, baker, late of Torphins. He was for some time in service at Drumnagesk, and latterly in the employment of the Great North of Scotland Railway Company”.
The detail that Private Beaton had been in service at Drumnagesk is interesting. This was the home of the Farquhar family, two of whom are also commemorated on the war memorial. Given that this soldier had a father and a brother named Farquhar, was there perhaps a connection between the two families?
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Register of Births
Census 1901 & 1911
Trade Union Membership Registers in findmypast.co.uk
England and Wales Deaths in findmypast.co.uk
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 22 March 1918
Inverurie cemetery plot C row 5 Grave 723.
Private W. Bews Australian Expeditionary Force
William Bews was born at Gallowcairn, Tornaveen on 11 April 1888. His parents, David Bews and Jessie Gordon had married at Kincardine O’Neil in 1874. David was a native of Orkney and Jessie was born in Banchory-Devenick. In 1891 the family were living at Gallowcairn and David was working as a crofter/agricultural labourer. There were then six children born in the following years, at roughly two-year intervals. In 1891 William was the second youngest, but two more children followed. Ten years later, in 1901, the census found David, Jessie and their three youngest at “North Fittie”, most likely denoting North Footie. It appears William had left home. He may be the William Bews who is noted age 13 in the 1901 census as a servant living in the household of farmer William Smith at Ferretfold on the Craigmyle estate.
In 1911, William Bews and George Gordon, as part of a large contingent of railway workers, sailed to Australia on the “Durham”, departing from London on 27 June bound for Brisbane.
Bews enlisted voluntarily as a Private in the 31st Battalion Australian Imperial Force at Brisbane on 13 July 1915 (Service no.493), giving his occupation as “Labourer”. He named his widowed mother, Mrs Jessie Bews of North Footie, Torphins, as his next of kin. His record gives no further details until he disembarked at Suez in early December 1915. Thereafter both he and George Gordon were destined for the Western Front. On 8 June 1916, he made a will leaving everything to his mother, before embarking once again from Alexandria, this time to join the British Expeditionary Force in France. He arrived in Marseilles in June 1916 and was wounded in action the following month, with a gunshot wound to the right thigh. This probably occurred in the course of the 31st Battalion’s involvement in fighting at Fromelles on 19 July, in which it suffered very heavy losses. Bews was shipped to England from Boulogne, returning to France in October. At the end of November 1916, he took ill and was out of action for a time, but rejoined his battalion in January 1917, when it was engaged in the allied advance towards the Hindenburg Line.
Shortly after, Private Bews was killed in action aged 28 on 19 January 1917. He was buried at Grass Lane Cemetery, A.I.F. Burial Ground, Flers. A small bundle of effects was duly posted to Mrs Bews in Torphins.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Register of Births
Census 1891 & 1901
National Archives of Australia: Series B2455 - Item No. 3079971
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour at awm.gov.au
Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918 (online)
Wikipedia history of the 31st Battalion AIF
Aberdeen Evening Express 7 February 1917:“Roll of Honour – Killed in action on the 19th January,1917, Private William Bews, Australian Imperial Force, third son of the late David Bews and Mrs Bews, North Footie, Torphins, aged 28 years – deeply mourned.
2nd Lt. D. R. Cameron A & S Hrs
This soldier is Douglas Robert Cameron - one of two who appear on the Torphins memorial, but not in Kincardine O’Neil. He was a cousin of Douglas Joseph McIntosh Cameron. There is an old War Office file for Douglas Robert Camero, which gives fascinating insights into his story. It makes no mention of any link with the parish, but this is explained by the various censuses which show a family connection with Kincardine O’Neil going back to at least the middle of the nineteenth century. His paternal grandparents Joseph (from Tomintoul) and Mary (from Midmar) married in Kincardine O’Neil in 1851. In 1871, they were living in, or possibly above, an address noted as “Tailor’s Shop Kincardine O’Neil”, where Joseph carried on his trade as a Master Tailor and clothier. They had a large family, which included their youngest son, Douglas’s father Robert. In 1881, they were at Mill of Campfield, Craigmyle.
By 1891 Robert was no longer at home and by 1901 he had his own household with wife Maria Augusta and three children, at Queens Road, Deptford where, following in his father’s footsteps, was a Merchant Tailor. There were three children: Augusta aged 8, Douglas 6 (born 6 October 1894) and Jeanne 3. By 1911 the family had moved from 289 Queen’s Road to number 397. All three children were still at home and 16-year-old Douglas was earning his living as a tailor having, as his War Office file reveals, attended the Aske School. This was close to home in Deptford and one of the schools of the Haberdashery Company – now Haberdashers’ Hatcham College - still (as of 2023) at its same address in Pepys Road.
Cameron volunteered, on the outbreak of war on 4 August 1914, and enlisted in the 4th Bn the London Regiment (the London Scottish) at Deptford. He was then aged 19 years and 10 months, and gave his occupation as Tailor’s Cutler employed by his father. On 23 March 1915, he was recommended as suitable for a temporary commission for the period of the war. His old housemasters gave this their confident endorsement, noting that Douglas had entered the school in 1905: “His conduct was uniformly good, his moral character excellent, and he is one of the best all-round athletes that the School has ever known. Records of his still hold in the South London Inter-Grammar School contests”. On 1 May 1915 he was selected for the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, joining the 11th (Service) Bn who landed at Boulogne as part of 45th Brigade in the 15th (Scottish) Division in July 1915.
Between July 1915 and August 1916, the battalion were deployed on the Western Front. Cameron would have experienced fighting in the Battle of Loos in September/October 1915 and the first weeks of the Battle of the Somme, at Albert and Bazentin, from July 1916. His service record shows that, on 22 August 1916, a telegram was sent to Mrs Cameron at 397 Queens Road to the effect that he had been admitted to 8 General Hospital Rouen, with shell shock. He was sent home to 10 Palace Green Hospital, and granted leave to 6 November 1916. This was twice extended until, on 13 February 1917, he was certified fit for light duties but “no route marching” and, on 23 February 1917, fit without any qualification. At some point following his enlistment in the army, Douglas Cameron married Lydia Alice Chester of Troutbeck Road, New Cross.
Five months after returning to his duties in February 1917, at the age of 22, Douglas Cameron died of wounds sustained on 31 July 1917. He must have acquitted himself well after his period of sick leave, as a posthumous notice in the London Gazette advertised that he had been promoted to Lieutenant, and his record shows he was drawing the pay appropriate to that rank from 1 July 1917. The Aberdeen Press & Journal of 22 August 1917 reported that he volunteered the day after war was declared. It noted that he was severely injured in the first battle of Ypres and invalided home, was gazetted 2nd Lieutenant in May 1915, returned to France and was promoted to full Lieutenant, and had been “mortally wounded while gallantly leading his platoon”.
His effects included a watch, two chequebooks, letters, 1 advance book, a gold ring, and an account with Cox & Co, 16 Charing Cross, overdrawn to the extent of £10 3s 6d. More to the point, he left a posthumous son, Douglas Robert Alexander Cameron, born in October 1917.
He is buried at Potijze Cemetery, The Château Lawn, Ypres.
Sources
Registers of Births and Marriages
Censuses 1881-1911
National Archives – Officer’s file WO339/65707
South London Observer 18 August 1917 – mentions Lydia, younger daughter of Mr and Mrs G. H. Chester of Troutbeck Road, New Cross
Aberdeen Press & Journal 22 August 1917
Aberdeen Evening Express 27 August 1917 – report died of wounds + photo
Aberdeen Evening Express 29 September 1917
Old churchyard Kincardine O’Neil – monument to Joseph and Mary also commemorates some of their children including Robert Wilson Cameron, of New Cross, London.
Gunner D. Cameron Royal Garrison Artillery
This is Douglas Joseph McIntosh Cameron, Gunner (No.110953) in the 188th Siege Battery. Royal Garrison Artillery. He was born on 4 October 1894 at 70 Summer Street, Aberdeen, son of Donald McIntosh who was in the mounted police, and Margaret Mitchell Cameron daughter of Joseph and Mary Cameron, who came from Kincardine O’Neil (see note on Douglas Robert Cameron above). In 1901 a six-year-old Douglas Cameron was living in the village of Kincardine O’Neil, though as a “boarder” in the household of someone who is not obviously a relative, and was attending school. This may or may not be the Douglas in question. On 22 November 1913, a person who is definitely the soldier commemorated here married Helen Ann Dow at Tarland. Helen’s address at the time of her marriage was Newton of Melgum. Helen later resided at Boig, Tarland and at Rose Cottage, Kincardine O’Neil.
Douglas Cameron volunteered for service in 1915. He was then just over 21years old and (having gone into what was evidently the Cameron family business, like his cousin Douglas Robert Cameron), gave his occupation on enlistment as “tailor”.
A fire-damaged version of Cameron’s service record is one of the few records of ordinary soldiers on the Kincardine O’Neil memorial to have survived the bombing of London in 1940. It indicates that he was not altogether easy to handle from a disciplinary point of view (among other things “making improper reply to a N.C.O.”). The record also shows that he was home for quite an extended period, between 16 August 1916 and 8 January 1917 (just like his cousin, oddly enough), though it is not clear why.
He was with the British Expeditionary Force from his return on 9 January 1917, and is recorded as being in temporary command of no. 241 siege battery in May 1917. Siege batteries were deployed behind the front line, using heavy howitzers and large calibre shells for the purpose of attacking enemy artillery and destroying lines of supply.
The precise circumstances of Cameron’s death are not revealed by his record which simply states that he died of wounds in France on 16 October 1917 at the age of 24. He is buried or commemorated at Spoilbank Cemetery and is also named on the Tarland War Memorial. He left behind his mother (by then living at The Square, Tarland), his widow Helen, and three young children – Violet A. H. Dow aged 9, (a step-daughter perhaps), Evelyn M. M. Cameron aged 3 and Douglas E.D. Cameron aged 2.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Scottish Statutory Registers of Births and Marriages
Census 1901
National Archives - Army Service Record REFERENCE?; Medal Card WO372/3/244695
Roll of Honour for the Howe of Cromar.
Old churchyard Kincardine O’Neil – monument to Joseph and Mary Cameron also commemorates Margaret Mitchell Cameron who died in 1938.
L/Corpl. A. M. Catto Gordon Hrs.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission record the deaths of 18 men with the surname Catto in the First World War, and only one Catto with the initial A, who also served in the Gordons, though as a Private. None of the 18 Cattos has an obvious connection with Kincardine O’Neil, and the identity of this soldier is far from certain. Aberdeenshire censuses are full of Cattos and contain several entries possibly relating to this person, but without more certain information about him it is useless to speculate.
He may be Private (not L/Corpl) Alexander Catto of the 4th Bn. Gordon Highlanders (no.202632), residing at Banchory at the time of enlistment. If so, he was killed in action on 23 April 1917 and is commemorated on the Arras Memorial. The 4th Gordons had been deployed in and around Arras from about the beginning of that month, as part of the 154th Brigade of the 51st Highland Division. On the date of Private Catto’s death, they were involved, along with the 7th Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, in an attack on Roeux involving an attempt to capture the chemical works there. They faced very heavy fire inflicting enormous casualties, vividly recorded in the battalion War Diary. Possibly this was how Private Alexander Catto lost his life, but is he the Catto in question?
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
National Archives - War Diary of the 4th Gordon Highlanders - WO95/2886_2
Private G. B. Catto Scottish Horse
This soldier, sadly, has not so far been identified, despite extensive researches.
Corpl. A. J. Christie R.F.A.
Alexander James Christie, of the Royal Horse Artillery and the Royal Field Artillery, was the son of Alexander Christie and Mary Ann Tarves who married at Aberdeen in 1889. Alexander (senior) at the time of his wedding was a Postboy and later Carrier between Torphins and Kincardine O’Neil. He was a native of the parish. Mary Ann came from Leslie. Their son Alexander was born in Kincardine O’Neil village on Christmas Eve 1890.
The censuses of 1891 and 1901 record the family living in the village. By 1901, Alexander aged 10 and his two sisters, Isabella (6) and Dorothea (4), were at school; there was a baby brother John and their mother’s mother, Mary Tarves (aged 76), lived with them. Later Mrs Christie resided at Hillside, Kincardine O’Neil.
Alexander Christie was a soldier of the regular army who had served for nine years by the time of his death in the final year of the war. By that time he had attained the rank of Corporal in the 42nd Battery, 2 Brigade Royal Field Artillery (service no. 60646). The probability is that he was with 2 Brigade throughout the war, in which case he would have been sent to the continent with the British Expeditionary Force in the early weeks of the conflict, and served throughout on the Western Front where they were deployed until the Armistice.
In March 1918, as part of the 6th Division, 2 Brigade were manning the Lagnicourt Sector near Arras, and were about to become the focus of the German Spring Offensive in that part of the line. Christie was killed in action aged 27 on 21 March 1918 and is commemorated on the Arras Memorial. He is also, along with his parents and other family members, commemorated in Kincardine O’Neil old churchyard north of, and next to the west end of, the old kirk, as follows:
“In loving memory of Alexander Christie who died on 2nd November 1924 aged 66 years also his wife Mary Ann Tarves who died on 6th April 1950 in her 92nd year and their eldest son Alexander James killed in action 21st March 1918 aged 28 years and their younger daughter Dorothy who died at Cape Town, South Africa, 27th January 1970 aged 77 years”.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Registers of Births and Marriages
Census 1891 and 1901
Aberdeen Press & Journal and Evening Express 19 April 1918 – both say Christies of “Cochrane village”, KON.
Kincardine O’Neil old churchyard memorial inscription
Internet sources re 2 Brigade
Lieut. W. Christie Gordon Hrs.
William Menzies Christie has a story which is in a number of respects quite unusual. He was 64 when he died in 1917. His birth is recorded in the parish register for Kincardine O’Neil on 12 January 1854. He was a son of Alexander Christie, Craiglug, and Elizabeth Menzies. Elizabeth died in 1864 of tuberculosis, and in 1870 Alexander took a second wife Margaret Leslie. The family lived at Cochran, Kincardine O’Neil.
In 1871 William Christie, then aged 17 and working as a shoemaker, was living with his father (a forester’s labourer), stepmother, younger sisters Christina (11) and Isabella (9) and step brothers James (3) and John (1). At least two of these younger siblings predeceased him - Christina who died in 1896 aged 36 and John who died at the age of 23 in 1891.
He then disappears from obvious public records until, in 1912 at the age of 58, he married Emma O’Dell at Farnham (most probably Farnham in Hampshire). The couple had a daughter Eva Menzies Christie born on 27 March 1914. When war broke out in 1914 he was 60 years of age. His War Office file reveals that, on 18 December 1914, he was appointed to a regular commission as temporary Quartermaster with the honorary rank of Lieutenant in the 3rd Battalion Gordon Highlanders. This battalion remained at the regimental depot in Aberdeen for the duration of the war. A note on the file reads: “There is no record of the late WC having served in the ranks prior to his commission on 18/12/14, neither is there any indication of his employment prior to joining HM Forces”.
Christie’s address at the time of his death was West View, Ash Vale, Aldershot, but for whatever reason he had returned to native parts to perform his war service. The file reveals that he sadly died of pneumonia in hospital at 19 Albyn Place, Aberdeen in the early morning of 8 November 1917.
Lieut. Christie’s funeral was reported in the Aberdeen Journal on 12 November 1917: “The funeral of Lieutenant and Quartermaster William Christie, who died in Albyn Place Hospital on Thursday, took place, with military honours, on Saturday, from Albyn Place Hospital to the Joint Station, en route for Kincardine O’Neil Churchyard. The bearers were all sergeants of the Gordon Highlanders from Castlehill, and the coffin, covered by the Union Jack, was carried on a gun carriage. The officiating clergyman was Rev. W. Hays”.
A letter on the file from his commanding officer in January 1918 reports, that Lieut. Christie “performed his duties in a thoroughly conscientious manner…”. Both his father and stepmother outlived him, Alexander dying at the age of 92 in 1924. He is buried in the churchyard at Kincardine O’Neil and commemorated, along with other members of the family, on a monument north of the west end of the ruined kirk.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers died in the Great War
Census 1871
Registers of Births, Marriages and Deaths
English Records of Births and Marriages
National Archives – Officers file WO 339/16348 [NB from the family history point of view there is a lot more detail in this officer’s file that may be of interest but has not been thought appropriate to include here]
Aberdeen Journal 12 November 1917
Aberdeen evening Express reports the death on the very day 8/11/1917 and “Friends to meet at Borrowstone about 11.30am”.
Tombstone in the old churchyard Kincardine O’Neil
Private A. Clark Can. Ex. Force
Andrew Clark was a son of Andrew Clark, shepherd, and Elsie Jaffrey who married at Fintry in 1887. He was born at Ythanbank Cottage, Dyce on 9 March 1892. In 1901, the Clarks were living at Pond Cottage, Torphins. There were four children – Mary aged 13, and three brothers, Alfred, Andrew and Alexander aged 11, 9 and 6 respectively.
As a young man Andrew Clark emigrated to Canada and, following the outbreak of war, enlisted in February 1915, as a volunteer in the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force at Belleville, Ontario. He was assigned to the Canadian (West Ontario) Regiment (18th Bn. No.412204) on 15 February 1915, giving his peacetime occupation as “labourer”. At the time of joining up, his mother was living at Torphins. She later resided at Forester Lodge, Pitfour, Mintlaw. His attestation paper states that he had previously served 3 years in the Scottish Horse, a territorial regiment which had a depot at Torphins.
The 18th Bn. left Canada on 24 June 1915, arriving in England on 3 July. In February 1916, his service record shows that he joined his unit in the Field. In the following month he was out of action for a week with a hand infection, but in June of the same year suffered a gunshot wound to his left arm resulting in an “incomplete fracture”. He was sent back to England on the hospital ship “Brighton” and admitted to West Dene Military Hospital at St Leonards-on-Sea on 16 June 1916. From there he was moved to the Pavilion Military Hospital, Brighton and then, on 20 July 1916 to the Canadian Division’s convalescent hospital at Woodcote Park, Epsom. He was discharged as fit for duty on 17 August. At some point Pte. Clark made a will leaving everything to his mother, giving her address at that time as Learney, Torphins. She later lived at Forester Lodge, Pitfour, Mintlaw.
Private Clark's service record notes that on 31 March 1917 he rejoined his unit, and shortly after, on 9 April 1917, he was killed in action.
The 18th Canadians were an infantry battalion forming part of the 4th Infantry Brigade of the 2nd Canadian Division, who were among the Four Divisions of the Canadian Corps deployed, as part of the Arras Offensive, to capture Vimy Ridge, a strategically important escarpment which had been under German control since the invasion in 1914. They were part of the main assault beginning on 9 April 1917. After days of fierce fighting and very heavy casualties, the ridge was captured by the Canadians by the evening of 12 April. This soldier died on the first day of the assault. His death was posted in the Aberdeen Evening Express 4 May 1917 – “Killed in action on 9th April, Private Andrew Clark, Canadians, second son of Mr and Mrs Clark, Chapelwell, Learney, Torphins, aged 25 years". He is buried at Nine Elms Military Cemetery, Thelus.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Register of Births
Census 1901
Library and Archives of Canada – Personnel Records of the First World War – file B1724-SO21
Ancestry.co.uk – Canada, Soldiers of the First World War, 1914-1918
Aberdeen Evening Express 4 May 1917
[Inconclusive passenger list search in ancestorsonboard and findmypast]
Driver M.K. Clark R.F.A.
Malcolm Kellas Clark, born Keith on 25 May 1897, was a son of Alexander Clark, farmer Upper Mulben, Boharm (near Keith), and Isabella Malcolm, domestic servant. His name is sufficiently unusual for there to be little doubt about the identification, but his connection with Kincardine O’Neil is unclear. His mother Isabella was the daughter of William Malcolm, a Shepherd at Mains of Rhynie and his wife Isabella Edward. In 1881, the Malcolm family were at Soundmoor, Boharm in the county of Elgin. The 1891 Census found them at 9B Mill Wynd, Keith. In 1901 young Malcolm, then aged 4, was living in his grandmother Malcolm’s household at 25 Wellington Terrace, Keith with his mother, two other boys who may have been siblings – James Grant aged 13 and George Clark aged 5 months, and Isabella’s older brother John. On 26 September 1902, Malcolm and George were both baptised in the Roman Catholic Church.
In 1905, Isabella married Alexander Morrison, but it appears that, in 1909, tragedy struck the family when Alexander, a marine stoker on the Buckie steam drifter “Jeannie Murray”, died by drowning in Stornoway Harbour in the early hours of a Sunday morning, along with five others, who were being conveyed in a rowing boat to their own vessels at anchor in the harbour. In 1910 Isabella married a man called John Abernethy Murdoch. On 1 November 1914, grandmother Isabella died at Keith of apoplexy, aged 81.
Clark became a Gunner (No. 549 and 630227) in the Royal Horse and Royal Field Artillery 104 Brigade. The Brigade were part of Kitchener’s New Army, established in 1914. This was a heavy artillery brigade armed with 18-pounder field guns, serving as part of the 23rd Division until January 1917, and thereafter as 104 Army Field Artillery Brigade. 104 Brigade were deployed in the Battle of Loos from late 1915 until the end of January 1916 and remained on the Western Front, taking part in the action at Vimy Ridge in May 1916, and in various phases of the Battle of the Somme.
Gunner Clark’s record shows that he was a volunteer, as he was sent to France in November 1915, and presumably shared the fortunes of his brigade on the Western Front throughout this time. In the absence of his personal service record it has so far proved impossible to tell exactly what became of him, other than that he died of wounds inflicted in the course of service, aged 21, in the very last weeks of the war, on 3 October 1918. He is buried/commemorated at Tincourt New British Cemetery.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths
Scottish Roman Catholic Parish Baptisms
Census 1881, 1891 and 1901 [Not traced despite extensive search in 1911]
National Archives - Medal Index card WO 372/4/133000 and 104 Brigade RFA War Diary WO 95/2176/1
www.longlongtrail.co.uk
Sapper J. W. Coutts R.E.
This is James Winchester Coutts, Sapper in the Royal Engineers 21st Div. Signal Coy. (No. 402951). He was a son of Joseph Coutts and Catherine Winchester Coutts, and was born in Kensington in December 1888. Both his parents, however, were born in Scotland – father in Aboyne and mother in Morayshire. In 1891 two-year-old James and his parents and three older brothers, Joseph, David and Gordon, were at Ballogie Stables though Joseph, despite his Stables address, gave his occupation as “Coachman Out of Employment”. By 1901 he was in work again as a domestic coachman, and the family were at 19 Elvaston Mews, Kensington. Records show that, at some point after that, they returned to the North-East.
On 20 July 1912 James Coutts, then a Journeyman cabinetmaker, married Helen Carnegie Wilson, both of 144 Wellington Road, Aberdeen. His father (who had retired by the time of the marriage in 1912) died at the age of 67 in December 1916 at Cochran Cottage, Kincardine O’Neil.
According to a notice in the Aberdeen Weekly Journal, Coutts died of wounds received in action on 27 May 1918 at the age of 29 years and 7 months, “dearly beloved husband of Nellie Wilson, 18 Granton Place Aberdeen, and dearly beloved youngest son of Mrs J Coutts, Cochrane Cottage, Kincardine O’Neil, Aberdeenshire. So loved so mourned”.
The Company’s War Diary makes no mention of any fatality on 27 May 1918, though there is a record of enemy bombardment and the launching of an attack at 1am. Sapper Coutts is commemorated in France at Marfaux British Cemetery.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Census 1891 Scotland and 1901 England
Free BMD birth index at www.findmypast.co.uk
National Archives - 21 Division Signal Co RE War Diary
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 23 August 1918 – Roll of honour - Helen at 15, Ferryhill Terrace, Aberdeen.
Capt. D.H. Davidson Seaforth Hrs.
Duncan Hemeline Davidson was born at Craigmyle House on 28 March 1877. He was the second child, and first son, of Duncan Davidson DL, JP, of Inchmarlo and Flora Frances Davidson daughter of Sir Francis Burdett of Foremark, Derbyshire. They had married at Richmond, Surrey in 1874 and had two sons and two daughters. The family lived first at Craigmyle, later at Inchmarlo. On 6 January1884, when young Duncan had not quite reached his seventh birthday, his mother Flora (said to have “endeared herself to all by her kind and charitable disposition”) died of diphtheria at the age of 32. His father remarried in 1887.
After attending school at Harrow, Duncan Davidson’s coming of age in 1898 was a big event in the county, attracting detailed coverage in the local press. The culmination of jollifications at Inchmarlo which included a large family dinner, picnics and a bicycling party, was a grand dinner at which the Farquhar and Pickeringfamilies were well-represented, along with 170 tenants who enjoyed a “sumptuous repast”. There were numerous toasts and replies. It was announced that the young man had adopted farming as his profession. After dinner, all adjourned to the drawing room where there was “a choice programme of music” followed by bonfires at the house and on Sluiehill, and a firework display in front of the house.
Unfortunately, the War Office file on this officer appears to have been destroyed, but other sources show that his plans to settle to a life of farming took a different turn. Having served with the Gordon Militia, he obtained a commission in the Seaforth Highlanders at the outbreak of the Boer War in 1900. He was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant in 1902, and Captain in 1911, serving initially with the Seaforths in Egypt and India. Between 1909 and 1913 he was Adjutant to the 4th Seaforths at Dingwall. When war broke out in August 1914, Duncan Davidson was in Agra, and in October 1914 he was transferred with his regiment to France.
On 17 December 1914 he was badly wounded and returned home for a time, re-joining the battalion on 28 March 1915. Rev J. McNeil, Chaplain to the Seaforths, left an account of this episode: “I remember the first time he was wounded, when he came into the ambulance from Le Touret, from the trenches at Festubert. There was one of our men beside him, who he thought needed more care than he did, and when his own time came, he would not let himself be touched till the others had been dressed – it was the spirit in which he acted”.
On 20 February 1915 the Aberdeen Journal reported that he had been awarded the DSO “in recognition of the conspicuous gallantry and ability he displayed on 11 November 1914 on the Ypres-Menin Road when, after his senior officer had been killed, he commanded his company with great success”, commenting that he had been already twice mentioned in dispatches.
At the time of his death, on 9 May 1915 at the age of 38, Davidson was serving with the 1st Battalion Seaforth Highlanders in an attempt to breach the German front line by an assault on Aubers Ridge in the Battle of Neuve-Chapelle. The Battalion War Diary of the day describes repeated unsuccessful attempts to make an assault on the enemy trenches, under heavy Maxim and rifle fire, following a largely ineffectual bombardment (with some shells falling on the friendly side of the German lines). This culminated in an order to withdraw, “seeing that the task was not feasible and the men had lost most of their officers”. During this action, between 5am and 2pm, the battalion suffered 138 fatalities, including Capt. Davidson, and 356 men were wounded.
In a letter to the bereaved parents, Capt. Davidson’s Colonel wrote: “He was twice wounded in the advance, but still went on until he finally fell still leading his company. He was a good officer and a great favourite, and was much loved by officers and men. We miss him very much. He was a gallant fellow…..It was he who led us in everything, no matter what; and Ritchie told me it was Hamlyn who reached the German trenches, in the fore front as usual. The 1st Bttn. have lost their bravest and most gallant officer, and his brother officers their dearest pal…..I and others of the two battns. who knew and loved your son so well, grieve with you in your great loss. A brother officer tells me that the moment he crossed the parapet they came under heavy machine gun fire. He was hit, got up again, hit again; and again up at the head of what remained of his company. Then he was hit again and fell near the German trenches, and he could not or would not retire”.
Capt. Davidson is commemorated at the Le Touret Memorial, on the Banchory War Memorial, and by a memorial stone within the grounds of Inchmarlo. His younger brother Major Leslie Evan Outram Davidson served in the Royal Field Artillery. He was awarded the DSO for gallant conduct in September 1914, and survived the war.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Census 1881 & 1891
Register of births – Hemeline on his birth certificate but later sometimes Hamlyn.
Free BMD index at www.findmypast.co.uk
National Archives – War Diary of the 1st Bn Seaforth Highlanders WO95/3941/1
De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour
Harrow Memorials of the Great War Harrow School Roll of Honour at www.harrowschool-ww1.org.uk
Anne Park: Banchory War Memorial (Aberdeen & North-East Family History Society 2003)
Margie Trewin & Edgar Trewin: The Inchmarlo Story (1998)
Many local newspaper reports on Davidson family including but not limited to:
Aberdeen Journal 1 April 1898 – very full and detailed report of the coming of age “Rejoicings on the estate – Dinner to the tenantry”;
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 6 April 1898 – shorter report of the coming of age party;
Aberdeen Journal 20 February 1915 – reporting on DSO
Aberdeen Evening Express 17 May 1915
Scotsman 17 May 1915
Newcastle Journal 20 May 1915
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 21 May1915 - photo.
Aberdeen Evening Express 24 December 1915 – left personal estate of £4629 of which £50 in Scotland.
Aberdeen Journal 15 March 1919 – father’s obituary.
Pte. W. M. Davidson CAN. EX. F.
This soldier is one of two commemorated on the Torphins memorial but not in Kincardine O’Neil. William Malcolm Davidson was born on 11 December 1883 at Greenhills in the parish of Coull. He was a son of Williamina Davidson, domestic servant. Williamina, as revealed by the census in 1891, was born at Tough, and on census night that year, she was living at Greenhills in the household of her 81year old widowed father who was a farmer. Young William was noted aged 7, along with other grandchildren of Mr Davidson, who may or may not have been his siblings, and four boarders.
In 1896, William’s mother married James Anderson who was a farm servant on her father’s farm. By 1901 the couple were registered at Balnacraig Cottage, Lumphanan with three young sons of their own, James, Charles and Frank, and James’s stepchildren, Barbara, and Jessie. William would have been 17/18 years of age, and he was no longer part of that household. In 1911 James and Williamina Anderson were at Woodside, Beltie, with James, Charles and Frank, and a further two children Annabella and George. William (who would then have been 28) does not appear to be in the 1911 census and it may be that by then, if not by 1901, he had emigrated to Canada.
William Davidson’s Canadian army service record shows that he joined up (No 80279) at Calgary on 8 May 1915, giving his occupation as Logger and his marital status as single. He became a Private in the 31st Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force. The 31st sailed for England on 17 May 1915 on the RMS Carpathia – the same celebrated Carpathia that had gone to the aid of Titanic passengers in 1912 (she was sadly torpedoed and sunk in 1918). He made a will on 31 October 1915, leaving everything to his mother who was by then residing at Backhill, Trustach. In November 1915, he contracted bronchitis which became acute, but was discharged to duty on 25 November 1915.
From 27 March to 16 April 1916, the CEF were deployed in actions at the St Eloi Craters as part of the 2nd Canadian Division. Both sides engaged in mining and counter-mining in excavations under no man’s land. British explosives placed under the German lines were detonated on 27 March. Fighting then ensued to capture the craters created by the explosions, in circumstances of almost impossible communications and confusion under heavy barrage in severely muddy conditions with few trenches for cover. Canadians relieved the British in the front line on 3 April. On the night of 5/6 April 1916, the 31st Canadian Bn. repulsed an attack on crater 6. The Canadians lost 1,373 men in the fighting at St Eloi.
William Davidson was killed in action on 5 April 1916. He is commemorated at Spoilbank Cemetery.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Registers of Births and Marriages
Censuses 1891-1911
Library and Archives Canada – Service record B2329-5024 (birth date on enlistment wrongly stated as 1886)
Sergt. J. Durward Gordon Hrs.
John Durward was a Lance Serjeant in the 1st/7th Bn. Gordon Highlanders (No.290611). He was born 28 March 1892, the son of Samuel Durward, farmer at Milton of Ennets, and his wife Ann. Samuel was a native of Kincardine O’Neil and Ann came from Kineff. Their children were all born in the parish – first Samuel in about 1882, who in due course carried on the farm, then Mary two years after and John who, in 1901 at least, was the youngest.
Durward enlisted at Banchory, joining the 7th (Deeside) Battalion of the Gordon Highlanders. In the absence of his service record, nothing is known about the circumstances of his death, other than that he died of wounds aged 25 on 28 April 1917. He may well have been a casualty of their involvement at that time in the diversionary Arras offensive. The 7th Gordons, as part (at that time) of the 153rd Brigade and 51st (Highland) Division were in the forefront of an attack on the German line which commenced on 23 April 2017 and developed into “perhaps the most savage infantry battle that the Division took part in”*, as the advance was met with heavy machine-gun fire and a ferocious artillery barrage.
He is buried at Étaples Military Cemetery.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Register of births
Census 1901
National Archives – War Diary of the 7th Gordon Highlanders - WO95/2882/1
*Major F.W. Bewsher: The History of the 51st (Highland) Division 1914-1918” (The Naval & Military Press 2009)
Online sources re 7th Gordons in April 1917
Aberdeen Press & Journal 2 May 1917
Private W. Esson Gordon Hrs.
William Paterson Esson’s family had strong links with Crathie, but his father was born in Lumphanan and his parents later lived at Morven Villa, Torphins, hence the connection with the parish. He was born on 22 August 1892 at Street of Monaltrie, Crathie, son of Robert Esson, General Labourer, and Margaret Paterson who had married at Crathie in 1889. In 1891 Robert, Margaret and their three-month-old daughter Marjory were living at Crathie with Margaret’s mother, also Marjory, who gives her occupation in the census as “Merchant”.
In the 1901 Census, Marjory and William (“Willie”) aged 10 and 8 respectively, were with an uncle Adam aged 39, at Esson Cottage, Glenmuick. Adam was a post boy. There was another occupant of the household – Helen C. Esson aged 26, also a niece of Adam and a housekeeper. Marjory and Willie were attending school.
William Esson joined the 7th Battalion Gordon Highlanders (No. 512) at Banchory and was 23 when he was killed in action serving as part of “A” (Banchory) Coy. on 4 August 1916 in the Battle of the Somme. It is not clear exactly what happened to him that day. Between 1 and 6 August the 7th were in bivouacs north-east of Méaulte, having been relieved of front-line duty and there is no note of any casualties on that date. In the last week of July, however, they had been engaged in very fierce and costly fighting around Mametz, Bezantin and High Wood. Possibly the date is not quite accurate, or he died of wounds.
Private Esson is buried at Dartmoor Cemetery, Bécordel-Bécourt.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Register of Births
Census 1891 and 1901
National Archives – War Diary of 7th Bn Gordon Highlanders WO95/2882/1
Private G. S. J. Ewen North’d. Fus.
This is George Skene Illingworth (I. not J.) Ewen. He was born at West Town Tarland on 1 September 1895, forty minutes before his twin sister Annie. The twins were children of John Ewen, Farmer and Isabella (Isie) Ferries, who had been married at Leochel Cushnie in 1878. In 1901 they were at Knocksoul Cottage, Logie Coldstone. John was employed at that time as a general labourer. Five year old George had brothers Alexander and Charles (12 and 9) as well as his twin sister Annie. He may be the fifteen-year-old George Ewen employed as a cattleman on the farm of Alexander Troup at East Pett, Tarland in the 1911 Census, but there were a lot of Ewens in and about Tarland at that time and it is not possible to be sure.
George Ewen gave his address on enlistment as Torphins, and served in the Army Service Corps (no. 2598282) then the 11th (Service) Bn Northumberland Fusiliers (No.55703). The 11th were formed in 1914 as part of Kitchener’s Third New Army, and served initially on the Western Front as part of the 68th Brigade and 23rd Division of the British army.
In autumn 1917, reinforcements from French and British forces were sent to support the Italian army which had been driven back by German and Austrian forces to the Piave River, following the Battle of Caporetto. Some of these men returned to the Western Front to assist in resisting the Spring Offensive of 1918, but the 11th Northumberland Fusiliers remained and took part, in June 1918, in the Second Battle of the Piave River which ultimately resulted in a victory of the Italian army against the Central Powers. It was a significant victory which is reckoned to have marked decisively the beginning of the end of the Austro-Hungarian empire as a political entity, and of its army.
This soldier was killed in action at the age of 22 on the first day of the battle, 15 June 1918. He is buried at Magnaboschi British Cemetery. He is also commemorated on the Tarland memorial.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Registers of Births & Marriages
Census 1901
Census 1911– he may be George Ewen cattleman age 15 b Tarland, at East Pett in household of Alexander Troup Farmer, No likelier matches in Scotland. But could he have been in England as he enlisted in Bradford?
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 5 /7/1918 “Killed in action on 15th June, Pte George S. I. Ewen, youngest son of the late John Ewen, late farmer, Westtown, Tarland, and of Mrs Ewen, 3 Grove Terrace, Torphins, aged 22 years”.
National Archives - War Diary of the 11th Northumberland Fusiliers WO95/2182/4 August 1915 to October 1917 seems to be the only one available?
www.forces-war-records.co.uk
Wikipedia on the Piave
Alexander Morren – The Cromar War Memorial Book at www.cromarhistorygroup.org.uk. This notes an address at 3 Grove Terrace, Torphins.
NB Same name/initials on Tarland memorial but 1/7 Gordon Highlanders. This doesn’t seem right as 1/7 GH were in France June 1918.
Private J. Ewan Gordon Hrs.
There are two likely candidates for this entry: James Esson Ewen (not Ewan), whose parents were both from Kincardine O’Neil though there is no record of him having lived in the parish, and Joseph Ewen (not Ewan) who was from Glassel. Both deserve to be remembered, but it is difficult on present information to know which of them is intended to be commemorated here.
James Esson Ewen (no. 3/5915)
This may be the more likely of the two possibilities, because the mis-spelling of the name on the war memorial replicates a mis-spelling in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission record, though that may be no more than coincidence.
James Esson Ewen is an all-too-rare instance of a soldier who served in the ranks whose records were not destroyed by incendiary bombing in 1940. He was born at Heatheryhaugh in the parish of Strachan near Banchory on 28 April 1894. His father was Alexander Cooper Ewen, a shepherd, and his mother was Jessie Anderson who were both born in Kincardine O’Neil. They married at Logie Coldstone on 24 November 1871. This establishes a link with the parish, though the family’s connections later were with Banffshire, Rhynie and Huntly. In the 1901 census they were living at Rochomie in the parish of Rathven in Banffshire. James was then aged 6 and the youngest of a family of 6 including, in the household on census night, four sisters and a brother.
By 1911 young James had left home and, up to 9 November 1911, he was employed as a farm servant by a Mr Craigie at Pennan Farm, Aberdour, East Aberdeenshire. Mr Craigie advised the army that that James had come from his father to work for him two or three years previously, he had last seen him on 9 November that year, and James had left, as they “could not agree about wages”. Mr Craigie appears to have borne no ill feelings towards his former employee, rating him as sober and honest, and “a nice obliging young lad”. James Ewen was 18 years three months old and single when he joined up in 1912 for six years’ service in the 1stbattalion Gordon Highlanders (no. 3/5915).
He did not survive even to the first Christmas of the war that was supposed to be over by Christmas. He was mobilised on 8 August 1914 and spent the last few weeks of his life, from 7 October, in France. In November the battalion was in trenches near Ypres, having already participated in heavy fighting in the early weeks of the war, and been subjected to shelling and aerial bombing. The weather was characterised by heavy rain and sleet, and there were several cases of frostbite. On 9 – 10 December they moved to fresh billets at Westoutre, and on 11 December were joined by a draft of 202 NCOs and men. The writer of the war diary records “This and the two preceding drafts included some very old soldiers, one of whom had fought with the battalion at Tel-el-Kebir. Several others were obviously unsuited for a winter campaign in the trenches. The majority of the younger men appeared to have received practically no military training before being sent out, their service varying from 3 to 10 weeks”. On 12 December three officers were sent out to reconnoitre ground in front of the German trench near Maedelstraede farm, two miles east of Kemmel, with a view to an attack, and one was killed. Next day the battalion marched to Kemmel in heavy rain. At midnight that night they received orders to attack at 2.30am.
The battalion war diary contains a detailed timeline of the action that day. It began with a wholly ineffective artillery bombardment at 7am in which many shells fell short of the German lines and “some even in the rear of our reserve”. When the first two platoons of “B” and “C” Coys advanced at 7.45am, they were met with very heavy rifle and machine gun fire from the other side, despite which they pushed on as best they could. “The sodden nature of the ground and the fact that the men had been standing for several hours in trenches deep in mud rendered a rapid advance impossible”. They were then followed at a distance of 50 yards by the remaining platoons and “D” Coy, leaving “A” Coy to man the trenches from which the attack had been launched. The attacking companies soon disappeared from view and it was impossible to tell how they were progressing. An orderly was sent out to find out but this was unsuccessful. By 9 am telephonic communications with Brigade HQ had entirely failed. News came at 10.55, via an ammunition carrier, that the advance parites were 50 yards short of the German lines unable to advance and this message was sent, by orderly, to Brigade HQ. A reply was received at 2.30pm that there was to be a further bombardment between at 3.30 and 4pm, under cover of which a fresh effort was to be made, and that two companies of the Middlesex Regiment were being sent up as a reserve.
The reserves did not arrive. The commanding officer on the spot considered that it would be “highly injudicious” to send the remaining reserve company, practically the only garrison of the fire trenches, into a further attack. Finally after 4.15 pm messages began to be relayed from the junior officers in command of the advance parties that they were unable to advance as the German trenches were strongly held, and these detachments were withdrawn. It was noted that “B”, “C” and “D” Coys had lost more than 75% of their officers and 50% of their men – some killed, some missing.
By far the largest number were missing, and it looks like James Ewen was one of them. His body was not immediately (or perhaps ever) recovered, as his record bears the following bleak note more than a year later on 26 February 1916: “The Army Council has decided that this soldier is to be regarded for official purposes as having died on or since 14 December 1914”. In further fighting over the same ground in 1917, the skeletal remains of the Gordons who fell in the action on 14 December 1914 were recovered and buried – most were unidentifiable.
Pte. Ewen’s personal possessions were to be sent to Agnes Ewen living in Merkland Road Aberdeen, but it was his father who in 1922 acknowledged receipt of the 1914 clasp sent to him in recognition of his son’s war service. He is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) memorial.
Alexander Ewen outlived his son by 36 years, dying at the age of 89 in 1940 at Grange in the county of Banff.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Registers of Births and Marriages
Census 1901 and 1911
National Archives – Service record: WO363 E589 p465 ; 1st Gordons War Diary WO95/1421-1
http://www.thgordonhighlanders.co.uk/Pages/Diary.htm
thelonglongtrail – Winter Operations 1914-15
Joseph C. Ewen (no.4023)
A possible alternative is that this was Joseph Ewen, Private 4023 in the 4th Gordons, who died of wounds at the tender age of 16 on 22 May 1916 and was a son of Joseph C. and Harriet F. Ewen of Easter Beltie, Glassel. Given his age at date of death, this soldier must have lied about his birth date, as the lower age limit for enlistment was 18.
The 1901 Census disclosed that the Ewen family were then living at Damhead, Alford. Joseph C. senior was employed as a Horseman on a farm, having been born in Monymusk. His wife, Harriet and their eldest child Jane age 6 were born in Aboyne, but younger children Martha aged 4 and young Joseph C. aged 1 were both born in Alford. In the 1911 Census, Joseph was a schoolboy and the family were still in Alford but at Balnellan, Greystone, where Joseph senior was now a farm grieve. They later settled at Easter Beltie, Glassel.
In May 1916 the 4th Gordons were serving as part of the 154th Brigade in the 51st (Highland) Division in the Pas de Calais region on the Western Front, moving around Écurie, Elron and La Sablière. The unit war diary is unenlightening as to what happened to Private Ewen, or when he sustained the wounds from which he sadly died on 22 May 1916.
He is buried or commemorated at St Pol. Communal Cemetery Extension, and his commemorative stone bears the inscription: “FROM MEMORY’S PAGE WE’LL NEVER BLOT THREE LITTLE WORDS FORGET ME NOT”.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Registers of Births and Marriages
Census 1901 & 1911
National Archives – War Diary of the 4th Bn. Gordon Highlanders WO95/2886_1; Medal card WO372/7/2141.
Lieut. A. C. N. Farquhar Royal Navy
Several members of the Farquhar family of Drumnagesk are commemorated at Christ Church Episcopal Church in Kincardine O’Neil - in plaques on the north wall and in the burial ground. A brass plaque in the chancel commemorates Admiral Sir Arthur Farquhar KCB (1815-1908), recording that the church bell was given by his children. The Admiral had thirteen children. One of those was Albert Farquhar. Albert married Alice Jane Nicol, daughter of the Lord Provost of Aberdeen, at St Andrews Episcopal Cathedral in Aberdeen in 1887, and went out to Iowa to be a ranchman, which is where their son, Alastair Charles Nicol Farquhar, was born on 4 March 1888.
In the summer of 1900, Albert travelled to Kalgoorlie along with Alice to take up an appointment as assistant general manager of the Lake View and Ivanhoe Mines. A new residence was built specially, but in November of the same year Alice died, and later that month Albert sailed for London. The following year, the Census found young Alastair at school at Segensworth in Hampshire. Following the death of the old Admiral in 1908, Drumnagesk was sold and came into the ownership of Herbert Lawford, Wimbledon Champion of 1887, who retired there. However the Farquhars retained links with the neighbourhood.
It is an understatement to say that there was a strong naval tradition in the family, and it seems highly likely that the future Lieutenant’s choice of service was influenced by the glittering careers of his forebears. His great-grandfather, Sir Arthur Farquhar (Knight Commander of the Hanoverian Guelphic Order and Knight Commander of the Sword of Sweden b.1772 d. Carlogie 1843) joined the Navy in 1787 and ended his career as Rear Admiral of the White. His illustrious grandfather mentioned above was an Admiral, and there were uncles who were also officers in the Royal Navy. Young Alastair joined the navy in 1904 as a cadet at the age of 16, shortly after became a Midshipman, and rose to the rank of Sub-Lieutenant in 1907 and Lieutenant in 1910.
At 00.45 hrs on the morning of 17 June 1916, at the age of 28, Alastair Farquhar was the Commander of the destroyer HMS Eden as she escorted a troopship, SS France from Southampton to Le Havre. The France had been launched in 1910 as an opulent trans-Atlantic liner (with a notorious rolling tendency). The vessels collided, about 15 miles from Le Havre, in poor visibility (neither showing any lights) and in heavy seas. Eden found herself across France’s bows and France cut her in two, so that she sank with her three senior officers and 39 of her crew, though 31 crew members were saved. France was holed on the port side forward and her steering gear disabled.
An inquiry taking the form of a court martial of the surviving officers and crew took place at Portsmouth the following month, presided over by the Deputy Judge-Advocate of the Fleet, and its papers now lie in two neatly bound bundles in the National Archives. The terrible events of the night were vividly recorded in a statement by the only surviving officer, Artificer Engineer Herbert G. Ram, of which the following is a slightly edited version:
HMS Eden left Portsmouth Harbour about 7pm on the 16th June 16 and proceeded off Bembridge to await Transport due about 7.45pm. About 8.00pm HMS Eden took up position about 1 mile ahead of Transport France & proceeded to sea, the average speed being about 19 knots. I left the deck about 9.30pm. About 12.45am the following morning speed was reduced & I proceeded to the Engine Room hatch in readiness for any further evolutions. I also observed the Transport approaching us amidships starboard side about 50 yards distant & no lights showing. The Engine Room Telegraphs at the same moment being put “Full Speed Astern” port and starboard…. Within 30 seconds of the order by telegraph for “Full speed Astern” the collision occurred. Both port and starboard main steam pipes were severed, all steam pressure had gone and all electric lights put out, leaving the secondary lamps alight in the engine room only. I went on deck to ascertain further the extent of the damage & if possible to localise & use any steam pressure for emergency purposes, finding the breach some 12 feet forward and aft and extending inboard beyond the centre line of ship, also the forward and aft parts of the ship working and straining in opposite ways & sinking in the vicinity of the breach ….When I went on deck to ascertain the damage I saw the Transport backing out of the breach & gradually let us drift away. Being on the aft part of the ship I assisted to get the Carley Floats overboard. The Gunner Mr O’Brien was attending to lowering the Whaler & Dinghy which was manned; also everybody I could see had “life-belts”. After the Whaler & Dinghy & Floats had left the ship Mr O’Brien & myself with 15 Petty Officers and men were left on the aft part being some 10 to 15 Minutes after the collision. We stood by to await any assistance which may be sent us. About 20 Minutes from the time of the collision the fore part of the ship heeled to port and broke away then up-ended & stood bows uppermost quite 40 feet high out of the sea for about ¾ of an hour. By this time the Transport was quite 1½ miles away. We waved an electric torch and hoped by this means to attract attention to our position but no assistance came from the Transport. Between 2 & 2.30am three ships passed about 1 mile away. We hailed & used our torch but no assistance was given us. About 3.15am HMS Teviot came in sight & we asked if she could tow us stern first into harbour. After difficult effort a line was secured but just as that had been done the after part settled down. The Teviot had lowered her Whaler & taken 5 men I believe when the remainder of us had to jump. Owing to the very heavy sea running we were scattered which made rescue very difficult. The Teviot by means of buoys & lines did the very best they could under difficulties…”.
The court found in light of all the available information that, twelve minutes before the collision, SS Francesignalled she was easing down with her steering gear out of order, in response to which Eden reduced her speed but France did not. About 8 minutes before the collision, both vessels altered course to starboard to avoid colliding with a steamer, but the troopship altered course to a lesser extent than her escort and resumed her course sooner. It concluded that the primary cause of the collision was that France was doing 16 and a half knots when Eden was doing only 10. There was no doubt that the troopship transmitted a signal that she was reducing her speed, but the Master of the France denied giving any order for the signal to be made, and the court found there was no evidence that such an order had been given. No blame was found attributable to any of the surviving officers or crew.
The Master of the France said he tried to rescue people from the bow as he could see the aft section remained afloat. He lowered one of his lifeboats, but only one as France was rolling heavily and he was afraid of losing all the troops that were on deck, as with the boat lowered there was nothing to stop them sliding overboard. He was carrying 838 troops and 17 officers and there was insufficient room for the men on decks to be accommodated below. Also, given the weather, there was a risk of the boats being smashed against the ship’s side. They had lights out in accordance with sailing orders. He told the destroyer Teviot escorting the Bellerophon to go to the aft part and render assistance.
The official papers record Lieut. Farquhar as “Drowned 16th June 1916”. This loss must have been all the more distressing to Albert following news the previous month that his brother Capt. Hobart Brooks Farquharwas missing in action. The disaster in the Channel made international news, but the Aberdeen Journalsupplied the local angle in a report on 19 June 1916 – “Lieut. Alistair (sic) C. N. Farquhar, the Commander of the Eden who is missing, is 28 years of age, a son of Mr Albert Farquhar and a grandson of the late Admiral Sir Arthur Farquhar K.C.B. of Drumnagesk, Aboyne. His mother who died in 1900 was the second daughter of the Late Lord Provost Alexander Nicol, Aberdeen. The family of Farquhar is very well known in the Navy, having given no fewer than three Admirals to the British Fleet. Admiral Sir Arthur Murray Farquhar, who received his knighthood in November of last year, and whose residence is at Granville Lodge, Aboyne, retired only the other day with two others in order to make room for the promotion of younger men. He is a son of the late Admiral Sir Arthur Farquhar K.C.B. who was a son of Admiral Sir Arthur Farquhar K.C.B. of Garlogie (sic). The family has also provided another officer of high naval rank in Rear-Admiral R. B. Farquhar, brother of the present Admiral Sir Arthur Farquhar”.
Within two weeks, Alastair Farquhar’s body was recovered and brought back for burial at Kincardine O’Neil. The Aberdeen Press & Journal reported on 29 June 1916, that he had been recovered “by a vessel in Government employ”, and conveyed from Portsmouth to Torphins by train. From there, the coffin was taken by a horse-drawn vehicle to Kincardine O’Neil, draped in the Union Jack, and escorted by Riflemen of the 3rd Battalion Gordon Highlanders, as well as a party of naval ratings, drummers, pipers and buglers. Local residents lined the streets. Sailors carried the coffin into the church where the funeral service was held. At the burial in the Farquhar family plot in the adjacent churchyard, the Riflemen discharged three volleys and the Last Post was sounded. The Press & Journal noted that a naval career of high promise had been tragically cut short. Lieut. Farquhar is commemorated on a headstone along with his parents, and by a brass plaque on the north wall of the church. He is also listed on the war memorials at Banchory and Aboyne.
In 1917 some excitement among lawyers ensued when the Admiralty, having been rebuffed in a claim for compensation directed against the owners of the SS France, raised proceedings, but as the owners were the French State Railways (effectively the French government), from whom the Admiralty had chartered the vessel, appointing their own English Master, it was thought best as a matter of policy not to proceed with this. The wreck of the Eden now lies off Fe’Camp on the eastern end of the Seine Bay at a depth of 34 metres. It was one of a class of torpedo boat destroyer of which 34 in total were built in the early years of the 20thcentury and was launched in 1903. France continued her war service as a hospital ship in the Dardanelles and after the war returned to her former trans-Atlantic activities which continued into the 1930s.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Census 1891 and 1901
Free BMD Deaths Index
National Archives – Service record ADM 196/139 and 144; Collision papers ADM1/8463/179
The Navy List
Aberdeen Journal 19 June 1916
The Times Monday 19 June 1916
New York times 18 June 1916
Aberdeen Press & Journal 29 June 1916 – full account of the funeral
The West Australian 19 June 1934
Anne Park: “Banchory War Memorial” p.8
www.naval-history.net
www.channeldiving.com
www.scottishsporthistory.com
Armorial Families : A Directory of Coat-Armour at www.ancestry.co.uk
Memorials at Christ Church Episcopal Church, Kincardine O’Neil
Sergt. A. M. Farquhar Gordon Hrs.
Alexander Milne Farquhar was born in the parish of Kincardine O’Neil on 26 January 1893, the son of Alexander Farquhar and Mary Milne, both of whom came from Lumphanan. In 1901 the family was living at Woodside in Aberdeen. Alexander had a sister May, who was two years younger. Later, Alexander (senior) and Mary lived at Sawmill Cottage, Torphins. In 1911, aged 18, young Alexander was employed by Charles Birse as a horseman at Little Maldron, Torphins, where there was a water-and horse-driven mill.
Alexander Farquhar enlisted in the 9th Bn. Gordon Highlanders (Service no. 705). The 9th were a pioneer battalion. In the early part of June 1917, they were on the Western Front behind the lines of the Ypres salient, engaged in drill and training. On 17 June they were transported by train to the railhead at Hopoutre near Poperinghe. (It is said that the soldiers, displaying our national genius for mangling other people’s languages, liked to say that Hopoutre was so named as it was where they were accustomed to “hop out”, or in the case of the Gordons probably “hop oot”, of the trains transporting them back to the front). In the latter part of the month, the 9th were deployed in digging and repairing trenches, sandbagging and laying cables and trench boards, at times under heavy fire. Farquhar died of wounds on 28 June 1917 at the age of 24.
The battalion diary sheds no light on when Sergt. Farquhar was injured or what exactly happened to him. His personal service record was destroyed in the bombing of London in September 1940. Possibly his wounds were sustained in the course of the battalion’s operations in late June 1917, but it is impossible to tell. His place of burial suggests a strong likelihood that he was treated at the medical facilities close to Lijssenthoek. He is commemorated at Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, Belgium.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Registers of Births and Marriages
Census 1901 and 1911
National Archives – War Diary of the 9th Gordon Highlanders WO95-1929-3
Capt. H. B. Farquhar C. S. Rifles
Hobart Brooks Farquhar was the youngest son of Admiral Sir Arthur Farquhar KCB of Drumnagesk and his wife Ellen, born at Carlogie, Dess on 16 April 1874. The 1881 census finds him there aged 6, living with his parents, sisters Jane and Alice and brother Charles. He was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge.
Farquhar’s military career seems to have begun in the 1890s. Aged about 21, he went to South Africa in 1895, serving as a private in the Rhodesian Volunteers in the Matabele rebellion of 1896. He then joined the Civil Service but interrupted his career to serve again in the Boer War, first with the rank of Sergeant in the Rhodesian Volunteers, later as a Lieutenant in Thorneycroft’s Mounted Infantry. In 1904 he married Ida Violet Wolfe Barry at St Margaret’s, Westminster. She was four years younger, and the daughter of a civil engineer. From 1904 – 1912 he was a local authority District Auditor first in Lancashire then in Staffordshire, during which time, in 1909, he was called to the bar of the Inner Temple. In 1913 he became Inspector of Audits in the office of the National Health Insurance Commissioners.
By the time he joined up in September 1914, Hobart Brooks Farquhar was no longer a particularly young man. He had passed his 40th birthday, and had an established career and family responsibilities. He was living in Woking and had three children: Nesta aged 9, Phoebe 8, and Anthony aged a year and four months. A further daughter Felicity was to be born in August 1915. He appears, bespectacled and studious in his military uniform, in the pages of his old school’s “Memorials of the Great War”. Perhaps, as his earlier life suggests, he had a taste for soldiering, or an overpowering sense of patriotic duty, or a combination of the two. Maybe he missed the action-packed life of his twenties. He was appointed to the London Regiment (Prince of Wales Own Civil Service Rifles) 15th Battalion as a Lieutenant then promoted to the rank of Captain. He probably saw his family for the last time in February/March 1916 when, after two weeks of bronchitis, he was allowed home for a short period of leave.
Capt. Farquhar was posted “Wounded and missing on 21-23 May 1916”. The unit War Diary records the circumstances. The battalion began the day with a Church Parade at Camblain L’Abbé. By the evening they had moved up the line and were in position to mount an attack on enemy trenches. At 10.15pm Capt. Farquhar with “B” Company reported to Brigade Headquarters and they were issued with 200 extra rounds of ammunition per rifleman, and extra bombs. At 2.10am “B” Company moved forward attacking in two lines, under very heavy musketry and machine gun fire supported by a strong artillery barrage. At 2.45am “B” Company was reinforced by two platoons of “D” Company. By 4am on 22 May the line was “generally speaking quiet”, and some ground had been gained. At the end of the diary entry that day, it was noted that 2 officers, including Capt. Farquhar, were wounded and missing, 8 other ranks were missing; there were 9 killed and 73 wounded.
A number of men were interviewed about what had happened to Capt. Farquhar. The War Office file discloses that the precise circumstances and even the fact of his death proved hard to establish. There was at first some evidence from a stretcher bearer that he had been wounded and brought in by the Field Ambulance but this rumour, which Mrs Farquhar checked out in person at the Fulham Military Hospital on the morning of 7 June 1916, appears to have been incorrect. L/Cpl Watson who was also wounded in an attack on German trenches on the night of Sunday 21 May reported being told “that Capt. Farquhar had been hit. Shortly after he saw a figure in a hollow in the open which he is sure was an officer and feels certain was Capt. Farquhar. The night was dark – he did not go close enough to clearly identify the Officer – he spoke to him but got no reply though he saw the Officer wave his cane”.
There was also a daring attempt to recover his body, which the file suggests earned the author of the following piece the Military Cross:
“On the morning of the 22nd May 1916 at about 1 A.M. “B” Company with Captain F. i/c was sent up to counter-attack.
At 1.45 a.m. (about) Colonel W. sent me up with two platoons to re-inforce “B” Company. On reaching the “front line” (a series of little pieces of blown in trench) I found the remnants of “B” Company mostly wounded crawling in from No Mans land. I asked one or two of these men where Captain F was and they told me they had seen him fall wounded near the German wire. I got up on top and crawled out to find him. Some more wounded men lying in shell holes showed me the direction he was supposed to be but though I hunted about a good while (it was then beginning to get a bit light) I could find no trace of him… As you very well know it is a most difficult thing to find anyone during an engagement of that kind, particularly as the men of F’s Company did not seem absolutely sure where he had gone.”
Another member of the Captain’s Battalion claimed to have information that his body was found on the German wire in front of Vimy in about July of 1916, and he believed that the body had been brought in and buried.
In these uncertain circumstances, clinging desperately to the hope that her husband might have been taken prisoner, Mrs Farquhar strongly petitioned the War Office to make no official declaration of his death until the war was over; but in April 1919 she officially accepted the inevitable conclusion that he had died at some time on 21-23 May 1916.
This soldier is commemorated at Christ Church Episcopal Church, Kincardine O’Neil, by a fine brass plaque on the north wall of the chancel, placed by his wife “In memory of my beloved husband…Killed in action at Vimy Ridge on May 22nd 1916”. Mrs Farquhar lived on until 1959 when she died in Surrey. It seems she did not remarry.
1916 must have been a miserable year for the Drumnagesk Farquhars. Capt. Farquhar had gone missing in May, and in June his nephew Alastair (see Lieut. A. C. N. Farquhar) went down with his ship in the Channel.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Register of Births
Census Scotland 1891
Census England 1891
England & Wales Free BMD index 1837-1915 (in Ancestry.com)
National Archives – Officer’s file WO/374/23618; War Diary of the London Regiment (Prince of Wales Own Civil Service Rifles) 1/15thBattalion WO95-2732
Cambridge University Alumni 1261-1900
Harrow Memorials of the Great War Vol 6 (Internet Archive) with photo
Aboyne War Memorial
Private R. J. Findlay King’s Royal Rifles
This is James Reid Findlay (J.R. not R.J.). He was born on 31 July 1889 at Blairhead Farm, Campfield, near Torphins, son of a farmer, George, and his wife Isobella Reid who had married at Coull in 1882. In 1891, he was the youngest child of a large family and in 1901 he was the middle child of five still living at home, having three sisters and a brother. He enlisted at London (though his address at the time was Stonehaven), and became a Rifleman of the King’s Royal Rifle Corps 2nd Bn. (No. R/17568). He was killed in action on the Western Front on 30 June 1916 possibly in a frustrated attack on enemy lines that evening.
The battalion War Diary records preparations for an attack on enemy trenches in the days preceding 30 June 1916, including practice in model trenches, and gives a vivid account of the day. On 30 June there was a “quiet morning and afternoon” and at 7.30pm the battalion, less parties selected for the attack, moved into billets. The remainder moved into the starting places allotted to them, and by 8.30pm were all ready. At 9pm bridges were put up and the enemy either saw this or the men assembling in the trenches, and opened heavy fire with trench mortars and artillery causing many casualties. At 9.15pm three mines were sprung and at 9.16pm the column went over the parapet. The diary noted that the two parties on the right failed to penetrate defensive heavy wire and consequently “what remained of them” turned south to join up with and assist the Royal Sussex Regiment, but their joint efforts were unsuccessful on account of wire and machine gun fire. The centre column reached and entered the enemy trench, but found its right on the receiving end of a bombing attack, and did not succeed in joining up with the left column. The senior officer on the spot, Major W.D. Barber, ordered a withdrawal. The left column rushed the trench appointed to them and remained in action till 3am, when they were also ordered to withdraw. The battalion’s casualties of this unsuccessful raid were 35 officers and men killed or died of wounds, 173 wounded and 24 missing.
Private Findlay is commemorated on the Arras memorial.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War [they spell his surname Findley]
1891 and 1901 Census
Register of births
National Archives Kew – War Diary of the 2nd Bn Kings Royal Rifles WO95/1272/6
Aberdeen Evening Express 30 June 1917 – In memoriam notice and verse.
Lieut. L. H. V. Fraser Middlx. Regt.
Lachlan Henry Veitch Fraser was the youngest son of Major Francis and Alexia Mary Beatrice de Dombal Fraser of Tornaveen, Torphins. He was born at Tornaveen on 22 April 1894, the fourth of five children, having two older brothers, one older sister and one younger.
He attended school first at St Helens College, Southsea, then (from 1908) at Malvern College, where he was a member of the OTC. He was registered at 8 The College, Malvern in the census of 1911. We know a lot about the young Lachlan from his form of application for a cadetship in the Royal Military College in December 1912. His headmaster, giving a somewhat tentative reference, told the army “He has considerable force of character…He is somewhat thoughtless and impetuous, but shows courage and dash…A fine football player… This boy has plenty of life and go about him & will make a good soldier but I should think he may not be exactly easy to manage…I recommend this boy because I believe that he will come on well, but of course that is rather a matter of instinct than of knowledge on my part”. He further advised: “He comes of a fighting stock”.
Indeed he did. His form gives particulars: great grandfather Francis Fraser, a Captain in the Royal Navy, great uncle Col. R. Winchester of the Gordon Highlanders who fought in the Peninsular War and at Waterloo, grandfather Capt. Henderson Macdonald of the 78th Highlanders who served in Persia; a great uncle who served in the Crimea and another in the Baltic; father a Major in the 3rd East Yorkshire Regiment; brothers Francis in the Seaforths and Douglas in the 3rd Gordon Highlanders; cousins the Hon. R. Robertson and Oliver Haig, who had both been in the South African campaign; another cousin Capt. A.W. Robertson-Glasgow of the Garhwal Rifles, who was also a brother-in-law married to his older sister Violet, and finally cousin Lt. Gen. Sir Douglas Haig, later Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Forces in France and Flanders.
Fraser succeeded in his application to the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. He embarked for France in September 1914 as part of the British Expeditionary Force, was promoted to the rank of temporary Lieutenant in the 4th Battalion, Duke of Cambridge’s Own (Middlesex Regiment) on 15 November and became a Lieutenant on 1 January 1915. He was Mentioned in Despatches for gallant and distinguished service in the field, only a week before being killed in action at Ypres on 24 February 1915, a few weeks short of his 21stbirthday.
The 4th Middlesex had relieved the 2nd Bn Royal Scots in the trenches on 22 February. On 23 February they sent upThe battalion were not engaged in any particular action on 24 February, when the War Diary entry reads as follows:
“Nothing happened during the day. Lieutenant (Temporary) L. H. V. Fraser and 3 men killed and 4 men wounded during the evening. A Company was relieved by B Company , C Company by D Company. There was a bright moonlight (sic) and 5 of the casualties occurred during this relief. There was a heavy bombardment on our left all day and heavy rifle fire all night but our front was fairly quiet. The Brigade Major went round all our trenches in the evening and suggested the building up of another row of sandbags all along our line. This was immediately taken in hand”.
A note in the margin of the diary at this point reads: “During this tour of duty in the trenches, the Germans had a trench mortar shelling along our M section every night but it did very little damage only cutting the wire in places”.
A telegram to Major Fraser at Tornaveen on 26 February from the War Office carried the news: “Deeply regret to inform you that Lieut. L.H.V. Fraser 4 Middlesex Regt was killed in action 24 February. Lord Kitchener expresses his sympathy”. Press reports at the time noted that Fraser’s commanding officer described him as “a universal favourite in his regiment and did not know what fear was” and that he was killed instantaneously.
In April 1915, the Malvernian printed an obituary: “Naturally brave and regardless of risks he was well qualified for the work which our officers have been called upon to perform in the war”. It quoted a fellow officer who wrote of him that the men would have done anything for him or have gone anywhere.
Lachlan Fraser was buried at Godezonne Farm Cemetery. Mrs Fraser took up correspondence with the War Office regarding her son’s missing effects – his sword, revolver and pocket book. In August that year at least two other children of the family were in France: older brother Francis, who earned the Military Cross, and went on to train for the new-fangled Royal Flying Corps, and younger sister Carey then aged 19 and at Dinan, whose later war service in France with the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry earned her the Croix de Guerre andLégion d’Honneur in 1918. Both survived the war. Francis went on to serve in World War II.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Census Scotland 1891 and 1901
Census England & Wales 1911
National Archives - Officers File WO339/11152; 4th Bn War Diary WO95/1422/2_1
Aberdeen Evening Express 27 February 1915: “TORPHINS All in this district are greatly pleased to learn of the high honour won by Lieutenant L. H. V. Fraser of the 4th Battalion Middlesex regiment, son of Major Francis Fraser of Tornaveen, who was mentioned in Sir John French’s latest dispatch. This, together with his rapid promotion, is very gratifying”.
Aberdeen Evening Express 4 March 1915
Aberdeen Press & Journal 5 March 1915
Dundee Evening Telegraph 5 March 1915
Malvern College Roll of Honour
Imperial War Museum obituary
De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour 1914-1924
Private W. G. Fraser N.Z. Ex. Force
On the Kincardine O’Neil memorial this soldier’s initials are W. G. but on the Torphins memorial D. R. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission have no record of a New Zealand casualty with the initials W. G. and no one on their list of W. G. Frasers appears to have any connection with Kincardine O’Neil, though these records are by no means the final word on the matter.
There is however a New Zealand entry for Duncan Reid Fraser, matching the Torphins initials, who was a son of James Fraser of Gallowcairn, Torphins, born 26 January 1892. He emigrated to New Zealand and settled in Auckland. In the spring of 1915, he embarked on military training, giving his occupation as “Farm Labourer”. This must have been voluntary as conscription was not introduced until the following year. He was certified fit in April, and assigned on 28 May 1915 as Rifleman (no. 24/145) to the New Zealand Training Unit, Trentham Regiment, 2nd Battalion, Company “A”.
Private Fraser took ill, and was admitted to hospital in Wellington on 22 June 1915. He died there, a month later on 21 July, of cerebro-spinal meningitis. His body was moved to Auckland for burial, as his sister was there. He is buried in the Fraser Road Public Cemetery, Pokeno. Aucklandmuseum.com’s online Cenotaph has a tinted portrait of him pre-war, a photograph of his funeral procession, and of his gravestone “Erected by his Comrades”.
Fraser’s father remained at Gallowcairn until after the war, though he was at Broombrae when he acknowledged receipt of a memorial plaque and scroll (possibly in the early 1920s - the papers are undated). The family had a strong connection with the locality, as revealed by an article in the Aberdeen Press & Journal on 7 June 1919 celebrating Fraser’s centenarian granny Mrs George Fraser, under the heading “An Echt Centenarian”. Mrs Fraser’s husband had farmed at Upper Fittie and, despite her very advanced age, it was noted that she had made her own contribution to the war effort: “She has always been a great knitter and regularly wove [yes, wove] socks for the soldiers”.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Register of Births
Archives New Zealand – Military Personnel File 24/145
Auklandmuseum.com
Aberdeen Press & Journal 7 June 1919
[No definite ID in passenger lists]
Private J. Gavin Aus. Ex. Force
John William Gavin was born at 13 St Peter Street, Peterhead on 9 November 1890, son of Grain Merchant John Gavin from Udny and Mary George Cruikshank from Elgin, who had married at Fraserburgh in 1888. In 1891 the Gavins were at Peter Street, Peterhead, including four month old John William and his two-year-old brother, Thomas R. Ten years on they were at Mill of Leslie, Insch, where father John was working as both miller and farmer; the family had expanded to five boys and three girls. John Gavin later had the mill at Mill of Ennets, within the parish of Kincardine O’Neil, and the children attended school at Tornaveen.
Gavin emigrated to Australia, in about 1910, to work (like George Gordon and William Bews) on the railways. He volunteered for service in 1915. His enlistment papers, signed at Keswick, South Australia on 16 July 1915, show that he was employed at that time as an engine cleaner. He was allocated to the 9th Light Horse Regiment of the Australian Infantry Force (no.1385), and dispatched to the Dardanelles as part of the 3rd Light Horse Brigade. He sailed to Heliopolis in December 1915 at about the time of the Allies’ withdrawal following unsuccessful efforts to capture the Gallipoli peninsula. The regiment proceeded to Serapeum at the end of February 1916 where the 3rd Light Horse as part of the ANZAC Mounted Division participated in the defence of the Suez Canal from the Turks, at a time when the Allies were striving to push the Ottoman army out of the Sinai Peninsula. On 9 August 1916 the 9th Light Horse were engaged in a confrontation with Turkish artillery. In the course of this action John Gavin was first thought to be missing, having been taken prisoner, but it was after confirmed that he had been killed in action.
On 23 September 1916 the Aberdeen Journal reported: “Official information has been received by Mr John Gavin, 52 Whitehall Place, and late of Mill of Ennets, Torphins, that his son, Trooper J. W. Gavin, Australian Imperial Force, has been killed in action. Trooper Gavin, who was 25 years of age, was for six years engaged on the South Australian Railways. Prior to emigrating to Australia he was employed with the Caledonian Railway Company at Glasgow”.
Mrs Gavin received a memorial scroll and plaque and her son’s effects: an identity disc, wallet, 2 letters, photograph, postcard, writing paper case, musketry book, letter, pipe, badges and handkerchief.
Private Gavin is buried or commemorated at Kantara War Memorial Cemetery in Egypt, on the east side of the Suez Canal, and is also commemorated on the Aberdeen City Roll of Honour.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Register of Births
Census 1891 and 1901
National Archives of Australia – Service record – Series B2455 item 4028560 at naa.gov.au
alh-research.tripod.com - unit history and war diary for 9/8/1916
www.aif.adfa.edu.au – re Anzacs in the Great War
www.awm.gov.au
Aberdeen Journal and Aberdeen Weekly Journal 29 September 1916
2nd Lieut. W. O. Gilmour Scott. Horse
Williejohn Oberlin Gilmour was born at Armadale in Sutherland on 30 May 1884, son of William Gilmour B.A. and Barbara Learmonth Gilmour. There was a lot of teaching in the Gilmour family: William was a teacher; Barbara was a teacher’s assistant; Williejohn became a teacher and in due course married a teacher.
Williejohn Gilmour was the eldest of at least six children. He had four younger sisters and a younger brother notably named Marcus Aurelius. His mother was a native of Orkney, born in Stronsay. The family appear in Westray, Orkney in 1891 where Marcus Aurelius and his sister Barbara were both born, two years apart. By 1901 the family were living in the School House, Huntly. Williejohn was educated first at his father’s various schools, then at Robert Gordon’s College in Aberdeen.
He served in the Scottish Horse Imperial Yeomanry from 1904-8 and appears after that to have remained a member of the University troop while at Aberdeen University. Graduating with an M.A. degree in 1911, he was one of two students taking degree examinations in Greek. He taught for a time at Paisley Grammar School as an assistant and, on the outbreak of war, was a master at Leith Academy, Edinburgh. On the day war was declared (4 August 1914), he re-enlisted as a Trooper in his old regiment, despite the offer of a commission in the Gordon Highlanders. In November 1914 the Scottish Horse moved from Scone to Northumberland. In January 1915 they were attached to the 63rd (2nd Northumberland) Division working on coastal defences.
On 25 May 1915, Williejohn Gilmour married Madge Gordon Sim, schoolteacher, at Torphins. They were to enjoy married life together for no more than about ten weeks. He was sent to Gallipoli as Quartermaster-Sergeant in the 1st Brigade, embarking from Devonport on 15 August 1915 and arriving at Suvla Bay, via Malta, on 1 September. On the evacuation of Gallipoli in December that year, the 1st Scottish Horse moved to Egypt. Gilmour spent a couple of weeks in hospital in Alexandria with jaundice in January 1916. In February the battalion was absorbed into the 1st Dismounted Brigade under the orders of the 52nd (Lowland) Division, engaged in Suez Canal defences. On 10 March 1916 he was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant. Twelve days later, his wife gave birth on 22 March to a son, James Gordon Gilmour, at her parents‘ address, Auchintoul in Torphins.
On 1 October 1916, the 13th (Scottish Horse Yeomanry) Bn. Black Watch was formed of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd dismounted battalions of the Scottish Horse. They (and Gilmour with them) moved to Salonika, joining the 27th Division 81st Brigade.
2nd Lieut. Gilmour was killed while on patrol, near Kakaraska on the Struma front in Macedonia, on 15 May 1917 at the age of 32. His unit at that time were attached to the South Nottinghamshire Hussars. At the time of his death, both parents, his younger brother and four sisters lived at Crathes Schoolhouse. His parents later resided in Peterculter. In 1921, Madge, still living at Auchintoul, married Robert Davidson, a Torphins railway signalman.
According to the records of his old university,
“Lieutenant Gilmour’s death was a great blow to his numerous friends and comrades-in-arms, as his cheerful and obliging disposition made him a general favourite both in school and on service”.
He is commemorated on the Doiran Memorial – also on the War Memorial at Banchory.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Registers of Births & Marriages
Censuses 1891 & 1901
Soldiers Died in the Great War – they have date of death wrong (1915 instead of 1917) and also have him as Willis John.
National Archives: Officers file - WO 374/27407; British Army WW1 Medal Rolls Index Cards
Aberdeen Press & Journal 19 November 1911
Aberdeen Evening Express 27 May 1915 - Marriage
Aberdeen Press & Journal 25 March 1916 – birth of son; 25 April 1916 – promotion (+ photo)
Aberdeen Evening Express 5 June 1917 – Roll of Honour – killed on patrol – attached to S. Notts Hussars
University of Aberdeen Roll of Honour
Robert Gordon’s College Roll of Honour (+ photo)
Anne Park:”Banchory War Memorial” p.10
www.longlongtrail.co.uk
The Wartime Memories Project
Private G. Gordon Aus. Ex. Force
Private R. R. Gordon Royal Marines
These two were brothers, six years apart. They were sons of John Gordon, Farmer, and Georgina Ingram who had married at Oldmachar Aberdeen in 1878. The family appears in the 1891 census living at Pitmedden Farm, Craigmyle. John Gordon is stated to have been born in the parish, and his wife came from Banffshire. In 1891 there were six children, of whom George was the second youngest. John’s mother Mary and two servants lived with them. By 1901 George had two more brothers William and Robert then aged 8 and 6. George and Robert died within a very few months of one another in the last year of the war.
Private G. Gordon
George Gordon was born on 17 February 1888 at Pitmedden, Torphins, and appears with the family in the censuses of 1891 and 1901. In 1911 he emigrated, sailing
for Australia from London on board the “Durham” on 27 June 1911, as one of a large gang of “railway workers” which included William Bews who was also to become a casualty of the war. Gordon and Bews were born only weeks apart, and it seems likely that at the very least they knew one another and may possibly have been friends. Work was about to begin on the construction of the trans-continental Australian railway from Port Augusta to Kalgoorlie; possibly labour was being imported for that purpose.
George Gordon enlisted, as a volunteer, at Mount Gambier South Australia on 6 March 1916. He gave the name of his mother, still residing at Pitmedden, as his next of kin. The enlistment papers note his occupation as “Farm labourer” and he was then 27 years old. He was appointed to “B” Company 2nd Depot Battalion, then 50th Battalion of the A.I.F. and shipped to Tel-el-kebir, possibly for training. From there he was transferred to Alexandria, then embarked in early June 1916 on the “Arcadian” bound for Marseilles where his unit were to join the British Expeditionary Force. After about six weeks in France, Gordon spent a short time in hospital suffering from gastro-enteritis, but rejoined his unit at the beginning of September 1916. On 30 March the following year, he took sick again with a case of “S.T.A. Foot” which kept him out of action until 20 April. Then on 10 June 1917 he suffered a gunshot wound to the hip, rejoining the battalion on about 26 July.
On 24 April 1918, German forces captured the village of Villers-Bretonneux in Picardy. It was recaptured, in the course of that evening and the following day, by Australians of the 4th and 5th Divisions of the First Australian Imperial Force, including the 50th Battalion, at the cost of massive Australian casualties. Private Gordon was one of them. He died on 25 April 1918.
A note in his service record states that “Owing to the severity of action the body was not recovered by this Battalion”, but possibly that was superseded, as a separate note reads “Buried 500 yds S. of Villers-Bretonneux”. He is commemorated on the Villers-Bretonneux memorial.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Registers of Births & Marriages
Census 1891 and 1901
National Archives of Australia: Series B2455 - Item No. 4774613
www.ancestorsonboard.com
Wikipedia re 50th Bn. AIF’s involvement at Villers-Bretonneux April 1918
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour at awm.gov.au
Aberdeen Evening Express 17 May 1918
Private R. R. Gordon
On the outbreak of the First World War a brigade of Marines was formed for service ashore. Robert Gordon served in one such brigade. At the time of his death he was an Able Seaman of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, Hawke Bn. R.N. Division (Service no. ClydeZ/1754).
Robert Reid Gordon was born at Torphins on 25 November 1894. In 1901 he was the youngest of 8 children. In 1911, aged 16, he was working on his father’s farm.
Robert Gordon enlisted as a volunteer in the first weeks of the war, on 25 October 1914, the month before his twentieth birthday. At that point in time he gave his occupation as farm servant, living still at Pitmedden. He was assigned to Benbow Bn., Blandford. In June 1915 he was transferred from Benbow to Anson Bn. and despatched to Gallipoli. On 16 September 1915 he was taken ill with enteritis and transported by the hospital ship “Somali” to hospital on Malta. On 8 October 1915 he was sent back to England on the “Massilia” and admitted to Haslar Hospital with dysentery. By early November 1915, he was fit enough to return to duty. In July 1916, having been transferred to Hawke Bn. part of the British Expeditionary Force, he disembarked at Boulogne from England where his unit joined the 63rd Royal Naval Division, and on 13 September 1916 he joined the 8th Entrenching Bn. He had a period of leave from 29 August 1917 to 8 September 1917, which was probably his last.
Private Gordon was 23, and back in the care of the 149th Royal Naval Field Ambulance, France, when he died of wounds to his left shoulder on 2 January 1918, about three months before George. He is buried at Villers-Plouich Communal Cemetery.
No details of the precise circumstances of Robert Gordon’s death have been found. However, the 63rd Royal Naval Division took part in the second battle of Passchendaele in October and November 1917, suffering massive losses, and were also involved in the action of Welsh Ridge on 30 December 1917; his place of commemoration at Villers-Plouich Communal Cemetery suggests he was probably a casualty of those engagements.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Census 1901 and 1911
National Archives - Service record GBM_ADM339-0025
Online sources regarding RND action late 1917
Aberdeen Press & Journal and Aberdeen Evening Express 17 January 1918.
Bombardier W.H. Hall R.H.A.
This is William Harry Hall, son of John Hall, groom, and Catherine Fraser, domestic servant. His father came from Aberdalgie in Perthshire and his mother from Old Deer, so neither was a native of the parish. They married at Crimond. William was born on 5 June 1886 at Slains Castle, and in 1891 when William was four, parents and five children were living at the Coachman’s Rooms, Slains Castle with Mrs Hall’s mother. William was at that time the middle child of five, having two older sisters and two younger brothers.
By 1901 the family were at Kincardine O’ Neil, at an address known as “Coachman’s Cottage” (probably Dess). Mr Hall was employed as a coachman, his two eldest daughters, Mary aged 18 and Catherine 16 were in service, and young William then aged 14 was employed as a stable boy. A further three girls had been born since 1891 – Helen, Christina and Elizabeth. Mr and Mrs Hall later lived at Dess Cottage, Dess Station.
When he enlisted, Hall himself was living in Inverness. He most probably joined the 1st Inverness-shire battery of the Royal Horse Artillery, The function of the R.H.A. was to provide support for the cavalry using comparatively light, mobile, guns. They were deployed in the Middle-East from 1915 for the duration of the war. The Inverness-shire batteries became part of 18 Brigade in which, at the time of his death, Hall was an acting Bombardier (no. 600110). The RHA (“S” Battery) were encamped at Shahroban throughout September and October of 1918 with no particular activities noted in the War Diary.
Bombardier Hall died in Egypt aged 32 on 4 November 1918, missing the armistice by only a week and having apparently fallen victim to disease. The Aberdeen Weekly Journal on 6 December 1918 reported that he had “died of pneumonia and malaria at an hospital in Egypt…son of John Hall, Chauffeur, Dess”.
He is buried at Ramleh War Cemetery and also commemorated in the south-west corner of the old parish churchyard at Kincardine O’Neil, along with his mother, who died in 1916, and father who lived till 1945.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Registers of Births & Marriages
Census 1891 and 1901
National Archives – War Diary of the Royal Horse Artillery “S” Battery WO95/5087_5
Kincardine O’Neil old churchyard – memorial in south-west corner
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 6 December 2018
Army Register of Soldiers’ Effects 1901-1929 on Ancestry.co.uk
Longlongtrail.co.uk
Private W. Hepburn Can. Ex. Force
Private A. Hepburn H.L.I.
These two men were brothers. William was born in 1892; Alexander in 1894. Their elder brother Charles (born 1890) also served with the Canadians.
William, Alexander and Charles were sons of James Hepburn, Farm Overseer, and Helen Walker who was a native of Lumphanan where the couple married. The family lived for a time at Hillhead, Peterculter, then Danestone and, during the war at Milton, Campfield, Glassel. In October 1914, Mr Hepburn contributed to Lady Sempill’s Aberdeenshire fund for motor ambulances for the front in a conflict that was to claim two of his sons in 1917.
Private William Hepburn
William was born on 30 December 1892 at Banchory. He emigrated to Canada and became a Motorman (driver) on the Toronto Street Railway. He was unmarried when he enlisted at Toronto on 13 August 1915 in the 92nd Overseas Bn (48th Highlanders) of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (no. 192525). His unit sailed from Halifax on 20 May 1916 on the “Empress of Britain”, arriving in England on 29 May where he appears to have remained for a few months before proceeding to France in September, following a transfer, in August to the 42nd Bn. of the Canadian Infantry (Quebec) Regiment (Royal Highlanders of Canada).
The 42nd, as befitted their Scottish origins, supported their own pipe band. They remained in France and Flanders throughout the war, as part of the 7th Infantry Brigade of the 3rd Canadian Division. In the final week of March 1917 they were involved in the allied advance on the Hindenburg Line.
Private Hepburn died on 28 March 1917. An extract from the battalion War Diary on that day suggests he may have been the victim of a sniper: “From No.3 Longfellow Post Snipers were able to enfilade Blurt Trench and several hundred yards of the Artillerie Weg, where they had numerous targets and claimed several hits”.
He is buried at Écoivres Military Cemetery, Mont-St.Eloi.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Scottish Statutory Register of Births
1901 Census
Ancestorsonboard (uncertain passenger list identification – possibly “Saturnia” 20 March 1913)
Library and Archives of Canada – Personnel Records of the First World War – file B4283-SO35
Internet Archive - War Diary of the 42nd Bn. Canadian Expeditionary Force
Veterans.gc.ca (includes photo of his tombstone at Écoivres).
Aberdeen Journal 14 April 1917
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 20 April 1917 - “Intimation has been received by Mr and Mrs Hepburn, Milton of Campfield, Glassel, that their second son, Private William Hepburn, had been killed in action on 28th March. He joined the Canadians, and came to this country in the end of 1916”.
Alexander Hepburn
Alexander was born on 8 December 1894 at Hillhead of Cults, Peterculter. He joined up at Aberdeen and became Private no. 31109 in the 14th (Service) Bn of the Highland Light Infantry – one of the “Bantam Battalions”. (George Taylor was in the same battalion). The 14th HLI were sent to France for service on the Western Front in June 1916 becoming part of the 120th Brigade in the 40th Division.
It was reported in November 1917, when Mr and Mrs Hepburn were no doubt still trying to come to terms with the loss of William in March, that their eldest son, Charles, was suffering from gas poisoning and had been admitted to hospital in England. Not long after, they must have received the even worse news of Alexander’s death on 24 November 1917.
It is impossible to know exactly what happened to him, but the battalion War Diary offers some insights into the events of that day. On the evening of 23 November 1917 they were ordered up to the Hindenburg Support Line (two or three hundred yards beyond the Germans’ defensive Hindenburg Line) to support the 121st Brigade but were stood down as not required. The Battalion diary records “Men very tired”. The following morning, under orders to capture the village of Bourlon, they moved to Bourlon Wood through a barrage at Graincourt, and on to Anneux Chapel and, in the course of the afternoon, entered and occupied the village. Needless to say there had been casualties along the way, one platoon having, as the Diary puts it been “knocked out” in the barrage.
He is commemorated at the Cambrai Memorial, Louverval.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Register of Births
1901 Census
Aberdeen Press & Journal 13 November 1917 – re Charles
National Archives - War Diary of the 14th Bn HLI WO 95/2612/1
Private J. P. Kemp R.A.S.C.
Joseph Petrie Kemp was born at Aboyne on 17 February 1889. He was the son of Albert Kemp, woollen manufacturer who was born at Leochel Cushnie, and Annie Winks Kemp (nee Petrie), born Kincardine O’Neil. In 1891 the family were living at Waulkmill, Dess. In 1901 he was the eldest child living in the household at Gordon Mills, Aboyne on census night, having four younger brothers and two sisters. By 1911 the family were at 61 Cross Street, Fraserburgh. They had clearly begun a relationship with the new-fangled motor car, as Albert was working as a doctor’s chauffeur and Joseph as a domestic chauffeur. On 4 April 1913, at Glasgow, Joseph Kemp married Janet Mason Young, known as Jenny and described on their marriage certificate as a “Vocalist”.
By 1916 Joseph Kemp was working for the Royal Hotel, Fraserburgh, as appears from a report in the Aberdeen Journal on 19 April 1916 about a meeting of the conscription appeal tribunal before Provost Finlayson. Among other things it was noted that “Joseph Kemp (29), motorman at the Royal Hotel, was appealed for by his employer, Mr Alex. Davidson, who said Kemp was a married man, and had three brothers serving…..”. Conditional (and presumably temporary) exemption was granted, but in due course Kemp was recruited to the Royal Army Service Corps (M338240) and the 42nd Motor Ambulance Convoy.
On 18 November 1918 the Aberdeen Journal carried the following news of Private Kemp’s death two weeks previously on 4 November 1918: “Private Joseph Kemp, motor transport, A.S.C…… was formerly chauffeur at the Royal Hotel, Fraserburgh. His wife and children reside in Glasgow”. The children were Agnes aged 5 and Joseph aged 3, and Mrs Kemp was living at 791 Gallowgate, Glasgow. The Aberdeen Weekly Journal of 27 December 1918 has a photo of Kemp wearing goggles over his cap at a rakish angle – one of several occupying much of a full page spread under the heading “DIED FOR KING AND COUNTRY”.
He is buried or commemorated at Étaples Military Cemetery.
In July 1919 this soldier was honoured as a member of Solomon Lodge, along with 46 other members of local masonic lodges, at a memorial service in Fraserburgh Parish Church conducted by five ministers of the town with the Fraserburgh Pipe Band.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War [National Archives say enlisted Glasgow; Naval & Military Press say enlisted Fraserburgh]
Register of Births
Census 1891, 1901 and 1911.
Aberdeen Journal 19 April 1916
Aberdeen Journal 18 November 1916
Aberdeen Weeky Journal 27 December 1918
Aberdeen Journal 15 July 1919
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 18 July 1919
Capt. J. M. McLaggan M.C. R.A.M.C.
James Murray McLaggan was born on 19 July 1891 at the Town & County Bank, Torphins. He was the son of a banker, James McLaggan of Tollapark, Kinross, and his wife Sarah Ann Murray, who had married at Newburgh in 1882. In 1901 the family was living at Bank House, Torphins and at that time James was one of six children - four girls and two boys - ranging in age from 16 to 4. He attended Torphins school, and later Robert Gordon's College. From 1908, he was a student at the University of Aberdeen where he graduated Bachelor of Medicine in 1913.
The young Dr McLaggan was working as a house physician at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary when war broke out, and immediately enlisted, receiving a temporary commission in the Royal Army Medical Corps on 22 August 1914. He was sent to Nettley Hospital and was then attached to the 3rd Bn. Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment), with whom he served throughout the war, first of all in France from January of 1915. He was awarded the Military Cross at the battle of Loos “For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty during the operations of 27th to 30th September 1915, when he attended to the wounded in the firing line under heavy shell and rifle fire. His coolness and skill undoubtedly saved many lives. For three days and four nights he worked incessantly with unflagging energy”.
Following the Battle of Loos, the 3rd Bn were ordered to Salonika via Egypt in order to support Serbian forces against the Bulgarians. In July 1918 they moved back to France where Capt. McLaggan was offered, and refused, an administrative job. He was killed in action three months later, on 4 October 1918.
On that date, the battalion was engaged, as part of the 149th Brigade of the 50th Division, in the Allied advance on the Hindenburg defences between Le Catelet and Vendhuile towards a redoubt at Richmond Copse. They had to descend a slope to the Scheldt Canal and then climb up the opposite side, under heavy fire. In so doing they took prisoner a large number of enemy machine-gunners, but had to retreat more or less to their starting point, finding themselves practically isolated at the point of their objective. Casualties were extremely heavy, though the capture of enemy gunners facilitated a subsequent more lasting advance over the same ground.
In the course of this action, only five weeks before the Armistice, Capt. McLaggan was shot and killed by a sniper while tending a wounded man. The Division’s Assistant Director Medical Services wrote of him: “Captain McLaggan had a very high sense of duty, and his constant thought was for the well-being of the men. The manner of his death was exactly like his life – with complete disregard to his personal safety he went to attend to his fallen C.O. when he himself fell a victim”. He is buried at Prospect Hill Cemetery, Gouy.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Register of births
Censuses 1901 & 1911
London Evening Standard 5 November 1915 (widespread press reports on that date)
University of Aberdeen Roll of Honour
Aberdeen University Review vol VI p 76 – brief obituary
www.ramc-ww1.com
[War Office file destroyed]
Various internet sources – see esp “The Royal Fusiliers in the Great War” by H.C. O’Neill – Internet Archive.
Private R. MacLagan Gordon Hrs.
The identity of this soldier is not entirely certain, but there is a reasonable likelihood that he is Robert McLaggan* (not MacLagan) of the 7th Bn, Gordons (no.2760), son of William McLaggan and Jane Low or McLaggan of 40 King’s Crescent, Aberdeen.
As appears from William and Jane’s marriage certificate, he was a granite polisher (son of a granite quarry worker) and she a domestic servant. William came originally from Lanarkshire and Jane was born at Daviot, near Inverurie, Aberdeenshire. Robert was a twin, born at Pitblain, Daviot, on 27 March 1893; his elder brother Andrew died after only 23 days. In the 1901 census the family were at 40 Kings Crescent, Aberdeen. By this time there was a younger brother Charles aged 3. The four of them were still at that address in 1911, when Robert was 18 and gave his occupation (following in the family tradition) as “apprentice stonecutter”.
If this person is no. 2760 of the 7th Gordons, he gave his residence on enlistment as Banchory, his surname being noted as McLaggan. That would be one point of tenuous contact with the parish of Kincardine O’Neil. Another might be, given his occupation, possible employment at the quarry at Craiglash.
Robert McLaggan no. 2760 died on 5 June 1915 at the age of 22. The unit war diary contains an entry recording the activities of the 7th Gordons between 4 and 6 June 1915 when they were at La Quinque Rue, behind the allied lines, close to Festubert. The writer of the diary noted that on 4 June the 7th Gordons took over trenches from the 7th Black Watch who were about to relieve the 6th Black Watch in the front line. The battalion were employed during those three days in making and improving trenches, and gathering arms and ammunition, in working parties varying from 300 to 550 men. Casualties in the week 31 May to 6 June 1915 were noted as 32 wounded and, among the ‘other ranks’, one killed. Private McLaggan is commemorated on the Le Touret Memorial.
*On his birth certificate he is neither MacLagan nor McLaggan but McLagan, but the prevalent spelling of his parents’ names and his in the available records is McLaggan.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Registers of Births, Marriages and Deaths
Census 1901 and 1911
National Archives - War Diary of the 7th Bn Gordon Highlanders WO95/2882_1
Private D. Merchant Gordon Hrs
This is David Smith Merchant of the 9th (Pioneer) Bn (no. S/11218) Gordon Highlanders. He was a son of Alexander Merchant and Martha Ross or Merchant. Alexander farmed Burnside of Ennets and was a native of Lumphanan. Martha began life at Leochel Cushnie. Their son David was born at Burnside of Ennets on 21 April 1891. The 1901 Census reveals that Alexander and Martha had at least four children besides ten-year-old David, all born in the parish of Kincardine O’ Neil, namely older sisters Jane and Mary (16 and 13), George (8) and Maggie (3).
In the 1911 Census, David Merchant is registered living away from home as a farm foreman at Little Kinnord, and in the household of George Milne, Farm Grieve. In due course he enlisted and was taken into the 9th (Pioneer) Battalion of the Gordons with whom, (as part of the army’s 15th Division) he was killed in action aged 25 on 25 July 1917.
In the weeks before 25 July 1917, the 9th Gordons had been engaged in repairing roads and bridges, clearing and repairing shelled trenches, renewing sandbagging, creating a new cable trench and laying cables, erecting wire and camouflage, making and clearing drains, and in the construction of a light railway. The battalion war diary reported that work was regularly stopped by bombardments and gas shelling, sometimes continuing from dusk till dawn.
Orders on 23 July 2017 revealed that an offensive involving the 15th Division was imminent, in which the role of the battalion, working with the Royal Engineers, would be to construct tracks for supporting artillery and horse transport. On 29 July the GOC 15th Division commended the 9th Gordons on the manner in which they had carried out their work over the past 4 weeks “under conditions of considerable difficulties”. It is unclear exactly what happened to Private Merchant but the difficulties in his case clearly proved fatal. He is buried or commemorated at Ypres Town Cemetery Extension.
After the war, David Merchant’s bereaved parents were living at Gallowfields, Findrack.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Register of Births
Censuses 1901 and 1911
National Archives - War Diary of the 9th Gordons – WO95/1929_3
Private J. Michie Gordon Hrs
Joseph Michie was a Private in the 1/7th Bn Gordon Highlanders (No. 290425). He was born on 29 January 1892 at Maryculter, the son of Arthur Michie (a native of Kincardine O’Neil) and Mrs Mary Michie (born in Fyvie). The couple had married at Kincardine O’Neil in 1884, at which time Arthur was a farm servant at Mains of Findrack. In 1901 the Michies were in Laurencekirk. At that point there were at least seven children of the family, of whom Joseph was the middle child. Later, Arthur was employed as a cattleman at West Maldron, Torphins, and Mary (at least from about 1917) came to reside at Powdagie, Craigmyle, Torphins. By 1911, Joseph Michie was working as a farm horseman at Lumphanan.
The 1/7th (Deeside Highland) Bn of the Gordon Highlanders were a unit of the Territorial Force having their headquarters at Banchory. After a time at Bedford following the outbreak of war, they were sent to Boulogne in May 1915 and served on the Western Front as part of the 153rd Brigade of the 51st Highland Division (a Division of the British Army famously known to the Germans as “the ladies from hell”). The 51st Division was involved in the Battle of Arras in April and May 1917 which resulted, at huge cost in human lives, in a significant advance ending in prolonged stalemate. The involvement of the 51st Division in this action officially came to an end in about the middle of May.
It is not clear in what circumstances precisely Private Michie lost his life on 1 June 1917. The war diary noted a quiet day, except for a period of heavy shelling in the early afternoon, in which two men were killed, just by the battalion headquarters. His death at the age of 25 must have come as a particularly heavy blow to Mrs Michie, as her husband Arthur had died of peritonitis on 9 February that year, after being kicked by a horse in the course of his employment. It also made an inevitable impact on the local community, as this report in the Aberdeen Evening Express of 23 June 1917, in an account of recent doings at Lumphanan parish church, records:
“At the close of the service in the Parish Church on Sunday last the Dead March in “Saul” was played in memory of Private Joseph Michie who, though not a native, left this district when the Territorials were mobilised, and has recently fallen in the great struggle. Private Michie was a member of the Church, a farm servant at Cairnbeathie, and was a respected young man”.
He is buried or commemorated at Mindel Trench British Cemetery, St.Laurent-Blagny.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Registers of Births and Marriages
Censuses 1901 and 1911
National Archives – War Diary of the 1/7th Gordon Highlanders WO95/2882/1
Scotsman 4 March 1918.
Online sources re 1/7th Gordons
Lieut.- Col. J. A. Milne D.S.O. Aus. Ex. Force
John Alexander (“Jock”) Milne had a truly remarkable career. He is much celebrated in what became his home town of Bundaberg in Queensland and has earned a place in the Australian Dictionary of Biography. Researchers sponsored by the Returned & Services League in Australia have developed a claim that actions led by Colonel Milne on 4 and 5 April 1918 at Villers-Bretonneux played a crucial part, hitherto insufficiently recognised, in ending the war. By all accounts, he was an outstandingly brave and effective officer.
Thanks to the Australian sources, and the preservation of this soldier’s record in the online Australian National Archives, we probably know more about his experiences of the war than about anyone else on the war memorial.
John Alexander Milne was born at Woodside, near Logie Coldstone in Cromar, on 23 March 1872, a son of labourer Alexander Milne and Jane McCombie, a dressmaker. His paternal grandfather lived in Torphins, and in 1881 the family were living at North Footie, Kincardine O’Neil. He had at least four younger brothers all born in the parish – George, Robert, David and James. By 1891 the family were living at Waulkmill. He attended school in Torphins.
In 1890, aged 18, the young Alexander emigrated to Australia aboard the Dorunda departing from London bound for Cairns. He found work as a farm labourer, miner, engine driver, farmer and commercial traveller in agricultural hardware. In 1898 he married Mary Elise May Bull at Kilkavian Junction, Queensland. They had three sons. He also had an interest in military matters and by 1908 was an officer in the 1st Battalion of the Wide Bay Regiment.
Milne (then aged 42) enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (9th Battalion) very shortly after the war broke out, on 20 August 1914. He was accorded the rank of Captain and dispatched to Gallipoli. The 9th Battalion were the first ashore at Gallipoli in the early morning of 25 April 1915. Milne led his company that day in the storming of Anzac Heights. The objective of this action was to capture a gun battery at Gaba Tepe. “A” and “B” companies of the 9th Battalion landing party having landed to the left of their intended objective, Captain Milne nevertheless led his isolated “C” company to the right, in a daring assault upon a strategically vital Turkish artillery battery, capturing it in the face of very heavy fire. In two separate incidents in the course of the day, he sustained serious wounds of the left hand and arm, resulting among other things in the amputation of the terminal phalanx of a finger, in hospital in Cairo a few days later. The wound then became infected.
Mrs Milne was advised in a telegram that her husband had been severely wounded. He was declared unfit for service for four months. A more favourable report was sent to her on 11 June, but a week later the patient was clearly far from well as he was shipped to England and admitted to the Royal Free Hospital in London. It was not until October 1915 that he returned to Egypt for duty.
Within a few weeks of his return he was promoted to the rank of Major but on 12 November he took ill with paratyphoid fever, and was transferred again to hospital. He wrote home from the 1st Australian General Hospital in Heliopolis in terms which clearly alarmed Mrs Milne, talking of further Mediterranean fever “caught too just as I was going to get a Temp. Lieut. Col. My luck is out. I am still very sick so you must just let me say a Merry Xmas + H N Year to you and the boys and all at St M…I am sick and lonely”. We have this letter because Mrs Milne sent it to the Base Records office on 30 December 2015, with a stamped addressed envelope for its return, complaining that she had not been informed of her husband’s illness and that her letters (“I send at least one by every mail”) were clearly not reaching him. She enquired as to his present condition and whereabouts. No doubt she was much cheered by a telegram on 11 January 1916, informing her that her husband was on his way back to Australia on the Ulysses (following certification by a medical board) for “three months change”.
On his return home, Major Milne was enthusiastically received, made recruiting speeches, unveiled the honour board at St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Bundaberg, and went on a fishing holiday at Urangan. In May 1916 he embarked again from Sydney, this time for France via England. A mysterious note in his record dated 5 September 1916 reads “Rejoined Unit from Cookery School Weymouth” (where there was an AIF command depot). He then proceeded to Le Havre from Southampton on 25 November. In February 1917 Major Milne was attached to the 36th Battalion, and in the following month granted the temporary rank of Lt. Col., the temporary promotion being made permanent in April. In May 1917, he had a week’s leave in England, after which he rejoined his unit.
On 25 August 1917, Lt. Col. Milne was awarded the DSO for gallantry at St Yves 7-12 July 1917. The citation reads:
“For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He showed great capacity and initiative in commanding his battalion when on carrying party duty. He kept the front line well supplied with stores, ammunition and water, and arranged for the relief of the parties in a most efficient manner although constantly depleted by casualties and exhaustion”.
In November 1917, Milne was granted a week’s leave in Paris, during which he again received recognition for his gallant conduct, being mentioned in dispatches “for Distinguished and gallant Services & devotion to duty in the field during the period 26 February 1917 to midnight 20/21 September 1917”.
In January 1918 he was sent for a few days’ flying course in Belgium, followed by a month’s leave in the UK. During this time he was in Scotland and bought a shotgun, which Mrs Milne understood was to be given to his eldest son (also on active service) if anything happened to him. It was to be his last period of leave. In March 1918, Mrs Milne, anxious for news as she had not heard from her husband since a cable of Christmas greetings on 16 December, wrote again to Base Records “I know he was not too well, result of being blown up by a gas shell but he was still in action Nov.28th”. A reply came back on 14 March 1918 reassuring her that no report of casualty had been received.
March 1918 marked the beginning of a German offensive on the Western Front, masterminded by General Ludendorff which aimed to attack, break through and separate French and British lines. On 21 March 1918, the Germans launched a major offensive against the British Fifth and Third armies between the Somme and Flanders. This forced the greatest retreat of the war by the British army. By the end of March, the allied line had been pushed back by about 20 miles. Casualties were massive on both sides.
By 4 April 1918, a crucial point of allied communications at Amiens was under threat of imminent capture. The allies under General Gough had established defences at Villers-Bretonneux. The village was strategically vital, as capture by the enemy would bring their artillery within range of bombarding Amiens. On the afternoon of 4 April 1918, the British artillery began to withdraw in the face of what seemed to be irresistible opposition. However, a small force of British and Australian reserves led by Col. Milne made a spectacular charge on the German lines. This counter-attack was led by the 36th Australian Battalion, supported by a company of the 35th Australians and soldiers of the 6th Battalion London Regiment. Against daunting and improbable odds, they successfully pushed back the 9th Bavarians despite being greatly outnumbered. This had the effect of rallying others, and inspired further counter-attacks.
By next evening it was clear that the assault on Villers-Bretonneux had failed. General Ludendorff wrote of this episode in his war memoirs: “It was an established fact that the enemy’s resistance was beyond our strength…In agreement with the commanders concerned, G.H.Q. had to take the extremely difficult decision to abandon the attack on Amiens for good…The battle was over by the 4th April…”.
Researchers in recent years under the sponsorship of the Returned & Services League of Australia, have argued that this action marked a fundamental turning point in the course of the war. Certainly, Col. Milne and the Australians played a pivotal role in the action on that day.*
Eight days later, on 12 April 1918, Milne’s brave and illustrious career came to an end at the age of 46. A report from Lieut. Dunn, Assistant Adjutant, records: “Colonel Milne was badly mutilated by a shell that exploded right into Headquarters whilst he was dictating orders to the Adjutant. He was buried…about 20 yards from the spot at which he was killed. A suitable wooden cross was prepared and erected”.
When the news reached Bundaberg, flags were flown at half-mast as a mark of respect. The army forwarded to Mrs Milne the insignia of her husband’s DSO in January of 1919. Correspondence followed regarding his various belongings. In April Mrs Milne wrote enquiring, pointing out that a year had passed since her husband’s death, and was informed (the news lagging some considerable time after the event once again) that three packages, sent from England on the S.S Barunga the previous June, had gone down with the ship when it was lost in transit as a result of enemy action. Inventories of Milne’s belongings were preserved. They betray a more than passing interest in both fishing and the various accoutrements of smoking, but also included books and letters, mathematical instruments, a portable camera, photographs and map of Paris. His kit bag, retrieved from the field, contained “Scotch heather” – a souvenir perhaps of the trip to Scotland shortly before his death.
According to the Australian Dictionary of Biography, drawing among other things on personal information, Jock Milne was an excellent rifle-shot, “Strong, broad-shouldered, seemingly fearless, with a powerful voice and marked Scotch accent, the sandy-haired Milne was well-liked and respected by his troops. A rugged individualist, with little respect for formality though a rigid disciplinarian, he was an eminently practical and competent soldier with a strong sense of duty”.
In 1919 the Adelaide Observer reported on a court application by Mrs Milne to set up the terms of a will which her husband had made, commenting that he was killed on active service by a shell “which blew him to pieces and destroyed the will which he had in his pocket”. On 24 March 1921, the Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser reported on the completion of a Milne memorial Challenge Shield for the Wide Bay and District Rifle Association, featuring a photograph surrounded by a laurel wreath flanked by the Union Jack and Australian flags.
Lt. Col. Milne was reburied in 1920 at Heath Cemetery, Harbonnières.
*See in particular (sources provided by Ray Phillips):
The [Queensland] Courier & Mail 25 April 2017: https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/time-to-fight-for-our-unsung-hero-john-alexander-milne/news-story/fe0a8a09b7e75a1eb8b6dcd411c7a4f8
Also YouTube war documentary Line of Fire 7 – The Kaiser’s Battle 1918 - 40 minutes in and following.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
1881 and 1891 Census
The V.C and D.S.O. Book Vol III (Naval and Military Press)
National Archives of Australia 11545760
National Library of Australia at www.nla.gov.au
Australian Dictionary of Biography
https://www.awmlondon.gov.au/battles/villers-bretonneux
Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918 Vol. I (11th Edition 1941) pp226-7 and 339-43 on Gallipoli; Vol. V (8th Edition 1941) pp342-355 re Villers-Bretonneux.
General Ludendorff: My War Memories Vol II (London: Hutchinson & Co.) on Internet Archive pp 599-600
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Avre
https://www.cwgc.org/our-work/blog/the-battle-of-villers-bretonneux-how-australian-troops-halted-the-german-advance/
Department of Trade outgoing passenger lists found at www.ancestorsonboard.co.uk
Sydney Mail 5 July 1917 and 22 May 1918 p 27 and Brisbane Courier 27 April 1918 p6 - both at www.nla.gov.au
Australian web search brings up a great deal of material on this officer.
Photo – www.recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=32519378
Private W. Morgan Gordon Hrs.
William Morgan was born at Newton of Drumgesk, Aboyne on 30 October 1880. His father John Morgan, a farmer of 70 acres, and mother Margaret Coutts had married there in 1879. The family were at Newton of Drumgesk on census night 1881; William was 5 months old and had a brother James aged 1 last birthday. Ten years later they were at Tillyduke, Coull, by which time William had five younger siblings. In 1911, John Morgan was established as the farmer of Lower Dagie at Tornaveen, and William now aged 30 was part of the household along with his mother and five brothers and sisters.
In May 1916 he was still at Lower Dagie with his parents, as appears from a newspaper report about Lord Roberts’ Fund for Indian Troops, to which William and his parents contributed. Newspaper evidence suggests he joined up shortly after that. He enlisted at Banchory and became a Private in the 1st/5th Bn Gordon Highlanders (No.242204).
The 1st/5th Gordon Highlanders as part of the 152nd Brigade of the famous 51st (Highland) Division were preparing to engage in the Battle of Arras which began on Easter Monday 9 April 1917 and continued to 16 May - a diversionary tactic designed to draw German troops away from major points of attack on their front line at the beginning of the spring offensive of 1917 which it was hoped would bring the war to a swift conclusion. The formal commencement of the engagement was preceded by four days of intensive bombardment.
Private Morgan was 36 when he died of wounds on 5 April 1917. It is not clear exactly when, or in what circumstances, he was wounded. He is buried at Aubigny Communal Cemetery Extension.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Register of Births
1881-1911 Census
Online sources re Battle of Arras
National Archives – War Diary of the 1/5th Gordon Highlanders WO95/2881/1
Aberdeen Evening Express 13 May 1916 – Lord Roberts’ Fund
Aberdeen Evening Express 17 June 1916 – account of his appearance before Sheriff after failure to respond to call-up papers suggests among other things possible religious objection.
Corpl. W. Mowatt Gordon Hrs.
This soldier is probably in fact Corpl. James Mathieson Mowat (“J. Mowat” on the Torphins memorial), no 290877 of the 7th Bn. Gordon Highlanders, born in Stonehaven on 5 September 1876. He was the son of a joiner, Archibald Mowat and his wife Margaret Mathieson who married at Rickarton in 1875. He grew up in Aberdeen, appearing in the 1881 census at 3 South Bridge, Old Machar age 4, and ten years later as a message boy living with parents and brother and two sisters at 84 Holburn Street. By 1901 the family had moved to 132 Holburn Street, and he was working as a monumental mason.
James Mowat married Elizabeth Tosh (or possibly Josh) Mackay in 1904 at the Richmond Café in Correction Wynd, when he gave his occupation as journeyman stonecutter. By the time of the 1911 census he had moved with his family to Torphins, was living at Woodlands Cottage and was employed as a fire and insurance agent. By that time he also had children – Margaret (5), William James (3) and Gilbert Thomson (under three months).
The 7th Gordons were a territorial unit based in Banchory, part of the Gordon Brigade, Highland Division. They were deployed on the Western Front from May 1915 and participated in many of the major battles of the war. In the spring of 1917, they were involved in the Arras Offensive and, as at the date of this soldier’s death, were about to participate in the opening action of the Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele) which commenced on 31 July 1917.
Corpl. Mowat died aged 41 on 30/7/1917. He is buried or commemorated at the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial. Given the date and his place of commemoration, it seems likely that he was a casualty of the activities surrounding preparations for this action. The Aberdeen Press & Journal reported that he had been killed by a shell: “Corporal James Mowat…was an insurance agent on Deeside for the British Legal Insurance Company…He had been two and a half years in the Army, but had only been in France for a month. He has left a widow and family of four at Woodlands Cottage, Torphins, and his mother resides at 132 Holburn Street, Aberdeen”. His name also appears on the Aberdeen City Roll of Honour.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Registers of Births and Marriages
Census 1881-1911
Ancestry.co.uk- family tree
Aberdeen Press & Journal 17 August 1917
Aberdeen City Roll of Honour – gives date of death as 29 July 1917
Private A. Murdoch Royal Scots
Alexander Scott Murdoch was the son of George and Mary Murdoch, born at Felix Cottage, Victoria Street, Dyce on Christmas Day 1893. The Felix Cottage connection went back at least as far as George and Mary’s marriage (according to the forms of the Free Church) in 1885. George, at the time of the birth, was a brewery-carter, native of Forgue; Mary came from Belhelvie. In 1901 the family were at Felix Cottage, and by this time Alexander was the youngest of five, having older brothers William (15) who was an apprentice engineer, James K. (14) described as a grocer, Andrew M. (9) who was at school, and sister Mary (13) also still at school.
It is not wholly clear how this particular soldier comes to be commemorated in Kincardine O’Neil. A tenuous connection to the parish may appear from the immediately preceding entry in the 1901 census. This records a household consisting of William F. Still, a joiner born Belhelvie (his age is illegible) and his wife Mary, aged 44. Mary was born in Kincardine O’Neil, daughter of Andrew and Mary Clark. This William was Alexander’s uncle – his mother’s brother. A search of the censuses shows what appears to be Mary’s family living at Raefield, Kincardine O’Neil in 1881 and then at Mill of Dyce in 1891.
In 1911 the Murdochs were still at Felix Cottage. By this time Andrew was a butcher and Alexander was a butcher’s messenger.
As a singed fragment of his Army Service Record shows, Alexander Murdoch, by then a Postman, joined the Royal Scots at Aberdeen just a month before his 22nd birthday on 2 December 1915 and became a signaller in “D” Coy. 16th Bn Royal Scots (Lothian Regiment) (no. 27952), famously known as “McCrae’s Battalion”. His service record shows he was mobilised on 24 January 1916. He appears to have been part of the 46threinforcement to the 2nd Bn on 23 September 1916 and joined that battalion in the field on 24 October 1916.
Private Murdoch died aged 23 on 9 April 1917 – the first day of the Battle of Arras. British troops had succeeded in recovering part of the village of St Laurent-Blangy in March 1916. The rest was taken, more than a year later, on the day of Private Murdoch’s death. He is buried or commemorated at Bailleul Road West Cemetery, St Laurent-Blangy, where one hundred casualties of the action on 9 April 1917 are buried. He is also commemorated on the Dyce War Memorial in Dyce Old Churchyard.
As at May 1920, it seems Private Murdoch’s father, who was named as his next of kin on enlistment, was no longer alive. The papers at that time note that his family consisted of his mother, brothers William living in Kilburn, James Keith at Woodbine Cottage, Dyce, Andrew Milne in Toronto and sister Mary in Lochmaben, Dumfriesshire.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Registers of Births and Marriages
Censuses 1881-1911
Army Service Record from British Army Service Records 1914-1920 at findmypast.co.uk
Jack Alexander: McCrae’s Battalion (Edinburgh 2003)
Aberdeen Press & Journal 21 April 1917
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 27 April 1917
Dyce War Memorial
www.findagrave.com
Capt. R. W. Murray R.A.M.C
Robert William Skinner Murray was born at Woodside, Aberdeen on 23 May 1886, younger son of John Murray, grocer, draper, JP, Chairman of the local School Board, and his wife Elizabeth. The Murrays were in Kincardine O’Neil from at least 1891, living at “Murray’s Buildings”. He went to school first at Kincardine O’Neil, then Robert Gordons College from the age of thirteen. Following in the footsteps of his older brother John who was six years ahead of him, Robert studied medicine at the University of Aberdeen. He graduated MB in 1912 (aged 25) and obtained a Diploma in Public Health in 1913.
In May 1914, Robert Murray was house surgeon at the Tunbridge Wells General Hospital. He joined the Royal Army Medical Corps in October 1914, was commissioned as a Lieutenant, and sent to Millbank for a special course in sanitation, then to Llandudno lecturing to troops, before being sent to France in May 1915 when he was promoted to the rank of Captain. Soon after the Battle of Loos, he was wounded and sent home. Possibly this enabled him to attend his father’s funeral in February 1916 along with his brother John, then in private practice in Middlesborough, before he was despatched to Egypt in May 1916. He served in Egypt and Palestine and survived the Armistice when he transferred to the Royal Air Force, attending no. 5 Fighting School, only to succumb to bronchial pneumonia in Cairo on 6 May 1919 aged 32.
Capt. Murray is buried at the UK Cairo War Memorial Cemetery. He is also commemorated in the old churchyard of Kincardine O’Neil beside the west outside wall of the ruined kirk.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Register of Births
1891-1911 Censuses
Robert Gordons College Roll of Honour
University of Aberdeen Roll of Honour
University of Aberdeen Roll of Service in the Great War 1914-1919 Edited by Mabel Desborough Allardyce (AUP 1921)
Aberdeen University Review Vol VI page 278 - obituary
City of Aberdeen Roll of Honour
Aberdeen Journal 29 March 1912
Aberdeen Journal 9 July 1913
Kent and Sussex Courier 29 May 1914- emergency admission of a child.
Aberdeen Journal 4 March 1915 –temporary RAMC commission in the regular army
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 13 August 1915 – promoted to Captain from 28 May 1915, serving in one of the general hospitals in France
Aberdeen Journal 4 and 10 February 1916 – obituary and funeral of father
Aberdeen Journal 14 May 1919 – service and death in Egypt
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 16 May 1919
Old churchyard Kincardine O’Neil
[War Office file destroyed]
Lieut. T. S. Nash R.A.F.
Thomas Stuart Nash was a son of Rev. Cecil William and Meriel Nash of The Rectory, Kincardine O’Neil. TheRev. Cecil served as Priest in Charge at Christ Church Episcopal Church for 38 years from 1885 to 1923 and is commemorated by a sundial in the churchyard. He himself was born in England but his wife Meriel originated in Haddington. She was a daughter of the Rev. F. L. M. Anderson of North Berwick, and the couple were married at North Berwick in 1885. Their son Thomas was born on 27 March 1889 in Kincardine O’Neil and grew up in the village. At the time of the 1891 Census, they were at the Rectory and had two children – Meriel aged 4 and Thomas, then aged 2 - and three resident servants – cook, nurse and parlourmaid. Ten years later, a third child George appears in the census, younger brother of Thomas by nine years. Thomas Nash attended school in Kincardine O’Neil, then Ellesmere College in Shropshire for a term only; his final three years of school were at Robert Gordon’s College in Aberdeen between 1903 and 1905.
On 7 August 1914 (three days after the outbreak of war with Germany), Thomas Nash appears in the outgoing first class passenger list of the “Mooltan”, bound for Sydney under the captainship of Capt. R. L. Haddock. His ultimate destination was Penang where he was to take up employment as a merchant in the London firm of Boustead & Co.
In April 1917, Nash returned from the Far East and enlisted in the army (regimental number 83617), giving his occupation as “Merchant’s Assistant”. Then, in September that year, he was technically discharged, being appointed to a temporary commission as “2nd Lieutenant (on probation) on the General List for duty” with the Royal Flying Corps. From April 1918 (when the RFC became the RAF) he was with the British Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders.
A note in his service record reads “Since joining the R.F.C. flown DH6 Aircos [trainer bi-planes], Sopwith Scouts and Sopwith Camels”. In May 1918, as part of No. 80 Squadron, he was in Sopwith Camel B5576 when it was damaged by enemy action on an offensive patrol to the Somme. The Camel was a single-engine bi-plane substantially constructed of plywood, fabric and aluminium, fitted with twin machine guns and able to carry four 24lb bombs. According to the Operations Record Book, No. 80 Squadron was constantly engaged at this time in following up and harassing the retreating enemy, and was twice mentioned in French Army dispatches.
Fighter planes of the RAF were deployed on the Western Front as part of an allied offensive launched on 8 August 1918. On the morning of that day, in the course of a patrol taking off at 10.15 from Vignacourt for operations towards Bray-sur-Somme, Nash, flying B5587, was “reported to have crashed a Fokker DVII at Morcourt south of the Villers-Bretonneux road which is east-southeast of Amiens” and was then “set upon by four Fokker DVIIs and, severely wounded, he managed to crash-land in front of our advancing troops who pulled him from the remains of his aircraft”.* He was taken to no.61 Casualty Clearing Station, and died there of his injuries the following day. He was 29 and unmarried.
Tom Nash was highly thought of. His commanding officer wrote to the bereaved parents:
“He was a most gallant officer, always quiet and unassuming, and most highly popular with both officers and men. He was wounded on the 8th Inst. in a fight with four enemy machines just after he had brought down one. The German airman crashed well over the lines, and your son flew down over him. He told me that the German pilot got out of the crash and waved to him, so he could not shoot at him again. He therefore waved to him and started for our lines. He was then attacked by four more enemy machines, and was shot through the back and crashed, but was later picked up by our advancing infantry and sent back to the C.C.S. We buried him in the little cemetery nearby. The war is going splendidly, but it mars one’s enthusiasm when one loses pilots like your boy”**.
He is buried at Vignacourt British Cemetery. Rev. Nash instructed an inscription on the standard issue Commonwealth War Graves headstone: “Jesu Mercy, Grant Him Thine Eternal Rest”. He is also commemorated in a stained-glass window in his father’s church at Kincardine O’Neil. His medal surfaced in an auction sale on 19 November 2019 and was sold as part of a small collection for £350.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Registers of Births & Marriages
Census 1891 and 1901
Robert Gordon’s College Roll of Honour
De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour
National Archives - War Office files AIR76/367/126 and WO339/112259; Air Ministry and Royal Air Force Records AIR27/669 (including photos of 80 Sqn. in 1918)
*W. R. Chorley: “Royal Air Force & Australian Flying Corps Squadron Losses 1 July – 11 November 1918” p.129 (Mention the War Ltd 2019)
Copy service record at findmypast
** London & China Telegraph 26 August 1918
Aberdeen Press & Journal 15 August 1918
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 16 August 1918
Passenger lists leaving UK 1890-1960 at findmypast
Christ Church Episcopal Church Kincardine O’Neil - eastmost window on the south side
www .spink.com/lot/903214 Medal for sale as part of a batch.
www.theaerodrome.com – quotes RAF Communiqué No.19: refers to a large number of combats on the battle front. “Lieut. T. S Nash, 80 Sqn., Fokker DVII crashed south of Morcourt at 10:15/11:15” and “Lieut. T. S. Nash (Wia; dow), 80 Sqn, Camel B5587 – crashed on offensive patrol Bray 10:15/11:15”
www.airhistory.org.uk – 10/5/18 – Sopwith B5587 damaged by enemy gunfire on offensive patrol to Somme; 8/8/18 – B5587 Sopwith Camel crashed on offensive patrol Bray.
Private H. Noble Gordon Hrs.
This is Hendry (with a ‘d’) Noble, born at *Drumlausie, Kincardine O’Neil, on 19 March 1895. His parents were David Noble, master millwright and engineer and a native of Midmar, and Elizabeth Hendry, born at Rayne. They married at Daviot in 1887 when both were living at Monymusk, and David was a journeyman millwright and Elizabeth a domestic servant. In 1901, at Drumlaussie, Hendry aged 6 had four brothers, two sisters, and a half-brother George Castle aged 8, who was a son of Elizabeth and stepson of David. In 1911 Hendry’s mother and siblings were registered at Drumlaussie, and it seems reasonably likely that he was the sixteen-year-old Henry (spelt without a “d”) employed as a cattleman on the farm next door at Smith’s Croft.
Hendry Noble resided in Aberdeen at the time of enlistment, in the last months of the war on 24 May 1918, in what became an amalgamated battalion of the 6th and 7th Gordon Highlanders (No. S/24067). In October 1918 the 6th/7th Gordons became part of the 152nd brigade of the 51st Highland Division. That month they were deployed in operations on the Western Front in the advance towards Valenciennes. The battalion War Diary gives considerable detail as to their movements.
Private Noble was killed in action on 25 October 1918 but the precise circumstances are unclear. The Aberdeen Evening Express, on the day of the Armistice 11 November 1918, added a little detail: “Killed in action by the concussion of a shell, on 30 October 1918 [actually 25 October], Private Hendry Noble…fourth son of Mr and Mrs Noble, Drumlassie, Torphins”. He is buried at Valenciennes (Saint-Roch) Communal Cemetery.
* The spelling of this place name is almost infinitely variable, and in this note the various spellings in the particular documentary sources are adhered to.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Register of Births
Census 1901 and 1911
National Archives– War Diary of the 6th/7th Gordon Highlanders WO95/2868/2
Aberdeen Evening Express - 11 November 1918
Aberdeen City Roll of Honour gives an address of 28 Maberly Street, Aberdeen
www.forces-war-records.co.uk/umits/254/gordon-highlanders
Private W. D. Peter Gordon Hrs
This is William Daun Peter, born at Kemnay on 18 April 1896, son of William Peter and Mary McDonald. William and Mary married at Aberdeen in 1895. William is described in the records as a quarry labourer and farm servant. Something evidently have caused an upturn in the family’s fortunes between the births of their first three children, Mary Ann, William and James (all born Kemnay), and the subsequent two – John and Margaret (both born Kincardine O’Neil). By the time of the 1911 Census, William senior was farming on his own account at Balmannocks, Torphins, and William junior was employed working on the farm. The birth records of the children suggest a move to the parish some time between about 1899 and 1905.
William Peter enlisted and became a Private in the 1st/5th Bn. Gordon Highlanders (no. 242229) who in the spring of 1917 were serving on the Western Front as a part of the 153rd infantry brigade. He died aged 20 on 19 March 1917, apparently as the result of an accident. The battalion war diary records:
19 March 1917 – ANZIN ROCLINCOURT FIRING LINE “The period was quiet. A good deal of improvement was made on the trenches by our men. One other rank was killed and two wounded by the accidental discharge of a rifle”.
It looks as though Private Peter may have been that “other rank” recorded in the diary. He was buried at Maroeuil British Cemetery.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Registers of Births and Marriages
Census 1911
National Archives – War Diary of the 1st/5th Gordons – WO95/2881/1
Lieut-Col. F. A. U. Pickering D.S.O. 2nd Dragoons
(by his great-nephew Andrew Bradford)
Frank Pickering was born on 2 August 1881 and was educated at Eton where he achieved both distinction at his sporting skills being both a cricketer and footballer as well as notoriety for his misdemeanours. On the walls of Kincardine hang, not one but, two birches which were used to beat him. Apparently the sum of half a guinea (10/6d) was added to the miscreant’s school bill on each occasion ‘for extra tuition’ – but there was the compensation of being allowed to keep the birch. They are rather dried up now but one needs little imagination to think how actively wielded freshly made birches must have hurt on a naked backside. What crime deserved such punishment? Rumour has it that it involved some boys from Eton’s rival school Harrow and some buckshot which somehow peppered their backsides.
Frank was commissioned into the Royal Scots Greys in 1901 and departed shortly afterwards for South Africa where he served in the Boer War winning the Queen’s Medal with four clasps for his services.
A tremendous welcome was prepared for him when he returned, wounded, to Kincardine in September 1903. An evergreen arch was formed over the entrance gates sporting the words ‘Welcome Home Again’ in flowers. At the gates there were speeches and cheers. The scholars presented an address to Mrs. Pickering congratulating her on her son’s safe return and thanking her for her support. The horses of the carriage were then unyoked and ropes attached and a procession formed and, with tenants, feuars and villagers pulling the carriage and the others following behind, everyone proceeded up the drive to Kincardine.
From 1907 to 1909 he was an extra ADC to the Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief in the Dominion of Canada. In 1910 he married Angela Sutton at a glittering London society wedding. They later had two sons.
During the Great War Frank saw service on the Western Front in 1914 and in Gallipoli during 1915-16 and on returning from that disastrous adventure took a safe staff job for a time. Safety and staff jobs were, however, not for him and he asked to return to the front line. In 1917 he was in action once more and survived the horrors of trench warfare during the spring and summer. By December he was an acting Lt. Colonel in command of a Service battalion of the Rifle Brigade having won a DSO earlier in the year. On 23rdDecember he and his Adjutant were approaching the front at Passchendaele Ridge near Ypres when they were both killed by a shell.
The temporary wooden cross from his grave in Belgium stands now in the chancel of the little Scottish Episcopal Christ Church in Kincardine O’Neil above a commemorative brass plaque. Frank’s two children survived without offspring.
Sources
This piece was contributed by Andrew Bradford, great-nephew of Frank Pickering
Available primary sources include:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission – buried White House Cemetery, St Jean-les-Ypres
England & Wales Free BMD index 1837-1915 (in Ancestry.com)
National Archives – Officer’s file WO 374/54022
The V.C and D.S.O. Book Vol III (Naval and Military Press)
Private J. Reid R.A.M.C.
John Henry Reid was born at Stranduff, on 23 October 1871, son of Peter Reid, agricultural labourer (born Crathie), and his wife Mary Davidson (born in Lumphanan). In 1881 the family lived at North Road, Kincardine O’Neil. Peter was employed as a gardener; the ten- year old John was at school and had three younger brothers, George 7, Alexander 4 and Robert 1, all born in Kincardine O’Neil.
After the outbreak of war, Reid served in the 13th Coy Royal Army Medical Corps. (Army no. 26951). He died on 30 January 1915 aged 43. These are the few verifiable hard facts about John Reid, but the local papers offer further interesting background and some insights into his personality.
The Aberdeen Journal of 2 February 1915 carried a report of the death in its obituary column:
“MR J REID STATIONMASTER BANKHEAD. Intimation was received on Saturday evening at Bankhead of the death at Cromarty of Mr John Reid, stationmaster, Bankhead, who was serving there as a member of the R.A.M.C. Home Hospitals Reserve.
Mr Reid, along with several members of the Aberdeen (G.N. of S. Railway) Section of the St Andrews Ambulance Association, volunteered for service with the Home Hospitals Reserve and, soon after the commencement of the war, was dispatched to Cromarty Hospital. About a week ago Mr Reid contracted a severe chill, pneumonia supervening, and as stated passed away on Saturday evening.
Mr Reid had been about 20 years in the service of the G.N.S. Railway Company and was appointed to the agency at Bankhead about 2 ½ years ago on the retirement of Mr Fraser.
During the short time he had been stationed there he had, by his kind and obliging disposition and his unfailing courtesy, gained the esteem and confidence of the public using the station and he was a general favourite with his fellow-employees.
Mr Reid is survived by his widowed mother, a sister, and three brothers, one of whom is Sergeant William Reid, of the County Constabulary, Aberdeen, and another a guard in the company’s service at Elgin. Mr Reid’s death at a comparatively early age is deeply regretted by all, and the utmost sympathy is extended to his relatives in their bereavement”.
A few days later, on 5 February 2015, the Aberdeen Evening Express added some further detail, under the surprising heading “SUBURBAN GOSSIP” (reporting inter alia on a recent victory of the Mugiemoss Football Club, and the doings of the Stoneywood Whist Club:
“Profound regret was caused by the announcement that Mr John Reid, station agent, Bankhead, had died in the Military Hospital, Cromarty, on Saturday. Mr Reid was for several years signalman at Cults Station where he gained many friends. A more amiable and obliging servant the railway company did not possess, and when Mr Reid was transferred from Cults to Bankhead he received many assurances of the cordial esteem of the community. With characteristic public spirit and self-abnegation Mr Reid had, since the outbreak of the war, devoted himself to the service of his country”.
The Aberdeen Journal on 5 February also reported on Private Reid’s funeral which took place in Kincardine O’Neil, where his elderly widowed mother still lived at Cochran:
“The coffin, covered with the Union Jack, was borne from the church to the churchyard by colleagues of the railway service and friends of younger days. The Rev. Gavin E. Argo conducted the service in the church and at the grave.”
Private Reid is buried at Kincardine O’Neil old churchyard and commemorated on a fine granite tombstone in the south west corner. He is also listed on the memorial to railway employees at Aberdeen station.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commmission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Register of Births
1881 Census [Mysteriously seems impossible to find this person in any census after 1881 despite much searching]
1911 Census [Widowed Mary Reid aged 78 and two other women aged 81 and 76 all living in separate accommodation described as First Floor and Second Floor, Cochrane Village. OAPs with Private Means].
Aberdeen Railway Station Memorial
Aberdeen Journal 2 & 5 February 1915
Aberdeen Evening Express 5 February 1915
Private E. G. Ritchie Royal Hrs.
Eric Gordon Ritchie was born on Christmas Day 1898 at Craigour Road, Torphins, and appears in the 1901 census aged 2, the youngest of a family of six children – five boys and a girl ranged in age between 16 and 2. In 1901 they were living with their blacksmith father William and mother Mary at Boothnagowan, Torphins. William himself was born in the parish of Kincardine O’Neil and Mary in Fintry; the first three children were born in the next door parish of Birse and the final three in Kincardine O’Neil. Mrs Ritchie later had an address at East Wellgrove, Aboyne.
Eric Ritchie became a Private in the 8th Bn Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) (no. S23113, formerly no. 2352 of the 38th Territorial Reserve Battn). This renumbering indicates that he was initially recruited into a reserve battalion for basic training before posting to an active service unit. His brother Cecil (five years older) followed in his father’s footsteps and became a blacksmith. Possibly, on that account, he was granted temporary exemptions from service by the Deeside Military Tribunal sitting in Aboyne, until at least 28 November 1917. In April 1918, another brother Conrad, eleven years older than Eric and a Corporal in the Gordon Highlanders, was reported to be wounded in the right arm and in hospital in Chichester.
Five months later, on 1 October 1918, Private Ritchie was killed in action, aged 19 years and 9 months, in the course of an eastwards advance on enemy positions through the villages of Rolleghem-Capelle, Winkel, St Eloi, St Catherine’s cross roads and Harlebeke, as part of an attack on Passchendaele Ridge. This attempted advance on the morning of 1 October included Ritchie’s Battalion as part of the 26th Brigade of the 9th(Scottish) Division. Early progress was met with a heavy counter-attack and severe losses including, it would seem, Private Eric Ritchie. He is buried or commemorated at Dadizeele New British Cemetery.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission (including re fighting around Dadizeele)
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Register of Births
Census 1901
National Archives – War Diary of the 8th Black Watch WO95 – 1766/3-4
Aberdeen Journal 21 March 1917 – report of tribunal temporary exemption to “C G Ritchie”
Aberdeen Journal 18 June 1917 – “C J Ritchie” Blacksmith Boothnagowan given temporary exemption from service to 28 November 1917
Aberdeen Press & Journal 4 April 1918
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 12 April 1918
Private J. S. Robertson Gordon Hrs.
Private James Smith Robertson was a son of William Robertson and Barbara Maria Smith. William was born in Banchory Ternan and Barbara came originally from Echt. They married at Kincardine O’Neil in 1894. Their son James was born on 26 April 1895 at Pitcullen, Kincardine O’Neil, fifteen minutes before a twin brother, William. William (senior) worked at various times as a farm servant/labourer, ploughman at Milton of Learney and gardener. On census night in 1901, he was at Milton of Learney, and Barbara with the twins aged 5, sister Margaret (one year older) and their one-year-old brother Joseph were at Kirkbrae. Ten years later they were united under the same roof at Cothill (Craigmyle) and, after 1911, had an address at the Morrice School in Kincardine O’Neil village.
James Robertson enlisted at Aberdeen in the 1st Battalion Gordon Highlanders (S/13467). This was a battalion of the regular army, who were among the first to deploy in France, landing at Boulogne on 14 August 1914. Whether this soldier was already serving at that time we do not know. Certainly, he was in the ranks by 1916.
The battle of the Somme commenced on 1 July 1916 and continued to November when weather made it impossible for the fighting to continue. On 18 July the 3rd Division, of which the 1st Gordons formed part, had the task of recapturing those parts of Delville Wood from which the enemy had not been driven in the course of fierce combat in the preceding few days. Robertson’s battalion were ordered to make an assault on the village of Longueval, on the south-western edge of the wood.
On 15 July they moved to “Caterpillar Valley” in readiness for an attack planned for 18 July. On the early morning of 18 July, the battalion moved forward at 2am and an assault took place at 3.45am. They were successful in taking the village, but strong points north of Delville Wood remained in enemy hands, and the ground they gained had to be given up in the face of a fierce artillery bombardment. At about 4.20pm they were forced to evacuate all but the southerly points of the village. This was followed by seven hours of intense continued bombardment followed by a strong and determined counter-attack. There were
very heavy losses – “4 officers killed, 7 wounded, 321 ORs killed wounded or missing”.
Private Robertson was killed on 18 July 1916 in the course of the assault on Longueval. He is commemorated on the memorial at Thiepval.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Registers of Births and Marriages
Census 1901 and 1911
National Archives – War Diary of the 1st Gordons WO95-1435-1 (contains a detailed typed account of the action as well as the daily diary entry)
www.westernfrontassociation.com
www.thegordonhighlanders.co.uk/Pages/Diary.htm[hash]1916Jul
Terry Norman: “This is the Hell they call High Wood”.
Sergt. W. Robertson Gordon Hrs.
William Robertson was born on 14 August 1894 at Kildour, Glen Tanar, son of Robert Robertson, Joiner, and Annie Garden. His father later lived at Sunningdale, Torphins. He may be the William Robertson who appears in the census as an apprentice carpenter at nearby Glenmuick in 1911.
This soldier served in the 1/7th Bn of the Gordons (no 564). He must have joined up voluntarily, as it was reported in the Scotsman on 11 June 1915 (pre-conscription) that he had been wounded in the arm by a German sniper and was in hospital in France. The same article referred to Sergt. Robertson’s father as “Quartermaster-Sergeant Robertson retired”. A further, less informative notice appeared in the Scotsman on 30 May 1916, indicating that he was again on the wounded list.
As his records have been destroyed, it is impossible to tell when William Robertson returned to active service, but it seems that he recovered in time to be wounded again, as the Press & Journal on 24 November 1916 reported: “News has been received by Mr Robertson, carpenter and joiner, Torphins, that his son Sergt. William Robertson, Gordon Highlanders, has received a bullet wound in the left hip. Sergt. Robertson, who is 22 years of age, was working as a joiner with his father at mobilisation, and has two brothers in the army”. It is possible, but again impossible to be sure, that he was wounded in the course of the 1/7th Gordons’ activities in the final days of the Battle of the Somme which came to an end on 18 November 1916. The Aberdeen Weekly Journal of 19 January 1917 carried the report that he had died in hospital as a result of wounds on 11 January 1917 aged 22.
Sergt. Robertson is commemorated twice at Torphins burial ground (A275 on North boundary) - by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and on the family tombstone.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Identity uncertain in censuses of 1901 and 1911
Scotsman – 11 June 1915 and 30 May 1916.
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 19 January 1917
Family and CWGC tombstones
Capt. A.W. Robertson-Glasgow Garhwal Rifles
Archibald William Robertson-Glasgow, born 24 May 1880, was a son of Robert Bruce Robertson-Glasgow of Montgreenan, Ayrshire, and Deborah Louisa Grace Purdon whose family came from Co. Clare. The family had a strong connection with the parish, as Archibald’s older brother, Robert Purdon Robertson-Glasgow, for a number of years, owned the house and estate of Craigmyle, Torphins and was much involved in local affairs. He sold Craigmyle in 1911 to Lord Shaw of Dunfermline (see note on Capt. R. H. Vaughan Thompson below).
Archie Robertson-Glasgow was educated at Wellington House School, Westgate-on-Sea, Marlborough College and Sandhurst, becoming a career soldier in the Indian army. He assumed his first command in 1899, served in the Somaliland campaign against the Ogaden Somalis in Jubaland in 1901, and was promoted to Captain in 1908.
He was a brother-in-law of Lieut. L.H.V. Fraser, having married Fraser’s sister Violet on 19 January 1911 at St Peter, Cranley Gardens, Kensington. Violet’s full name was Philadelphia Constance Violet Flora Macdonald Fraser, and she was the eldest daughter of Major Fraser of Tornaveen. The Robertson-Glasgows and Frasers were already related by marriage.
At the time war was declared, Robertson-Glasgow was a Captain in the 2nd Battalion 39th Garhwal Rifles. He left India for France with his regiment, as part of the 7th Meerut Division, on 21 September 1914. On arrival in France he served initially as Railway Transport Officer before rejoining his regiment in November 1914. It was to be a very brief re-union. On the night of 13 November 1914 Capt. Robertson-Glasgow went missing. At that point in time, the 39th were on their sixteenth day in the trenches near Béthune, conducting periodic assaults on enemy lines. The battalion War Diary gives an account of the last few days of Robertson-Glasgow’s life and the circumstances of his disappearance.
Four days earlier, an evening raid on the enemy’s near trench resulted in the capture of some prisoners, but it was necessary to withdraw in the face of heavy fire. In the ensuing few days of mutual sniping and shelling, plans were laid for a renewed attack. At 9pm on 13 November, 300 men, including 250 of the 2/3 Garhwal Rifles, and 50 of the 39th led by Major Taylor, made a second attempt. They were met by heavy firing, and while a few reached the objective, there were heavy casualties. Several wounded men returned to the trenches but were unable to give an account of what was happening in front. There was no news as to what had become of Major Taylor and his men. The raid provoked fierce musketry fire from the other side.
It was decided to send out a further 22 men with Capt. Robertson-Glasgow to try and reach the other side, and at the same time ascertain what had happened to Major Taylor and his party. The advance was particularly difficult as it was made under the glare of enemy searchlights and a hail of artillery fire. Nothing further being heard of this second attempt on the enemy trenches, scouts were sent out to try and find out what had happened to both Major Taylor and Capt. Robertson-Glasgow, but they were unable to get very far. Following further attempts to advance in these difficult conditions, the assault was given up, and it was decided to leave the wounded till the morning in the hope that they could be recovered under the protection of the Red Cross.
Robertson-Glasgow lost his life in this raid, though his body was not recovered the following day, perhaps because he was too close to the enemy lines. According to his Colonel: “ He had charged right up most valiantly to the enemy’s trench and in a yard or two more would have been in it…”.
A fellow officer also recorded: “I spent a good time on the afternoon of that disastrous night attack with him. He was as cheery as ever, and told me all about the exciting time he had digging out some men who had been buried by the exploding of a heavy German shell. The trench was knocked in and cover practically nil, so the operation had to be carried out in full view of the Germans, who put a lot of shrapnel over him and his men”.
On Christmas Day 1914, the War Diary contained a surprising entry:
“About 3 o’clock the Germans, who since the morning had been shouting and singing in their trenches, made signs to our trenches that they wished to communicate with us, and eventually they began to climb out of their trenches. We did the same, as did also the regiments on our right and left. Both sides fraternised for about an hour, several Germans coming over to our trench and talking and conversing by signs with officers and men. They gave our men tobacco, cigarettes and newspapers, and for about an hour both sides walked about freely outside their trenches and in the open space between the lines.
Opportunity was taken to search for the bodies of the officers and men who were missing after the night attack on the enemy’s trenches on the night of the 13th November. Captain Burton found Captain Robertson-Glasgow’s body lying on the parapet of the enemy’s trench…
About 3.45pm both sides retired again to their trenches, but little or no firing took place for the rest of the day….
Orders received during the evening that such mutual armistices were not to take place in future”.
Archie Robertson-Glasgow was 34. He left not only a widow, but also a baby son, Archibald Francis Colin, born 31 July 1914. He is buried at Le Touret Military Cemetery, Richebourg-L’Avoué.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
London Marriages and Banns 1754-1921
Thepeerage.com
De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour (with photo)
Indian Army Quarterly list for 1 January 1912
[India Office file containing service record - L/MIL/14 British Library – on enquiring in 2019, informed this file is in Calcutta]
National Archives - medal card ref WO372/28/1969; War Office file on Lieut. L.H.V. Fraser - WO339/11152
“The Bond of Sacrifice: A biographical record of all British officers who fell in the Great War” (with photo) per www.findmypast.co.uk
London Gazette 25 January 1899, 17 July 1900, 23 August 1901, 24 April 1908
Aberdeen Press & Journal 20 and 21 January 1911 detailed account of wedding and celebrations at Torphins
The Queen – 28 January 2011 – wedding with pictures
Also commemorated on memorials at Wellington House School, Westgate-on-sea, Kent, Cotton House, Marlborough, St John the Baptist Church, Hinton Charterhouse, Bath.
Lieut. J. B. Smith Gordon Hrs.
James Bowman Smith was born at Drumduan, Dess, on 6 August 1896. His regiment was the Scottish Rifles, not the Gordon Highlanders. His grandfather John Smith farmed at Drumduan. On census night in 1901, James aged four was there in his widowed grandfather’s household with his mother Robina. Robina married Duncan Fowler at Lumphanan in 1905. In 1911 James was living with his mother and stepfather and a half-sister Catherine aged 5 at Birley Farm, Kincardine O’Neil. He went to school in Torphins, then Aboyne Higher Grade School, and from 1911 to 1914 was a pupil at Robert Gordon’s College in Aberdeen. In the year war broke out, having won a bursary in the Aberdeen University Bursary Competition, he began studies in Arts and Science at the University of Aberdeen which he was never to complete. Smiths are by their nature hard to identify definitively, but a James B. Smith featured in newspaper reports of University exam results in English and Mathematics in 1914 and 1915, and was runner-up for an English Essay prize in 1915.
When James Smith volunteered in November 1915, his file suggests he had had an address at 509 King Street, Aberdeen - time-honoured territory for Aberdeen student lodgings. He was appointed in May 1916 first to the 3rd then to the 14th (Service) Bn. Scottish Rifles (service no. 19314) and sent to join the British Expeditionary Force in France on 23 July 1916. In June of 1917, by which time he had attained the rank of Lance Corporal, he returned home to join an officer cadet unit, having applied successfully to be trained for a temporary commission. In this process Smith’s former headmaster at Aboyne, Mr Cruickshank, provided a favourable character reference. The family was by then living at Clashnadarroch, Birse.
Smith was in due course appointed 2nd Lieutenant in the 1st Battalion Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry, following further training. He returned to France in April 1918. In the final week of June 1918, the battalion was near Merville, and preparing for an attack on enemy lines. In the early morning of a “fine day” on 28 June, they were successful in attacking and capturing the enemy’s system of trenches. The attack seemed to take the enemy by surprise, and it met with very little opposition. The battalion captured one German officer and 32 other ranks, as well as a significant haul of weaponry. Two officers were killed and six others wounded. Overall, the battalion lost 40% of its strength, but most were wounded rather than killed. The day was regarded as a “brilliant success”.
However, it was also a day on which 2nd Lieut. Smith was killed in action – he being one of the two officers killed. A telegram was sent to Mrs Fowler at Clashnadarroch : “Deeply regret 2/Lt J.B. Smith D.C.L.I. Killed in Action June twenty-eighth Army Council Expresses Sympathy”.
The battalion War Diary records the bare fact, but the Aberdeen Weekly Journal, possibly drawing upon a letter to his family at that time, noted that Lieut. Smith and his company captured an important position near Merville, but while he was trying to reach an isolated outpost, a German machine gun opened fire and he was instantly killed. “He was 22 years of age [in fact 21] and was highly esteemed by all who knew him on account of his modest and unselfish nature.”
His place of burial is not known but he is commemorated on the Arras Memorial. A will made in July 1916 left everything to his half-sister Cathie. There is a photograph of him in uniform in the Robert Gordon’s Roll of Honour, looking serious, intelligent, and very young.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Register of Births
Census 1901 and 1911
National Archives – Service record WO374/63544 [NB this is unhelpfully, as at January 2022, archived under the Christian name Bowman and surname Smith. Correction has been suggested to the NA database]; War Diary of the 1st Battalion Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry WO95-1578/1
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 7 March 1919
Aberdeen Evening Express 4 July 1918
University of Aberdeen Roll of Honour
Robert Gordon’s College Roll of Honour p270 www.rgc.aberdeen.sch.uk – includes photo
British Newspaper Archive at www.findmypast.co.uk
Private J. H. Smith Gordon Hrs.
James Hay Smith was born at Heugh, Logie-Coldstone on 16 October 1889, which is also where his mother Elspet (known in the family as Elsie) was also born in 1863 and married in 1886. Elsie was the daughter of James Hay, a Farm Overseer at the time of her marriage. In 1891, Elsie and her husband James Smith, daughters Elsie aged 4 and Jeannie aged 3, and their youngest, James, were recorded living at Heugh Head with Elsie’s father James Hay, who by this time is described as a farmer in his own right. Ten years later, in 1901, James Smith had the farm of Dubbieford, Craiglash, Kincardine O’Neil. The family were still at Craiglash in 1911, where James and his younger brother Walter were both employed on the farm as horsemen.
The 1911 census is interesting on the family generally, as it notes that Elsie had in total 12 children of whom, happily, 12 were still living. These were Elsie born in 1887, Jane (known as Jeannie) 1888, James Hay 1889, Walter 1891, John 1893, George Cran 1894, Gordon 1897, Isabella 1898, Helen 1900, Hector Macdonald and Victor McNaughton (twins) in 1902 and finally Donald Dinnie in 1904 (they were related to Donald Dinnie, famous local strongman and athlete, through James Smith’s mother who was a Dinnie). Astonishingly, Elsie, despite her twelve children, worked as a teacher, at Dinnet, Logie Coldstone and Torphins.
James enlisted at Banchory in the 1st/7th (Deeside) Battalion Gordon Highlanders (No.3756). His battalion, as part of the 153rd Brigade of the 51st (Highland) Division, were deployed in the Battle of the Somme in July to 18 November 1916, in November of that year in fighting on the river Ancre, and in actions at Beaucourt and Beaumont Hamel, in which the 7th Gordons and the 6th Black Watch were successful in breaching the German front line following fierce fighting.
It is impossible to know without further information what part precisely Private James Smith played in this action. What we do know is that he was hospitalised in November 1916 suffering from Trench Fever, but was discharged after 28 days on 2 December 1916. He died of wounds at a casualty clearing station in France at the age of 27 on 8 January 1917.
A report in the Aberdeen Weekly Journal on 19 January 1917 noted that prior to joining the army Private Smith was engaged in the sheep trade, and that he had joined the Gordons in July 1915. He is commemorated at Contay British Cemetery. His brothers George and Gordon also served in the war, but survived it.
[I acknowledge with thanks the input of the late Mrs Irene Crawford, daughter of Victor, and niece of James Hay in compiling this information about her uncle.]
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Registers of births and marriages
Census 1891-1911
National Archives - War Diary of the 1st/7th Gordon Highlanders WO95-2882/1
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 19 January 1917
Aberdeen Press & Journal 27 January 1917
Aberdeen Evening Express 27 January 1917
Private A. Strachan Gordon Hrs
Regrettably this soldier has not so far been identified.
Private A. Stuart R.A.S.C.
This soldier has proved a little difficult to identify, but is almost certainly Private Alexander Stuart of the 6th Bn. Gordon Highlanders (though quite possibly also of the Royal Army Service Corps). He was born on 16 August 1893, son of Agnes Stuart, Domestic Servant, at Netherhill, Tough. Agnes was born in Kincardine O’Neil. By 1901 she had married John McIntosh, a native of Leochel Cushnie, and the extended family were living at Little Ennochie, Birse, where John was employed as a Farm Servant. Their household included Alexander aged 7, with his nine-year-old sister Marjorie and baby half-brother James.
Alexander married Mary Hay from Inverurie in the Church of Scotland manse at Inverurie on 17 November 1914. His address at the time was Gilmour Cottage, Kincardine O’Neil, and his stated occupation was “Soldier”. He has not been identified in the 1911 census which might have given a clue as to his pre-war occupation. He had enlisted at Alford, most likely some time between 1908 and 1914, in the 6th (Banff & Donside) Bn. Gordon Highlanders (no. 1389) who were a Territorial Force Battalion. In 1914, soldiers in territorial units could not be compelled to service overseas, but many volunteered and Stuart was one such volunteer. Possibly significantly, “E” Company of the 6th Gordons was based at Inverurie with drill stations at Pitcaple.
From 26 July 1916, the battalion were camped out at Mametz Wood, as part of the 152nd Brigade and 51st (Highland) Division, in readiness to support an assault on High Wood which was launched on 30 July 1916. This turned out to be a very costly exercise in the face of ferocious opposition, in the early weeks of the Somme Offensive. Stuart was killed in action on Sunday 30 July 1916. He is buried/commemorated at Dartmoor Cemetery, Becordel-Becourt. His memorial stone bears the words: “Christ shall clasp the broken chain closer when we meet again”.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Census 1901
Registers of Births & Marriages
National Archives – War Diary of the 6th Gordons WO95/2868
Longlongtrail.co.uk
Online sources re 6th Gordons
Corpl. G. H. Taylor H. L. I.
L/Corpl. H.C. Taylor Gordon Hrs.
Private A. Taylor Gordon Hrs.
Private J. M. Taylor N. Z. Ex. Force
These four brothers died in consecutive years of the war from 1916 to 1919.
The Taylor Family
On 8 December 1882, at Kincardine O’Neil, Francis Taylor from St Fergus married Mary Smith, a native of the parish. The Taylors lived for a time at Beltie Terrace, Torphins, and were there at the time of the census in 1901. At some point between 1902 and 1904 their home became the Toll House in Kincardine O’Neil, and they lived there through the years of the First World War. Later they moved to Norton Cottage, also in Kincardine O’Neil. Francis was employed as a labourer and a gardener at Kincardine, then Norton House, and became caretaker of Christ Church Episcopal church at the west end of the village.
Francis and Mary had fourteen children in all, and lived into the 1930s. They kept bees, and competed with some success in the Kincardine O’Neil Annual Bulb Show – an event which inspired intensive and detailed reporting in the local press. In 1910 the Taylor family were no doubt disappointed to take second place to Mr Nicoll of Stranduff Cottage in the Kincardine O’Neil Window Flower Box Competition. Thanks to the Aberdeen Journal we know that Mrs Taylor donated eggs and jam to the Aboyne Castle Hospital in September 1916.
A tall granite tombstone, to the west of the west gable of the ruined old kirk in Kincardine O’Neil, also records some of the history of the family. Francis and Mary outlived six of their children: William who died in his sixth year in 1898 after two days of bronchitis, Gordon their second youngest, who only survived to the age of two in 1906 and, in consecutive years from 1916 onwards, four sons - George, Herbert, Alexander and James - who died in the course of military service. Their stories are set out below in the date order in which they died.
Corpl. G. H. Taylor
George Hunter Taylor was born on 17 July 1890 at Torphins. He looks likely to have been named after George Hunter, who was one of the witnesses of Francis and Mary’s marriage in 1882.
He was living at Coull when he enlisted at Aberdeen. He joined the 13th (Service) Battalion of the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), who in early 1916 became absorbed into the 14th (Service) Battalion of the Highland Light Infantry in which George held the rank of Corporal. Both were so-called “Bantam Battalions”, formed to meet a demand for enlistment by men who had been rejected as failing to meet the army’s standard height qualification of five feet three inches.
In May 1916 the 14th HLI were stationed at Blackdown in Hampshire, destined for France in June. On 19 May, by special licence at Aberdeen, George married Jessie Williams Emslie Milne from Coull, the bride’s father being at that time a Private in the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders. The marriage was to be an extremely short one.
On 6 September 1916 the Aberdeen Press & Journal reported that Mrs Taylor had received information that her husband had been missing since a raid on the enemy’s trenches. It seems he was killed or fatally wounded on the night of 23 August 1916, the 14th Battalion having moved up to the front line at Calonne and Boyaux a few days previously.
The battalion war diary for the night of 22/23 August 1916 reveals that, that night, a raid took place on an enemy trench under the command of 2nd Lieuts. Carmichael and Stevenson. The raiding parties having been successful in entering the enemy trenches and surprising a small work party of German soldiers, these two officers returned briefly to their own lines, but shortly after set out again to look for six of the party who were still unaccounted for. It was noted that “after two repeat journeys they were all brought in with the exception of 1 N.C.O (missing)”. Possibly this was Corpl. Taylor.
He is buried at the Lens Eastern Communal Cemetery.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
National Archives – War Diary of the 14th HLI - WO95-2612
Aberdeen Evening Express 19 May 1916 - marriage
Aberdeen Journal 6 September 1916 and Aberdeen Weekly Journal 8 September 1916 - missing
Ray Westlake: Tracing British Battalions of the Somme [Pen & Sword Military 2009]
www.14hli.co.uk
www.1914-1919.net
L/Corpl. H.C. Taylor
In the late afternoon of 13 May 1897, Mary Taylor gave birth to twins. Herbert Charles was born at 5pm, ten minutes after his sister Maggie Ann Sim, later known as Maidie.
In the 1911 census Herbert was aged 13 and living at the Toll House with twin Maggie and three younger brothers.
Herbert enlisted at Banchory and served in the 7th (Deeside Highland) Battalion Gordon Highlanders. On 20 November 1917, the first day of the Battle of Cambrai, the 7th Gordons, as a part of the 51st Highland Division, were involved in the allied recapture of the village of Flesquières. They were to follow behind a somewhat experimental and, as it turned out, problematic advance movement of tanks which it was intended would breach German defences over an extended length of the Hindenburg Line, intercepting communications with the coast, forcing a German retreat and enabling the allies to retake Cambrai. There were heavy casualties.
Herbert Taylor was killed in action that day at the age of 20. Flesquières was captured on the night of 20/21 November, and held in the face of a determined counter-offensive, which in due course however forced an allied retreat over some of the ground gained in the first days of the battle.
The Aberdeen Weekly Journal of 7 December 1917 reported:
“Information has been received by Mr and Mrs Francis Taylor, The Tollhouse, Kincardine O’Neil, that their son, Lance-Corporal Herbert C. Taylor, Gordon Highlanders, has been killed. Corporal Taylor has been on active service for more than two years. His brother, Corporal George Taylor, was reported as having died of wounds in Germany, in September of last year”.
He is buried at Orival Wood Cemetery, Flesquières.
Sources
National Archives – War Diary of the 1/7th Gordon Highlanders WO95-2882/1
Aberdeen Press & Journal 3 December 1917
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 7 December 1917 – Roll of Honour and short article under “District Casualties”.
Cyril Falls: The Gordon Highlanders in the First World War 1914-1919 - The Life of a Regiment Vol. IV pp165-170.
Online sources re Battle of Cambrai
Private A. Taylor
Alexander Taylor was born on 20 March 1895 at Torphins. In the census of 1911, he may be the sixteen-year-old Alexander Taylor who was working as a cattleman on the farm of Strathweltie at Coull, as he gave his residence as Tarland on enlistment.
Alexander became a Private in the 1st Battalion Gordon Highlanders. He was killed in action, at the age of 23, on 29 August 1918 on the Western Front. At that time the 1st Battalion were participating in the final allied push against a gradually weakening German defensive line culminating in the Armistice in November. The battalion war diary notes that on 26 August the 1st Gordons moved to trenches in front of Hamlincourt. On 27 August there was intermittent shelling. On the night of 28 August they moved forward from the trenches in front of Hamlincourt, and relieved the 2nd Grenadiers in the front line south-west of Écoust.
On 29 August it was noted: “Battn. pushed out patrols out to keep in touch with the enemy, one platoon of the Left Coy advanced too far and was practically wiped out by MG fire from the flank”. It may be (though it is impossible to be sure without more precise information) that Alexander was a victim of that attack. He is buried or commemorated at the H.A.C. Cemetery, Écoust-St.Mein.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
1911 census– uncertain identification
National Archives – War Diary of the 1st Bn Gordon Highlanders WO95-1435-3
www.thegordonhighlanders.co.uk
Cyril Falls: The Gordon Highlanders in the First World War 1914-1919 - The Life of a Regiment Vol. IV pp222ff.
Private J. M. Taylor
James Melvin Taylor was born on 19 July 1888 at Beltie. In 1911 he was in employment as a chauffeur, living in Aberdeen with his sister Jessie and her Police Constable husband James Lobban. By 1913 he was resident chauffeur at Parkhill House, Dyce. That year, at Aberdeen, he married Elizabeth (Bessie) Adams Main who, like Jessie, was a dressmaker. Daughters Agnes Cumming and Helen Isobel were born to James and Bessie in 1913 and 1914.
Having no doubt acquired some skill with the new-fangled motor car, James Taylor was recruited to the Army Service Corps and was, at least latterly, attached to the New Zealand Motor Transport Division. It must have come as a relief to the family when he survived the Armistice in 1918. Sadly, however, while awaiting demobilisation, he died of influenza and pneumonia, at No. 44 Casualty Clearing Station in Cologne on 14 February 1919 aged 30 – probably a victim of the “Spanish” flu which in the end claimed several times as many lives as the war itself. He is buried at Cologne Southern Cemetery. Bessie remarried (a blacksmith named Robert Reid) in 1922. Private Taylor is also commemorated on the War Memorial at Dyce.
Sources
Registers of Births and Marriages
Census 1911
Aberdeen Journal 26 February 1919 – “Private James M. Taylor, New Zealand Motor Transport Division, who died of pneumonia at a military hospital in France, was a son of Mr and Mrs Francis Taylor, Tollhouse, Kincardine O’Neil, who have now lost four sons in the service of their country. Private Taylor leaves a widow and two children, and before enlisting he was chauffeur at Parkhill House, Dyce”.
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 28 February 1919 - Roll of Honour – Taylor – At a military hospital in France (of pneumonia), Pte. James Melvin Taylor, aged 32, New Zealand Motor Transport Division, third son of Francis and Mrs Taylor, Tollhouse, Kincardine O’Neil, and husband of Mrs Taylor, Viewfield, Dyce – deeply regretted.
Immediately below is printed what may be a corrected version:
At No. 44 C.C.S. Cologne, Germany (of influenza and pneumonia) Private James M. Taylor A.S.C. (M.T.) late of The Garage, Parkhill House, aged 30 years, third son of Mr and Mrs Francis Taylor, Toll House, Kincardine O’Neil, and dearly beloved husband of Bessie Main, Viewfield, Dyce, deeply mourned.
After the war
Mary Taylor died in January 1932, and Francis the following year on 10 November 1933 at Norton Cottage, aged 75. On 15 November 1933 the Aberdeen Journal printed a short piece about Francis, describing him as one of Kincardine O’Neil’s “oldest and most esteemed residents”. It noted that he had been an enthusiastic bowler and took a keen interest in the social club and that, each year, he made a wreath and laid it at the War Memorial.
Herbert’s twin sister Maidie became a nurse, and in 1932 she married a policeman named Alexander Gorrie. She outlived her twin by 75 years, and indeed outlived all her siblings, surviving to the age of 95 when she died, at Allachburn care home, Aboyne, in 1992.
Sources on the family
Registers of births and marriages
Census1891,1901 and 1911
KON old churchyard – family memorial at west side.
Newspaper sources on local KON news, including:
Aberdeen Journal 4 May 1908 – spring show
Aberdeen Journal 5 October 1910 – window boxes
Aberdeen Journal 20 April 1914- bulbs
Aberdeen Journal 20 September 1916 – donations to Aboyne Castle Hospital
Aberdeen Journal 15 November 1933 – obituary
Correspondence in 2015 with Kathleen Hawthorn, whose father was the youngest child of Francis and Mary. George, Herbert, Alexander and James were her uncles.
Gunner A. J. Thomson R.F.A.
This is likely to be Alexander John Thomson of the Royal Horse Artillery and Royal Field Artillery 113 Bde. (no. 192592). He was born at Glassel on 6 August 1896 to John and Mary Jane Thomson, who married at Fyvie in 1895 and farmed at Strath, Campfield, Glassel.
In 1901 he was the eldest of their three children, having a younger brother and sister. The 1911 census records him at age 14 working on the farm, now with three younger siblings. He gave his residence as Banchory when he joined up.
The Royal Horse Artillery provided artillery cover for the cavalry, using light mobile guns. The Royal Field Artillery provided artillery support for the infantry using medium calibre guns and howitzers drawn by horses. Their field of operations was necessarily close to the front line.
Gunner Thomson was 21 years of age when he died of wounds on 21 March 1918. Co-incidentally or not, this date marked the launch of the German Spring Offensive and the biggest artillery bombardment of the First World War. It seems a reasonable conjecture that he fell in the course of Allied resistance to the German advance at that time. He is buried/commemorated at Grevillers British cemetery.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Registers of births and marriages
Census 1901 and 1911
Online sources re Royal Horse Artillery and Royal Field Artillery
L/Corpl. J. Thomson Aus. Ex. Force
Lance Corporal John Thomson of the Australian Army Medical Corps 15th Field Ambulance (Service no.1273) was born at West Rumblie, Corse, Coull on 22 March 1883, son of John and Mary Ann Thomson, latterly of Daisy Cottage, Torphins. His father was born in Lumphanan and his mother in Logie Coldstone. In 1901 John, Mary, young John aged 18 and another five siblings, were living at John’s farm at West Rumblie.
By the time of the war, John Thomson was living in Australia. A file exists in the Australian National Archives, providing the sort of information that has mostly been lost for British soldiers when records were destroyed in 1940. These show that, when he joined up on 14 September 1914 at Blackboy Hill, West Australia, he was then unmarried, aged 31 and was a carpenter by trade, having served 5 years of an apprenticeship in Aberdeen. He stated that he had previous military experience in the Foot Guards in London and perhaps on that account was promoted to Lance Corporal on 4 December 1914.
Thomson’s record suggests he embarked from Australia shortly after enlistment. He proceeded to Gallipoli with the 2nd Australian Stationary Hospital, was transferred to the allied base at Mudros on Lemnos in August 1915, from there to Alexandria in January 1916, to Tel el Kebir in May, and back to Alexandria in August.
Having survived Gallipoli, the 15th Field Ambulance were then sent to the Western Front. From September of 1916, after a short time at a military camp at Parkhouse on Salisbury Plain, L/Corpl. Thomson served in France with the British Expeditionary Force, spending two periods of leave in England in the summer of 1917 and February 1918. In June 1917 he declined to make a will.
In March 1918, three weeks or so after his return from leave in February, while temporarily attached to the 58th Australian Infantry, he was killed in action aged 34 on 13 March 1918. The 58th, as part of the 15th Australian Brigade and the 5th Australian Division, had participated in the Battle of Paschendaele between July and November 1917. In March the following year, on the eve of the great German Spring Offensive, they were engaged in operations close to the Somme and Villers-Bretonneux.
The War Diary of the 15th Field Ambulance on 13 March 1918 notes: “Letter received from C.O. 58th Aust. Infantry Battalion advising that Lce. Cpl. J. THOMPSON [sic] Supernumerary to Establishment detached for duty with 58th Battalion as R.A.M.C. detail was killed in action during the afternoon”.
On the same date the diary of the 58th Australian Infantry records a day of heavy shelling and artillery exchanges, resulting in 3 killed and 2 wounded. L/Corpl. Thomson, is commemorated on the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux. His effects were posted to his mother at 691 George Street, Aberdeen.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
1901 Census
National Archives of Australia:
Service record 183813; War Diary of the 15th Field Ambulance AWM4 Subclass 26/58/23 March 1918; War Diary of the 58th Australian Infantry AWM4 23/75/26 March 1918.
Aberdeen City Roll of Honour – gives a date of death 12 March 1918. This is probably wrong in light of the diary entries. Two wounded were recorded on 12 March 1918 but no fatalities.
Private W. Thomson Gordon Hrs.
This is a common name, and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission record 11 instances of a Private W. Thomson (or Thompson) of the Gordon Highlanders who was killed in World War 1. It is not possible to be exactly sure who this is, but a likely match is William Simpson Thomson, born 21 April 1898 at Greenburn Cottage, Torphins, son of Alexander Smith Thomson, Quarry Labourer, and Annie Farquharson who had married at Birse. In 1901 the family were living in Torphins and William was the fifth of six siblings. By 1911 the Thomsons had moved to Hawthorn Cottage and he was attending school.
William Thomson enlisted at Aberdeen in June 1915 (no. 3963) in the 3/4th battalion Gordon Highlanders, a territorial battalion formed in February that year. He must have seen very little of the war before being killed in action only weeks later on the first day of the Battle of Loos, 25 September 1915.
On 24 September the 4th battalion was entrenched in Sanctuary Wood, preparing to participate in a major offensive commencing in the early hours of the following morning. Following coffee at 1.30am, the men moved into position and a preparatory bombardment began at 4.05am. After some initial success in penetrating the German front line, it proved impossible to retain control of the ground that had been gained. Heavy artillery fire intercepted the supply of ammunition and bombs, and the battalion was forced to withdraw to the position from which it had set out. Casualties were heavy, and William Thomson, aged 17, appears to have been one of them.
The Aberdeen Evening Express, on 1 November 1915, reported under the heading “Glassel Man Missing” – “Official intimation has been received by Mr and Mrs Alexander Thomson, Woodbank Cottage, Glassel, that their son, William S. Thomson, 4th Gordon Highlanders, has been missing since 25th September. Private Thomson joined the 3/4th Gordons early in June, and left for France a few months later. Prior to enlistment he was employed at Mrs Duncan’s sawmills, Inchmarlo, near Banchory”.
According to a report in the Aberdeen Daily Journal on 2 November 1915, Private Thomson’s father had by then moved into the slightly gentler employment of gardener at Glassel House and Learney, and was now living at Woodbine* Cottage, Glassel.
He is commemorated at the Menin Gate, Ypres.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Register of Births
Census 1901 and 1911
Aberdeen Evening Express 1 November 1915
Aberdeen Daily Journal 2 November 1915
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 5 November 1915
Aberdeen Evening Express 29 November 1916 – timing unexplained
*Woodbine is probably correct, not Woodbank.
Corpl. A. Turner Cameron Hrs.
This is probably Corporal Alfred William Turner of the 6th Bn. Cameron Highlanders (Service no. 3/6317). If so he was born in the district of Bow/Poplar in Greater London in 1874. He resided at Edmonton in Middlesex when he enlisted at Aldershot. His connection with Kincardine O’Neil is that he was Butler at Dess when, in 1911, the Census picked him up there, presiding over a staff of footman, cook, lady’s maid, two kitchen maids and two housemaids. He was 37 in 1911 and about 41 when he was killed in action on Sunday 26 September 1915, the second day of the Battle of Loos. Army records suggest he was then a Lance Corporal, and acting Corporal at the time. He must have volunteered, despite his mature age, as conscription was not introduced until 1916.
The 6th Camerons were raised at Inverness in September 1914 as part of Kitchener’s Second New Army. They became a part of the 45th Brigade in the 15th (Scottish) Division. The battalion proceeded to France in July 1915, after a period of training in the south of England, and were involved in the Battle of Loos which began on 25 September 1915 and continued to 19 October.
Corpl. Turner died on the second day of the battle. Following an artillery bombardment, hostilities began with the release by the British of 140 tons of chlorine gas on 25 September, which at various points along the line blew back because of a change of wind direction. This was the first use of gas on the Allied side though it had been deployed by the Germans at Ypres in April of the same year. Despite this, progress was made on the first day, but on the second (the day of Turner’s death), German reinforcements arrived and thousands of men died under enemy machine gun fire. According to the War Diary the 6th battalion suffered huge losses on this day.
Corpl. Turner is commemorated on the Loos Memorial along with 20,647 others.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
1911 Census
www.findmypast.co.uk
National Archives – War Diary of the 6th Bn Cameron Highlanders WO95-1945_1
Online sources re Battle of Loos
Capt. R. H. Vaughan Thompson Royal Fus.
Richard Henry Vaughan Thompson, born 20 October 1883, was the only son of Col. Edward Vaughan Thompson and Emily Charlotte Vaughan Thompson (née Beachcroft) of East Sheen. Col. Vaughan Thompson was a colonel in the 3rd Volunteer Battalion East Surrey Regiment and for a time, pre-war, young Richard served as a volunteer in his father’s regiment. However, his connection with the parish of Kincardine O’Neil was through his father-in-law Lord Shaw of Dunfermline, Liberal Member of Parliament for Hawick, and eminent lawyer and judge, who became a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary in 1909, purchased the estate of Craigmyle in 1911 and was created a life peer in 1929, taking the title 1st Baron Craigmyle.
He was educated at Somerfields, Oxford and, from 1897-1902, Winchester College, where he was a rower and runner and participated in the Rifle Corps. In 1902 he went up to Oxford and graduated with an Honours degree in Jurisprudence from Trinity College in 1905. He was an only son, but had a sister, Dorothy Mary, who married a Derbyshire Vicar in 1910, when the family home was at Westhay, East Sheen. He practised as a solicitor in the family firm of Beachcroft, Thomson & Co. in Theobalds Road, London and was elected to Holborn Borough Council.
In the 1911 census, Richard Vaughan Thompson was with his widowed mother and three domestic servants at Sheen Wood, Christchurch Road, Mortlake. He gave the same address when, on 31 August 1914, he signed up to the Inns of Court Officers’ Training Corps at 10, Stone Buildings, Lincoln’s Inn, and applied for a temporary commission for the duration of the war. In December he was accorded the rank of Captain in the 11th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers.
The Aberdeen Press & Journal was among many newspapers which in January 1915 reported an engagement to The Hon. Isabel, youngest daughter of Lord and Lady Shaw, providing some family background: “Captain Thompson is the nephew and partner of Sir Richard Melvill Beachcroft, a well-known city solicitor, who was for years the leader of the Moderate party in the London County Council, and the chairman of that body…and grand-nephew of Dean Vaughan*, the eloquent preacher, who was for many years Master of the Temple”.
The young couple married, on 6 February 1915, at what the papers reported as a “quiet” wedding at South Kensington Presbyterian Church. The Scotsman gave a detailed account. The groom was dressed in khaki and his best man was a brother officer Captain Leslie Nash. It was a choral service. A violin concerto was played during the signing of the register. Afterwards there was a reception at 1 Palace Gate, the Shaw family London residence, before the newly-weds departed on a brief honeymoon, “the bride wearing a pale blue dress, with a long coat of natural musquash trimmed with skunk…”.
The Aberdeen Weekly Journal reported regularly on the new Mrs Vaughan Thomson’s doings in the county. In August 1915 she was at Craigmyle for the opening week of the grouse shooting, when the lessee of the Learney shootings received a telegram informing him of the death of his brother at the front, and there was also a report that Private David Milne of the 7th Battalion Gordon Highlanders, gardener at Tillydrine and bandmaster of the district brass band, had been wounded by shrapnel.
In January 1916, Mrs Vaughan Thompson received a telegram to the effect that her husband had been admitted to a Red Cross hospital in Rouen with fractured nasal bones. He was discharged after about two weeks, but on 1 October 1916 much worse news was conveyed in a telegram to 1, Palace Gate:
“Deeply regret to inform you that Capt. R. H. Vaughan Thompson 11 Royal Fusiliers is reported wounded believed killed Sep 26. The Army Council express their sympathy”.
A further telegram the following day confirmed that he had been killed in action.
On the reported day of his death the 11th were involved in the attack and capture of Thiepval, one of many notoriously costly episodes in the course of the Battle of the Somme. The battalion War Diary records that on the day in question Capt. Vaughan Thompson was in command of “D” Co. He was killed leading his men in an attack on a strong point in enemy Brawn Trench.
The telegrams were sent to Palace Gate, but in fact Mrs Vaughan Thomson was at Craigmyle, as appears from an article in the Aberdeen Journal on 7 October 1916 when it reported on the annual meeting of the County of Aberdeen Branch, British Red Cross Society, held in the ballroom of the Music Hall on Union Street, Aberdeen. Lord Shaw sent apologies for his absence, the chairman reading out a letter from him as follows:
“The War Office reports by telegram that my dear son-in-law, Captain Vaughan Thomson, is believed to have been killed in action on the 26th September. I accompany my stricken daughter to London. In the circumstances your committee will, I am sure, forgive my absence”.
The Holborn & Finsbury Guardian printed an obituary on 20 October 1916, noting among other things:
“He went to the front in July, 1915, and was in command of his company when he was killed, having previously taken part in several severe actions.
…The major of his battalion writes of him that he was killed ‘while most gallantly leading his company against one of the strongest positions, and I feel I have lost not only, most probably, the finest officer of my battalion, but also a true friend’ “.
Also on 20 October 1916, a memorial service was held at Christ Church East Sheen.
In July 1917, a memorial was erected in that church, in the form of a carved oak canopy over the bishop’s chair. Tribute was paid in the parish magazine to Capt. Vaughan Thompson’s dedication to local public service as someone who “until the day of his death on the battlefield had the interests and welfare of the parish at heart”.
Capt. Vaughan Thompson was Mentioned in Dispatches, and is commemorated at Authuille Military Cemetery.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Census England & Wales 1911
National Archives: Service record – Officers file WO339/19867; War Diary of the 11th Royal Fusiliers WO95 – 2045 – 1_1
Derbyshire Advertiser and Journal 18 November 1910
London Gazette 11 September 1914
Aberdeen Press & Journal 12 January 1915 – engagement
Daily Mirror 6 February 1915 - engagement
The Scotsman 8 February 1915, 4 October 1916 and 28 May 1918
The Sketch – 20 January 1915 – nice photo of Isabel
Holborn & Finsbury Guardian 20 October 1916 Obituary
Richmond Herald 21 October 1916 – memorial service
Richmond Herald 30 December 1916 – left estate of £12,988
Richmond Herald 7 July 1917 – re memorial
British Newspaper Archive at www.findmypast.co.uk – lots of material on Mrs Vaughan Thomson
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography entry re Lord Shaw, 1st Baron Craigmyle.
Ray Westlake: Tracing British Battalions of the Somme [Pen & Sword Military 2009]
www.winchestercollegeatwar.com
Trinity College Oxford archives - biographical letter from Isabel to the college and oak memorial board at entrance to War Memorial Library.
*Rev. Charles John Vaughan D.D.(1816-97) Dean of Llandaff and Master of the Temple, also Headmaster of Harrow 1844-1859.
Private E. Walker R.A.S.C.
Edward Walker, who became a baker in the Royal Army Service Corps, was born at Resthivet, Chapel of Garioch on 9 May 1893. He was a son of Alexander Walker and Jane Middleton who married at Chapel of Garioch in 1878. It seems he came to live in Kincardine O’Neil in 1911 or 1912, joining his brother in the bakery there.
In 1891, Alexander and Jane were at Resthivet with daughters Annie and Mary aged 12, and 1 respectively, and three sons: Alexander 10, Peter 8, and Robert 5. At the time of Edward’s birth, two years later, Alexander was noted as being a farmer’s son who worked on the farm. In 1901 the family still lived at Resthivet where Alexander was a crofter and farm ploughman, and Edward had two older sisters and one younger. In the 1911 census, aged 17, Edward is described as a farmer’s son working on the farm at Hillhead, Chapel of Garioch, a household which, at least on census night, included his older sister Mary aged 21 and ten-year-old younger sister Beatrice. The same census found Peter Walker, then a “Baker’s assistant” aged 28, at Insch with his wife and two-year-old son.
In the Aberdeen Journal of 10 May 1911 (five weeks after census night), there was an announcement in the agricultural pages that Mr Peter Walker, baker at Premnay and Insch had taken over the bakery business at Kincardine O’Neil. In September 1912, the same newspaper reported that Edward Walker was one of the organisers of a “young men’s annual reunion” in the Public Hall, Kincardine O’Neil (“the first dance of the season and …much enjoyed by all”) at which tea was served by Mr and Mrs Walker, The Bakery, “with their usual good taste”.
By the time Edward Walker enlisted, he had joined his brother in the bakery, and he continued to use those skills after enlistment, when he was assigned to the 72nd Field Bakery (S4/157489). He died on 1 August 1917 aged 24, while serving in East Africa.
A lesser-known aspect of the world war, the German East African campaign, centred on German-occupied Tanzania. August 1914 in Europe was mirrored by a German attack in the same month on the neutral Belgian Congo. Under the command of a formidable commander – General Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck - it was intended, as well as achieving German colonial expansion on the continent, to divert men and resources from the Western Front, and did so effectively. August 1917 marked the beginning of a new Allied offensive under the command of South-African Major-General Jacob van Deventer. The war in Africa endured until the German surrender there on 23 November 1918 two weeks after the general cessation of hostilities.
The Aberdeen Journal of 10 August 1917 carried a brief report of Private Walker’s death: “Pte. Edward Walker, A.S.C., who has died, was the youngest son of Mr Alex. Walker, late of Hillhead, Chapel of Garioch. He was 24 years of age, and previous to the war was a baker with his brother Mr Peter Walker, Kincardine O’Neil.
He is buried at Morogoro Cemetery, near Dar-Es-Salaam in Tanzania.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Register of births
Census 1891, 1901 and 1911
Aberdeen Journal 10 May 1911
Aberdeen Journal 19 September 1912 – young men’s annual reunion
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 8 August 1916 – Mr Walker took over the bakery from Miss Spark who carried on the business following the death of her husband.
Aberdeen Journal 10 August 1917 – Notice of death
Same death notice Aberdeen Weekly Journal 17 August 1917
Wikipedia on the German East African Campaign
Ross Anderson: “The Forgotten Front 1914-18 - The East African Campaign”(Tempus Publishing Limited 2007)
Private A. H. Watt Gordon Hrs.
Alexander Herd Watt (No S/4856) of the 8th Bn. Gordon Highlanders, was in fact a Corporal, not a Private. He was from Huntly and his connection to the parish of Kincardine O’Neil is that he was a signalman at Torphins before the war. He was born at Nether Auchmull on 3 August 1892, son of a quarry labourer, William Watt, and his wife Helen who lived at Bridgend, Kinnoir, and later at 58 Bogie Street, Huntly.
In 1901 he was the middle child of three, having an older brother William aged 12 and four-year-old younger sister, Christina. He is probably the Alexander Watt who appears in the 1911 census as a boarder in the household of George Milne, Crofter, at Little Haddoch, employed by the Great North of Scotland Railway as a porter – maybe at the nearby station of Cairney on the Keith-Huntly line. His fellow boarder was a signalman. According to newspaper reports at the time of his death, Watt must have moved shortly after that to become signalman at Torphins, which was his place of employment for about two years before the outbreak of war.
Alexander Watt enlisted as a volunteer shortly after the outbreak of war, joining the 8th Gordons who were formed at Aberdeen in August 1914 as a part of Kitchener’s New Army. After training they landed at Boulogne on 10 May 1915. In the weeks before Corporal Watt’s death they were attached to 26th Brigade in the 9th (Scottish) Division – first of the new volunteer Divisions. The Battalion was engaged in training and route marches in hot weather around Armentières and later Rieux in preparation for proceeding to the front line. According to newpaper reports, he had been in France for only 6 weeks and at the front for a short time only, before dying of wounds on 23 June 1915 aged 23.
He is buried at Lillers Communal Cemetery, and his name also appears on the War Memorial at Huntly, the parish church at Huntly, and on the memorial plaque to railway employees at Aberdeen Joint Station.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Register of Births
Census 1901 and 1911
www.1914-1918.net/gordon.htm
The Scotsman 6 July 1915 - Report of death.
Aberdeen Weekly Journal - 9 July 1915 – HUNTLY GORDON KILLED Mr Wm Watt, 58 Bogie street, Huntly (late of Bridgend, Kinnoir), has received information from the War Office that his son, Corporal A. H. Watt, of 8th Batt, Gordon Highlanders, died of wounds on 23rd June. Corporal Watt joined his regiment shortly after war broke out, and went to the front a short time ago. Prior to joining the battalion he was a signalman on the Great North of Scotland Railway for about two years, his last station being Torphins. The deceased was the second son of Mr Wm. Watt, 58 Bogie Street, Huntly, and was in the 22nd year of his age.
National Archives – War Diary of the 8th Gordon Highlanders WO95- 1767-2 p.20 [from the family history point of view there is more detail which may be of interest which it has not been thought appropriate to include here]
Aberdeen Journal 29 March 1921 - account of unveiling and dedication of memorial in Huntly Parish Church
Memorial at Aberdeen Joint station
John Ross and Keith Fenwick – The Great North of Scotland Railway Memorial [Great North of Scotland Railway Association 2009}
Private C. Watt Gordon Hrs.
Two local men, both Gordon Highlanders named Charles Watt, fell in the First World War. One was from Aboyne and served in the 4th Gordon Highlanders (no. 202185); the other had a Banchory connection and also served in the 1st/4th Gordons (no. 202335). It is probable that the man on the Kincardine O’Neil memorial is no. 202335, because Charles Watt from Aboyne had a brother Alexander who was also a casualty of the war. The brothers are commemorated together on the Aboyne memorial and it would be odd if only one of them made it onto the Kincardine O’Neil memorial.
Assuming this person, therefore, to be Charles Watt no. 202335, he was a son of John and Jessie Moir or Watt of Birks Lodge, Banchory, born at East Mains, Inchmarlo, on 5 March 1898. The local connection, as revealed by the 1891 Census, may be that in that year John (described as a labourer) and Jessie and their three children were living at Waulkmill in Kincardine O’Neil parish. There was also a Lumphanan connection, as John and two of Charles’s older siblings, had been born in Lumphanan (the third in Tarland). In 1901 the family, by then including Charles aged three, were at East Mains, Inchmarlo. In 1911 they were recorded at East Lodge Inchmarlo, and Charles was 13 and attending school.
When Private Watt died of wounds on 7 April 1918 at the age of 20, he was serving in the 4th Gordons. The battalion war diary records heavy casualties in fighting towards the end of March 1918 in what became known as the First Battle of Bapaume, the first part of the German offensive launched on 21 March 1918 which aimed to drive allied forces back to the Channel ports. As part of the 154th Infantry Brigade of the 51st Division, the 4th Gordons were struggling to hold existing allied lines in the face of fierce opposition. It is unclear exactly when or in what circumstances Private Watt sustained the wounds from which he died.
He is buried/commemorated at the Valenciennes (Saint Roch) Communal Cemetery, and is also listed on the Banchory war memorial.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Censuses 1901 & 1911
National Archives Kew War Diary WO95/2886