T H E S C O T T I S H O F F I C E

THOSE WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WAR

Compiled by Neil MacLennan

© Crown copyright 2012

ISBN: 978-1-78256-222-1 APS Group Scotland DPPAS13602 (11/12)

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“We are the Dead. Short days agoWe lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.”

John McCrae, May 1915

“Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down

of the sun and in the morning We will remember them.”

Laurence Binyon

“Only the dead have seen the end of war. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

George Santayana

01

On 4 February 2012, the last surviving veteran of the First World War died. Florence Green was 110 and had been stationed at RAF Marham when the war ended. With her death a chapter in the ‘War to End all Wars’ has closed.

Although the veterans have now all gone and with nearly 100 years having passed since the start of the conflict, the consequences are still very much with us.

At the beginning of the 20th century Britain was a rich country. While poverty and deprivation were very real, the resources were available to address these issues and the will to do so on a universal scale was starting to take shape. With the campaign for universal suffrage and the development of the welfare state (exemplified by the work of the Scottish Insurance Commission), the prospects looked good.

Introduction

The Girl He Left Behind Him

02

By the end of 1918, Britain was virtually bankrupt. Not only had the fiscal wealth of the country been exploded above foreign fields, a generation lay buried beneath. What might have transpired had war been avoided can only be guessed at. Nonetheless, the questions touch on many of the major policy issues that have affected us since. What if we had been able to continue as the world’s biggest overseas investor rather than, as we became in the 1920s, the world’s largest debtor? What if there had been no Russian Revolution and the Irish Free State had not come into being? What if the other Commonwealth nations had not become disillusioned with Britain and struck out on their own? What if we had not insisted on reparations which set the stage for the rise of fascism? What if, when dealing with the economic challenges of the 1920s, we could have called on the labours of 900,000 (mostly) men? And, if that lost generation had lived, would it have been necessary 30 years later to address labour shortages through mass immigration?

It is easy with hindsight to run these questions off. Some people actually recognised the looming catastrophe at the time, but still the war happened.

Once the conflict had begun, collective short-comings meant that it would only end once the participants had utterly exhausted themselves. Sir Edward Grey, the Liberal Foreign Secretary, famously said at the outbreak of war: “The lamps are going out all over Europe – we shall not see them lit again in our time.” The front page from ‘The Masses’ (previous page) dated October 1914, further illustrates the point.

We should continue to remember what happened and how the consequences of such a colossal policy failure can reverberate down the decades. We should never forget what this period in our history ultimately meant for living, breathing people harbouring hopes, dreams and aspirations. People who were much like us.

“ We should never forget what this period in our history ultimately meant for living, breathing people harbouring hopes, dreams and aspirations. People who were much like us.”

04

Before the establishment of the Scottish Office in 1885, public administration was carried out by a number of independent Boards. Even after the Scottish Office had come into being, political machinations meant that the Boards were not immediately subsumed and some of them continued to operate with a degree of independence.

Prior to 1885, there was no one Minister whose main concern was Scottish administration and so the Boards evolved from a tradition of ‘doing their own thing’, including selecting their own executive and clerical staff. In the early days this was done through patronage, but as time moved on it became more and more common for those joining the Boards to have to pass the examination of the Civil Service Commissioners, particularly after the 1914 Royal Commission on the Civil Service and the Haldane Committee on the Machinery of Government (1918) which reported against the Scottish system of administration.

The Civil Service in the early 1900s

05

The vast majority of people who worked for the Boards were male, and the civil service structures of the time were heavily influenced by class. Senior management were known as the First Division (hence the First Division Association that we know today) and they tended to be recruited from universities where they had, for the most part, gained degrees in the classics. The Second Division comprised staff clerks and temporary boy clerks who undertook the more routine work of the Board and who had to pass an entrance examination before they could be appointed (the Civil Service Certificate). A contemporary description of the Second Division was ‘clever boys of the lower middle classes whose parents could not afford to keep them at school’.

The Scottish Education BoardThe Scotch [sic] Education Board, as it was known prior to 1918, was formed in 1872 when, following the Education (Scotland) Act, the state assumed responsibility for schooling from the Church. Originally under the control of a Committee of the Privy Council, with the Vice-President of this committee effectively acting as the Minister for Education, the role of Vice-President was taken on by the newly established Secretary for Scotland in 1885, although the Privy Council continued to have oversight until 1939. At the outbreak of the

First World War the Board had staff in both London, with the Board’s headquarters located at Dover House, and in a satellite office on Edinburgh’s Queen Street, near the National Portrait Gallery. It was from this smaller office that staff liaised with the 1,000 or so parish school boards in Scotland. From its inception, the staff had delivered what was widely regarded as a world-class system of public secondary education at a time when systems elsewhere were still very much of an elementary standard.

Memorial – Scottish Education Board

06

Local Government Board For ScotlandThe Local Government Board for Scotland was another principal Board, and was charged with overseeing local government, public health and the poor law. Established in 1894, it took over from the Board of Supervision, which had been responsible for poor law provision since 1845. The Board comprised six members including the Secretary for Scotland, the Permanent Under-Secretary and the Solicitor General. The Vice-President of the Board in 1914 was the former Liberal MP, Sir George McCrae.

The Public Health (Scotland) Act 1897 made the Board ‘the central authority’ for public health. It was empowered to carry out inquiries into the sanitary conditions of any district, initiated by the Board’s own inspectors or by written application of a parish council or 10 ratepayers of a district.

The Board was given the power to appoint commissioners to carry out inquiries and legal penalties could be imposed on anybody refusing to respond to a summons. All of this work required administrative support from clerks and administrators.

Memorial – Local Government Board

07

The Board was eventually abolished in 1919 and replaced by the Scottish Board of Health. In 1928 the functions of the Scottish Board of Health were assigned to a statutory department (The Department of Health for Scotland) and in 1939, under the Reorganisation of Offices (Scotland) Act, the functions of the Department were transferred to the Secretary of State and administered by the Scottish Home Department, which was newly installed in St Andrew’s House.

Scottish Insurance CommissionThe Scottish Insurance Commission, which had its offices at 83 Princes Street, Edinburgh, came into being in 1911 after the Chancellor of the Exchequer, David Lloyd George, proposed the 1908 National Insurance Act. The Act provided for a contributory system of insurance for working people in case of illness and unemployment.

All wage-earners between 16 and 70 had to join a health scheme, each paying four pence per week. To this, the employer added three pence and the state two pence. In return for these payments, the wage-earner could receive free medical attention and was also guaranteed seven shillings per week for 15 weeks in any one year if they became unemployed.

Memorial – Scottish Insurance Commission

08

The arrangements represented a sea-change in the development of the welfare state in Britain, but implementation represented a considerable administrative challenge. This work was undertaken by the staff of the Scottish Insurance Commission. The Commission had a relatively short lifespan which only lasted until 1919 when it was transferred to the Scottish Board of Health with the Scottish Secretary as its President. The Commission’s Establishment Register shows that on 1 July 1919, Sir George McCrae, previously of the Local Government Board (above), was awarded the princely sum of £1800 per annum in his role as Chairman.

The Commission comprised a myriad of posts and positions, some of which resonate with us today. Boy Clerks, Woman Clerks, Typists, Writing Assistants, Girl Clerks, Clerical Officers, Assistant Inspectors, Health Insurance Officers, District Medical Officers, Heads of Section, First Division Clerks, Second Division Clerks, Deputy Head Clerks, Assistant Clerks, Card Tellers and Porters. Some of these can be roughly correlated to grades today, such as A3 (Clerical Officer), B2 (Second Division Clerk) and C1 (First Division Clerk).

The Second Division Clerks at the Commission received £100 per annum on appointment, rising to £120 after two years, then by £10 annual increments to £200 followed by £15 annual increments to £350. Assistant Clerks received £45 on appointment. In 1911 the average salary for a policeman was £70 per annum, a teacher £170 and a surgeon £275. Those who were on military service continued to feature on the Establishment of the Commission. However, as their service was effectively in abeyance, they did not receive increments. On that basis a one-off increase of £5 was added in 1915.

80-83 Princes Street, Edinburgh, office of the Scottish Insurance Commission (now the Abbey Building and New Club)

09

The Board of AgricultureA Crofters Commission had already been formed under the Crofters Holdings (Scotland) Act of 1886, and in 1897 Ministers, civil servants and independent members were handed the job of administering funds for the assistance of agriculture and fisheries and the improvement of facilities generally in the Highlands and Islands, all under the auspices of the UK Board of Agriculture.

The Board of Agriculture for Scotland was formed in 1911 by the Asquith Government’s Parliament Act, the same Act that drastically cut the power of the House of Lords. The Board was formed from the Scottish part of the UK Board of Agriculture, and assumed the powers of the Crofters Commission. It was based at 122 George Street, Edinburgh in the former Tontine Building near Charlotte Square which, in Napoleonic times, had been fitted out as a cavalry barracks! The civil servants who worked for the Board were responsible for the Ordnance Survey, the collection and preparation of statistics, and agricultural and forestry research and education. A big issue for the Board was land settlement as a means of reversing the trend of rural depopulation.

Memorial – Board of Agriculture

10

Although it was a new wing of government, the Board observed the same class divide as other parts of the Civil Service in that there was a clearly demarcated line between the First and Second Divisions. The First Division comprised ‘University men with good degrees in Greats’ and its staff were well paid, earning somewhere in the region of £400-£500 per annum. The Second Division comprised the clerks who would start off on a relatively meagre £70 per annum which rose in £5 annual increments to around £100. In time they could expect to become Staff Clerks earning over £200 per annum, which would have given them a fairly comfortable ‘middle-class’ existence in the early years of the 20th century.

The Board was still recruiting when the war began in 1914, with 24 Assistant Clerks being appointed to the year ending 1 April 1915. By the following year only six were recruited, and after 1916 there was no more recruitment until the war ended. However, as recruitment tailed off, the work of the Board only gathered pace. Ledgers show that many of the staff earned considerable amounts of overtime working with bodies such as the Home Grown Timber Commission, wood being one of the essential raw materials required for the war effort. As the war dragged on and food supplies started to dwindle, the Board also engaged a large number of Crop and Market Observers (drawn largely from the farming community) to help with the fight against profiteering and the black market.

Board of Agriculture Offices, George Street, Edinburgh

11

The Memorials There are five war memorials in St Andrew’s House. The four memorials which relate to the First World War list 79 names and were brought together when each of the functions of the Secretary of State were placed under one roof in 1939.

Two are located at the foot of each of the east and west staircases, placed there because the architect of the building, Thomas Tait, would not agree to them being situated in the main entrance hall as they would “compromise the architectural qualities of the building”. His views were no longer a consideration when the Second World War memorial was installed beside the front entrance in the late 1940s.

The following pages provide some details relating to the names on the four First World War memorials. Binyon’s moving words urge us all to “Remember Them”, but it has to be said that little regard has been paid in some quarters to preserving the details of the fallen. The staff records of the Board of Agriculture, for example, have been lost. Carelessness is not the only factor – sometimes it came down to expediency. The records at the Registers of Scotland have been scrupulously maintained by generations of civil servants over the years, carefully recording the time and circumstances surrounding every birth, death and marriage. However, such was the volume of entries following the carnage on the First Day of the Somme, that 2,000 deaths had to be expeditiously recorded with a brief ‘one-line per casualty’ entry.

“ The records at the Registers of Scotland have been scrupulously maintained by generations of civil servants over the years, carefully recording the time and circumstances surrounding every birth, death and marriage.”

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Even with the best of record keeping, it would never have been possible to know the exact details of the invariably terrible circumstances in which each of the young men commemorated on the memorials died. Many have no known grave. In some cases, the level of violence with which they met their end meant that there was literally nothing left to bury. A ‘diplomatic’ letter from the Infantry Record Office to the mother of Ernest Henderson (qv) in response to her request for “something that he was wearing when he fell” speaks to this. In the case of the missing, the last tangible link before they slip off the pages of history is invariably a reference in a regimental war diary to an attack or action that their unit was involved in, with the footnote that it resulted in “devastating losses”.

As well as those who are still missing, we can only guess at the misery endured by those who suffered critical injuries and had to endure tortuous journeys through dressing stations, field hospitals, trains and hospital ships back to the War Hospitals in Britain. Some of those honoured on the memorials eventually succumbed to their wounds, and are buried here. Many more lie in the large cemeteries that sprung up near to the base hospitals at Rouen and Boulogne, the meagre consolation being that they could at least have their name recorded on an individual slab of Portland stone. Still more lie in unmarked graves or where they fell, commemorated along with thousands of others on the Memorials to the Missing at Thiepval, Ieper or Arras.

“ Even with the best of record keeping, it would never have been possible to know the exact details of the invariably terrible circumstances in which each of the young men commemorated on the memorials died.”

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The Scottish Insurance Commission memorial holds 36 names, making it the largest First World War memorial in St Andrew’s House. Some of those commemorated were just teenagers when war broke out.

All of the fatalities listed were at or below the level of Second Division Clerk. In addition to the 35 fatalities, dozens of officers in these grades were shown as being absent on military service from enlistment until early 1919, when they returned to civilian life. There are no records of fatalities amongst officers in the First Division or above, nor are there any indications that anybody at these grades was even released for military service. This would suggest that those holding more senior positions in the Commission were probably in what were regarded at the time as ‘reserved occupations’.

Robert B Affleck was the son of James Affleck and the family home was at Muirpark, Dalkeith, Midlothian. A Second Division Clerk on temporary duty, he passed his civil service exams in January 1913. Robert, a Private in 9th Battalion The Royal Scots, died on 8 May 1915 during the Second Battle of Ypres. He was 22 years old, and is commemorated on a special memorial at New Irish Farm Cemetery where his remains are believed to lie. The cemetery is in the town of Ieper, Belgium, and was enlarged after the armistice as part of a consolidation exercise. It is likely – although we cannot be sure – that Robert’s remains were transferred from a temporary cemetery in nearby St Jean, which was created in May 1915 to cope with the large number of casualties produced by the offensive. New Irish Farm commemorates 4,715 dead.

The Scottish Insurance Commission

15

David Alexander Anderson is commemorated on the Seafield Oilworks memorial in West Lothian because of his father’s connection with the company.

He was born on 17 March 1889 in Uphall, and served with the Local Government Board in Dublin from Oct 1907 until July 1908, when he transferred to the General Post Office in that city. In October 1908 he found himself working for the Registrar General in Edinburgh, followed by a short secondment to the Inland Revenue. He left the Registrar General in April 1912 to join the Commission as a Second Division Clerk, receiving the annual salary of £96 and 15 shillings.David was the eldest son of Robert, a Manager at the Seafield Oil Works, and Catherine

Sutherland Anderson of Seafield, Bathgate, West Lothian. He was a Second Lieutenant in the 10th/11th Highland Light Infantry when he was killed in action on 17 August 1916, aged 27. David’s body has no known grave and he is commemorated at Thiepval on the Memorial to the Missing alongside 72,190 other names. This means, that like a number of his col-leagues, he was a casualty in the 1916 Somme Offensive.

David was not married, but left five siblings: Elizabeth, Robert, Lily, James and Catherine. James Reginald Homes Burgess son of James and Lucy Burgess of Bowes Road, New Southgate, London was born on 7 August 1893 and joined the Commission as a 2nd Class Clerk on 15 July 1912 with a salary of £100.

James served as a Corporal with D Company, 9th Battalion The Royal Scots, and was 21 when he died on 10 April 1915. He is interred in Boulogne Eastern Cemetery.

Boulogne was one of the three base ports most extensively used by the armies on the Western Front, and was also one of the main hospital areas. The dead from the hospitals were buried in the Eastern Cemetery, suggesting that James was not killed outright while in action, but succumbed to his wounds at a later date.

Cemetery – Theipval

16

James Ritchie Cameron was born on 3 September 1888 to J.M. and Elizabeth Joss Cameron. He joined the Commission as an Assistant Clerk on 8 July 1912 and was promoted to Supervising Assistant Clerk on 3 March 1913, having worked previously with the Registrar General in both London and Edinburgh.

James was a Captain in the 6th Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers and was 29 when he was killed inaction on 23 March 1918. He is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial.

The memorial relates to a period of crisis in March and April 1918 before the ‘Advance to Victory’, when the Allied 5th Army was driven back by overwhelming numbers across the former Somme battlefields, in what was the last attempt by the Germans to win the war before American troops arrived in strength. The memorial features the names of over 14,000 casualties who, like James, have no known grave.

James Henderson Campbell was born on 3 January 1894 to James and Annie MacIntosh Campbell who lived at The Homesteads, Stirling. He joined the Commission aged 18 on 7 October 1912 as an Assistant Clerk, on a salary of £45.

James was a Second Lieutenant in 4th Battalionthe Highland Light Infantry and was 23 years old when he died on 23 April 1917. He held the Military Cross, one of the highest awards for gallantry. James is commemorated on the Arras Memorial, which holds the names of almost 35,000 servicemen who died in the Arras sector between the spring of 1916 and Autumn 1918, when the allied army moved forward as part of the ‘Advance to Victory’. James has no known grave.

THE BATTLE OF THE AISNE British forces undertook a week of

diversionary attacks in the Arras sector in April 1917 to draw German forces

away from the Second Battle of the Aisne. The Aisne offensive, mounted by the

French Army, was an unmitigated disaster. It involved 1.2 million troops and achieved

little in the way of territorial gains. The battle ended up sparking widespread

mutiny in the French Army.

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Frederick John Lewis David was born on 20 April 1895 and joined the Commission aged 19 on 27 February 1914 as a Second Division Clerk, on a salary of £100.

A Welshman, Frederick was born in Swansea and served as a Second Lieutenant with the South Wales Borderers. He died of wounds on 18 September 1918 aged 23. He is buried in Gouzeaucourt New British Cemetery, which holds 1,295 dead.

John Davie was born 11 February 1893 to Mr and Mrs John Davie of Brunton Gardens, Edinburgh. John was appointed to the Commission as an Assistant Clerk on 30 September 1912 and promoted to Second Division Clerk on 12 August 1913. A Captain with 13th BattalionThe Royal Scots, John was 25 when he was killed in action on 11 May 1918. Like James Campbell, John was a holder of the Military Cross. He is buried at Duisans British Cemetery in the Pas De Calais just west of Arras. The cemetery holds 3,205 Commonwealth dead.

William Douglas was born on 6 December 1895 to Robert and Elizabeth Douglas of Parsons Green Terrace, Edinburgh. William, who joined the Commission aged 17 as an Assistant Clerk on 22 April 1913, was a Sub-Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserves and was killed in action on 26 October 1917. He is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, part of Tyne Cot Cemetery. The cemetery at Tyne Cot is arranged around a former German blockhouse and, with nearly 12,000 burials, is the largest Commonwealth War Graves cemetery in the world. The Tyne Cot Memorial commemorates nearly 35,000 men who fell in the mud of Passchendaele, and who have no known grave.

Tyne Cot Cemetery

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Christopher Thomas Francis was born on 11 October 1887 and joined the Commission as a Second Class Clerk on 5 March 1913. Christopher joined the rush to enlist and signed up on 10 October 1914, perhaps in order to see some action before the war was ‘all over by Christmas’. Christopher was the son of Walter and Mary Francis of Streatham, London, and served as a Captain in 13th Battalion The Royal Scots. He died from his wounds on 26 May 1916, aged 29. ‘Died from his wounds’ tells us that Christopher was not killed instantly. He is buried in the Calais Southern Cemetery which was filled from 1915 by 30th, 35th and 38th General Hospitals and Number 9 British Red Cross Hospital.

William Goodfellow was the son of Robert and Delia Goodfellow of West Savile Terrace, Edinburgh. William was born on 7 September 1885 and appointed as a Health Insurance Officer with the Commission on 1 October 1912. Following enlistment he rose to the rank of Company Sergeant Major of ‘D’ Coy, 9th Battalion The Royal Scots. He was 31 years old when he was killed in action on 23 April 1917, the same day as his colleague James Campbell. He is buried at Level Crossing Cemetery, Fampoux, which contains 405 burials and commemorations.

Ernest Spring Henderson was born on 16 January 1895 to Charles and Minnie Henderson. Ernest joined the Commission on 7 March 1914 with previous service as a Second Division Clerk at ‘N.H.J.C (England)’. While working with the Commission Ernest lived at Scotland Street. He was 20 years old and single when he enlisted at Edinburgh on 3 December 1915. Ernest embarked from Southampton on 16 February 1917, landing at Le Havre the following day. He joined his Battalion on 26 February, and was killed in action on 30 October that year, serving as a Private with 1st/28th Battalion The London Regiment (Artists’ Rifles). He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial. His next-of-kin was listed as his father, Charles Henderson of Blyth, Northumberland, with the family home also occupied by his mother and sister.

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His mother wrote to the War Office in April 1918 thanking them for forwarding Ernest’s effects – a prayer book, his silver watch and chain, and a letter. The letter was returned as it did not belong to her son. His mother went on to ask if it would be possible to obtain a copy of his will “just to possess something with his handwriting” and “if something could be sent which he wore on the day he fell it would be gratefully received by me and his sorrowing father”. In response, the War Office wrote in ‘diplomatic’ terms to express their regret that no further articles of private property had been received, omitting to mention that the whereabouts of Ernest’s remains was unknown. Mrs Henderson died in 1922.

THE ARTISTS’ RIFLES The Artists’ Rifles was a volunteer regiment raised in London in 1859. In 1914 it was

formed into three sub-Battalions, and recruitment was eventually restricted to

recommendations from existing members due to its popularity. It attracted recruits from public schools and universities, and enlisted members were often selected to

be officers in other units. This led to some officers and NCOs eventually forming a

separate Officers Training Corps in 1915. Those who remained formed a fighting unit

and the Battalion eventually saw action from 1917. By the end of the war it had suffered higher casualties than any other.

Letter written by mother of Ernest Spring Henderson after his death

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James Williamson Hunter was the son of Robert and Helen Hunter of Argyll Place, Portobello, Edinburgh. He was born on 28 August 1887 and, prior to joining the Commission, saw previous service with the General Post Office from 1906 until 1912. Originally appointed as an Assistant Clerk, he was promoted to Second Division Clerk on 26 February 1915 after passing the Civil Service Certificate on the same date. A Second Lieutenant with 2nd Battalion The Royal Scots, James was wounded at Gallipoli in 1915 before he was killed in Flanders on 14 November 1916. He was 28 years old. He is buried at Puchevillers British Cemetery which, in 1916, was being filled by 3rd and 44th Casualty Clearing Stations.

The life expectancy for a Second Lieutenant in the First World War was less than a month.

John Bell Jackson was born 5 January 1888, the only son of John Jackson, an Actuarial Insurance Clerk and Ann Jackson, of Glenisla Gardens, Edinburgh. John joined the Commission on 27 November 1912 as a Second Division Clerk, and received an allowance of £100 for acting as Private Secretary to the Chairman, giving him an annual salary of £350. Originally serving with The Royal Scots, by 1917 John was part of No. 43 Squadron in the Royal Flying Corps. He failed to return from a mission on 7 June 1917 and was listed as ‘missing presumed dead’. John, who was only 29, is commemorated on

the Arras Flying Services Memorial along with nearly 1,000 airmen who have no known grave. John is also listed on the memorial at Murrayfield Golf Club.

Robert Bogie Jarvis was born on 4 May 1895 to Robert and Anne Miller Jarvis of High Street, Leslie, Fife. Robert saw previous service in London with the Board of Trade, Labour Exchanges and Unemployment Insurance between 1913 and 1914, before returning to Scotland to join the Commission as an Assistant Clerk on 8 April 1914. Private Robert Jarvis of 2nd Battalion The Royal Scots Fusiliers was killed on 23 April 1917 aged 21. He is commemorated on the Arras Memorial along with nearly 35,000 comrades who have no known grave.

Norman Kennedy was born on 6 May 1894 to Thomas and Catherine Kennedy of Ancrum, Roxburghshire. Norman saw previous service with ‘N.H.J.C (Edinburgh)’ before he joined the Commission on 23 September 1912 as an Assistant Clerk. Second Lieutenant Norman Kennedy of the The Royal Scots Fusiliers died of his wounds on 31 October 1917. He is buried at Longuenesse Souvenir Cemetery at St Omer. St Omer was the location of the General Headquarters of the British Expeditionary Force, and a sizeable hospital centre.

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William Legge was born on 16 January 1895 to William and Annie Legge of Finzies Place, Leith, Edinburgh. He passed his Civil Service Certificate on 1 January 1913 and was appointed as an Assistant Clerk with the Commission on 3 January 1913. Lieutenant William Legge served with 55 Squadron in the Royal Air Force, and was 23 when he was presumed killed on or after 13 June 1918. William is buried at Cologne Southern Cemetery, which was used to consolidate burials of prisoners of war who had died in Germany.

Robert William Johnston was born on 9 July 1895. He was 18 when he was appointed an Assistant Clerk at the Commission on 2 March 1914, the same day as his colleague, Samuel Palmer. A Private in 2nd Battalion The Gordon Highlanders, he was killed on 1 July 1916, the infamous first day of the Somme. The picture is believed to show Robert’s Battalion crossing No Man’s Land near Mametz on the day that he died. The white areas of chalk are excavations from the trenches.

Robert’s Battalion can claim to be one of the very few units to have achieved its objectives on the first day of the Somme, though after three days of fighting it had lost two-thirds of its officers and half its men. Robert was 20 years old when he died, just eight days short of his 21st birthday. He is commemorated at Thiepval along with 72,000 others who have no known grave.

James Birrell Lindsay Son of George and Janet Lindsay of Kinloch Street, Ladybank, Fife, James was born on 7 August 1888. He worked at the General Post Office between 1908 and 1912, before joining the Commission as an Assistant Clerk on 22 July 1912. He was promoted to Supervising Assistant Clerk on 3 March 1913. Private Lindsay of 2nd Battalion The Scots Guards was killed in action on 19 December 1916 aged 28. Along with nearly 3,500 comrades, he is interred at the AIF Burial Ground in Flers, in the Somme region of France.

2nd Battalion, The Gordon Highlanders advancing near Mametz, 1 July 1916

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Andrew Linton MacDonald Son of John and Emmeline Macdonald of Glasgow, Andrew was appointed as a Second Division Clerk on 4 January 1915. He served with 6th Battalion The Seaforth Highlanders and was 22 years old when he died of wounds on 6 August 1917. On 31 July 1917, Field Marshall Douglas Haig launched the Third Battle of Ypres. Although the offensive resulted in some gains, these were not as big as originally intended and came at a great cost in terms of loss of life. Third Ypres is today more commonly referred to as Passchendaele, a battle of attrition synonymous with controversial tactics and enveloping mud.

Andrew, a casualty of the battle, is buried at Etaples Military Cemetery south of Boulougne, the scene of immense concentrations of hospitals in 1917 due to its accessibility by railway from both the northern and southern battlefields. The cemetery contains nearly 11,000 dead.

Hugh Ferguson MacDonald Son of Captain John MacDonald and Mrs Ann MacDonald of Glasgow, Hugh worked for the Commission as a Second Division Clerk on temporary duty. The Establishment Register lists Hugh as “Accidentlally Killed on 20 May 1918” and, unusually, Hugh is buried in a cemetery in Scotland. Glasgow Craigton Cemetery contains 165 First World War burials including Hugh, who died as a result of a training accident at Mullingar Camp in Ireland. A Second Lieutenant serving with The Royal Scots, Hugh was 25 years old.

Peter MacFarlane Son of Daniel and Isabella MacFarlane of Bankfoot, Perth, Peter was appointed as an Assistant Clerk at the Commission on 14 October 1912. Lieutenant MacFarlane served with 32 Squadron the Royal Air Force and was reported missing on 10 August 1918. He is commemorated on the Arras Flying Memorial alongside his colleague, John Bell Jackson. Peter was 23 years old.

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James McIlroy was born on 9 January 1894 and appointed Assistant Clerk at the Commission on 14 October 1912. He had previously served with the Bank of England in London. Like his colleague Ernest Henderson, James was a Private with the 1st/28th Battalion The London Regiment (Artists’ Rifles). Given that recruitment was by recommendation, it is possible that one of them arranged for the other to join. James was reported missing and believed killed on 23 March 1918, some five months after Ernest’s death. He is commemorated on the Arras Memorial as he has no known grave.

James Riggs Macintyre was born on 25 February 1895 and appointed as an Assistant Clerk on 13 January 1913, having passed his Civil Service Certificate on 1 January that year. James enlisted on 1 December 1914 and served as a Private with 16th Battalion The Royal Scots. After training, James embarked at Southampton on 8 January 1916 and was killed on 1 July 1916, the infamous First Day of the Somme, which still ranks as the worst day in the history of the British Army. James’ body was never found and he is listed in the Establishment Register as “(Presumed deceased) 1 July 1916”. The Secretary to the Commission received a letter dated 30 August 1916 reporting that James had been missing since 1 July. It wasn’t until May 1917 that he was recorded as “dead

for official purposes”. He was 21 years old and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the missing.

The National Archives hold a conduct sheet for James which shows that he committed two ‘offences’ while in training. On 9 September 1915 he was confined to barracks for three days for not complying with Battalion orders. On 22 October 1915 he was confined to barracks for seven days for neglecting his duty while acting as hut orderly. In both cases, the reporting officer was Sgt John Jolly (qv).

James next of kin at enlistment was his father, Andrew Macintyre, of Mill Street, Ayr, although he had moved to Bute Street in Hawick by the time James was confirmed dead. James was also survived by his brother, Robert, and two sisters.

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Alastair Sutton Mackay was born 7 December 1889. Before joining the Commission he saw previous service with ‘S.B.D (London)’ from May 1910 until July 1912. He joined the Commission on 16 July 1912 as Assistant Clerk on a sal-ary of £65, and was killed in action on 29 April 1915 during the second battle of Ypres.

There is a gravestone in a cemetery at Rosskeen, Ross & Cromarty which tells of a family ravaged by tragedy. The stone was raised by William and Flora Mackay of High Street, Invergordon to commemorate “Our dear children”. After Alastair’s death in 1915, his brother Falconer died at the Northern Infirmary in 1919 as a

result of wounds received at Arras two years earlier. Falconer was 23 years old. The stone also commemorates their sister, Agnes, who died in 1923. Their parents survived them all.

2113 Alastair Sutton Mackay served with ‘A’Coy, 9th Battalion The Royal Scots and is commemorated on the Menin Gate, one of four memorials to the missing located in the Ypres salient. The Menin Gate bears over 54,000 names. Alastair was originally interred at Hooge Cemetery near Ypres. The cemetery was subsequently destroyed in a bombardment, and his remains lost.

William Marshall was born on 15 March 1897. He was appointed as an Assistant Clerk on 22 June 1915 and served as a Private with 10th Battalion, The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. William was killed in action on 15 October 1916, aged 19.

George Hugh Murray was born on 6 August 1894 at Galashiels to Hugh and Jessie Murray of Maxwell Street, Morningside, Edinburgh. His father pre-deceased him, but was alive when he enlisted on 3 December 1914 and living at Buffers Brae, Dunfermline. Along with his colleague James MacIntyre, George was appointed as an Assistant Clerk on 13 January 1913 after both he and James

Cemetery – Menin Gate

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passed their Civil Service exams on 1 January that year. The evidence points towards them being friends. Born less than a year apart, the boys sat their exams and joined the Commission together, and enlisted within two days of each other. They landed in France on the same day, and ultimately they died together. Like James, George served as a Private with 16th Battalion The Royal Scots and embarked at Southampton on 8 January 1916. He was killed alongside his friend on the first day of the Somme. George has no known grave and is listed alongside James on the memorial at Thiepval. He was 22 years old.

James and George’s Battalion was engaged near Contalmaison on 1 July 1916 and suffered losses amounting to 228 men. This number included another civil servant, their Sergeant, John Jolly of the Scottish Education Board.

Harold Nichols was born on 6 July 1894 to Lewis and Mary Ann Nichols of Chestnut Avenue, Leeds. Harold joined the Commission on 15 April 1914 as a Second Division Clerk. Second Lieutenant Nichols of the East Surrey Regiment died on 7 August 1918 from wounds received in action. He is buried at Vignacourt British Cemetery. In 1918 Vignacourt was occupied by the 20th and 61st Casualty Clearing Stations.

The Second Battle of the Marne took place from 15 July until 5 August 1918. In what began as the last major German offensive of the war, the battle developed into a significant allied victory after it became clear that the Germans had not only failed in their aim to win the war, they had in fact lost ground. British casualties – Harold Nichols among them – amounted to some 13,000.

Edward Gilbert Nickalls was born on 6 January 1895 and joined the Commission on 26 June 1914 at the age of 19. He was killed in action on 18 August 1916 during the Somme offensive.

2nd Lieutenant Nickalls served with 4th Battalion The Kings (Liverpool Regiment) and is commemorated on a special memorial at Caterpillar Valley Cemetery at Longueval. This cemetery dramatically increased in size after the Armistice, as many smaller cemeteries from the Somme battlefield were consolidated here. There are nearly 4,000 unidentified burials at Caterpillar Valley and it is believed that Edward Nickalls is among them.

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Samuel William Palmer was born 30 April 1896 and appointed Assistant Clerk on 2 March 1914, at the age of 18. Lieutenant Palmer of the 19th Entrenching Battalion, The Royal Dublin Fusiliers, was killed in action on 27 March 1918. He is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial, which lists over 14,000 casualties who have no known grave.

The Entrenching Battalions were formed in early 1918 as temporary units which could be used as pools of men from which replacements could be drawn by conventional units. Despite that, the 19th Battalion often found itself in the thick of the fighting. On 22 March the Battalion was at Vermand digging trenches when it was attacked. With no support and in danger of being surrounded, it withdrew. On 26 March a heavy enemy attack resulted in severe casualties, causing the Battalion to withdraw again to Warvillers. On the 27th, the Battalion went on the offensive but came under heavy attack and suffered severely, including the loss of Lieutenant Palmer. Coming under sustained attack, the Battalion found that units on either side had gone, and a rearguard action was fought until a small wood north of Beaufort was reached. The Battalion was then withdrawn for a rest period, but such was the extent of the losses suffered that it was decided to completely disband it on 3 April.

Robert Slight Rutherford Born on 22 May 1865, Robert was the oldest amongst his colleagues and by some way. Robert joined the Commission as a Porter on 18 November 1912, and the Establishment Register records him as dying on active service on 10 July 1918. He was 53 years old.

James Robinson Scott was born on 31 March 1893. James was appointed as an Assistant Clerk on 14 October 1912 and promoted to Second Division Clerk in March 1913. Second Lieutenant Scott of 13th Battalion The King’s Royal Rifle Corps died of his wounds on 23 March 1918, eight days short of his 25th birthday. He is buried in Roye New British Cemetery which, in March 1918, was being filled by the 53rd Casualty Clearing Station. There was little time to mark the graves as the Germans recaptured the town of Roye on 26 March.

Robert Graham Stewart Robert came from Cupar in Fife and was born on 17 March 1896. Appointed Assistant Clerk on 16 Feb 1914, he enlisted as Bombardier 650248 Stewart in the Royal Field Artillery. He was killed in action on 28 April 1917 aged 21 years, and is buried at Anzin-St Aubin British Cemetery along with 357 others.

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David Thom was born on 26 Jan 1895 to Alexander and Barbara Thom of Kirkmuirhill, Lanarkshire. David joined as an Assistant Clerk on 14 October 1912. Private Thom of 2nd Battalion The King’s Own Scottish Borderers was killed in action on 15 September 1916. He was 21 years old and is buried in Etaples Military Cemetery.

Joseph Stephenson Williams was born on 16 September 1893 to John and Esther Williams, of Landseer Road, Everton, Liverpool. He was married to Dorothy Margaret Williams, of 27, Thirlestane Road, Edinburgh. Of all the Commission casualties, Joseph is the only one listed as married.

Etaples Military Cemetery

David Thom’s Will

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Joseph passed his Civil Service exams on 18 March 1913, and joined the Commission as a Second Class Clerk with a salary of £100 on appointment. Joseph was killed in action on 25 September 1917 during the Third Battle of Ypres, some nine days after his 24th birthday.

Joseph was a Captain attached to 4th Battalion The Kings (Liverpool Regiment), the same unit that his colleague Edward Nickalls was serving with when he died the previous year. Joseph is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial to the missing.

David Waddell survived the war and so is not listed on the memorial. However, his story features in the Establishment Register. He was born on 6 June 1895 and joined the Commission on 28 October 1912 as an Assistant Clerk.He enlisted in November 1914 and served throughout the war, although the Register shows him as ‘reported missing’ on 23 January 1918. It was later discovered that he was a prisoner of war and he returned to civilian life and the Commission on 3 March 1919. He did not last though as his service was ‘terminated’ on 18 May 1919 at which point he transferred to the GPO as a Second Division Clerk.

Finally, James Pettigrew features on the memorial but does not appear in the Establishment Register. Forces Records identify 10 casualties with the name James Pettigrew, of whom four served with Scottish regiments. If the James Pettigrew on the Insurance Commission Memorial is the one who served with the Highland Light Infantry, then he was another casualty on the first day of the Somme and has no known grave.

Military Service Act

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The white marble stone located at the foot of the west staircase contains the names of 24 officers of the Scottish Education Department who fell during the First World War. Most (but not all) of the names that feature on the memorial worked in the Second Division.

Robert WP Buckingham was 19 years old when he died on 1 September 1918, particularly poignant given that the German Army was on the point of collapse and the war only had weeks left to run. He was a Private with the Prince of Wales Own Civil Service Rifles (15th Battalion), part of the London Regiment.

Robert is buried in Rancourt Military Cemetery, a small cemetery containing 90 burials near Peronne in the Somme district of France.

Frederick Charles (Chas) Grist lived with his parents in Wimbledon. He was an Assistant Clerk earning £55 per annum and had worked for the Board since 1912. He was only 24 when he was presumed killed on the 7 October 1916. Like many others who died at the Somme, his body was never found and he has no known grave. His name is inscribed along with 72,000 others on the Thiepval Memorial, also known as ‘The Memorial to the Missing’.

Charles George Henry was a Lance Sergeant and was 22 when he died on 15 October 1916, just a week after Frederick Grist. He came originally from Forres in Morayshire and was survived by his parents, John and Georgina. Like Frederick, he has no known grave and his name is also inscribed at Thiepval.

The Scottish Education Board

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John Spenser Jolly belonged to the 16th Royal Scots, a ‘Pals Battalion’ better known as ‘McCrae’s Own’. In civilian life, John was Assistant Keeper with the Board, a First Division post that commanded the relatively high salary of £300 per annum. John was born in Dean Park Street, Stockbridge in 1889 to Charles and Emily Jolly. Charles Jolly was a Mercantile Clerk and sent his son to Daniel Stewarts College where his academic prowess was such that he became Dux — the top student in academic and sporting achievement in his graduating year. John went on to study at Edinburgh University achieving an MA (Hons) Classics in 1910. While at Edinburgh he also enlisted with the Officer Training Corps, where he spent two years serving as a cadet until 1911. He was unmarried and in 1914 was living at his parents’ home at Dalkeith Road, Edinburgh, with his younger brother and sister. John was 25 years old when he enlisted on 3 December 1914. He was promoted to Corporal on 1 February 1915 and Sergeant on 10 May 1915.

16TH ROYAL SCOTS (McRAE’S OWN) The Battalion was raised and commanded by Lt Col Sir George McCrae, head of the Local Government Board for Scotland. The Battalion comprised 1,347 officers

and men who in civilian life were students, lawyers, doctors, labourers, artists and clerks. The Battalion also included 11 professional footballers from Heart of

Midlothian Football Club, something that no doubt inspired others to sign up when

the Battalion was formed in 1914. With the Battalion formed, initial training took place in Yorkshire and on Salisbury Plain before embarking at Southampton and landing in

France in January 1916.

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He spent his first few months in France in a relatively quiet area around Armentières before moving south in May as part of the preparations for a major offensive that summer. John Jolly went over the top with his Battalion at 0730 on 1 July 1916, the infamous First Day of the Somme. A contemporary report reads as follows:

“ Briggs and Brown fell just in front of the entrance to Wood Alley, a communication trench which led back to the German third line. Captain Peter Ross, the last remaining officer in A company, arrived here at about 8.15. He gathered the remnants of his command in order to rush a machine gun further down the trench. As he moved forward, the gunner shot him in the stomach almost cutting him in two. Sgt John Jolly, a civil servant from Edinburgh, now took the lead. He was shot through the head within seconds and was killed instantly. Ross meanwhile, was still alive and in unimaginable pain. He begged someone to finish him off. In the end, it came down to an order. Two of his own men reluctantly obliged, one of whom would kill himself 20 years later. Ross, a school teacher and author from Edinburgh, was 39 years old.”

From McRae’s Battalion, the story of 16th Royal Scots by Jack Alexander

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Another report states that many in the 16th Battalion were “scythed like corn” in front of the German machine guns. With 20,000 dead, the day ranks as the bloodiest in the history of the British Army. The 15th and 16th Royal Scots (as part of 101 Brigade) were in action from 0730 in the area of La Boiselle. They suffered 80% and 50% casualties respectively. John Jolly’s body was never found and his remains will either be in an unmarked grave or lie somewhere in the vicinity of Contalmaison, where 228 of his comrades were killed that day. His name is inscribed on the Memorial to the Missing at Thiepval.

John’s effects were returned to his mother at Dalkeith Road in November and comprised a pair of scissors, a compass, knives, a pen, his watch, a pair of spectacles, a mirror and a purse. On 28 July 1916 Mrs Jolly had cause to write to the Infantry Records Office because the official notification that she had received described her son as holding the rank of Private. In 1922, and now living in New Zealand, she wrote again to the War Office asking why she had not received a plaque or scroll with respect to her son. Emily Jolly finally received John’s memorial in August 1922 to add to the War Medal and Victory Medal already awarded.

Harold Ernest G Double worked for the Board in London and enlisted with the 16th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment where he was a Private. He stayed in Kentish Town with his mother, his father having pre-deceased him. Like his colleague John Jolly, he too was killed on the first day of the Somme on 1 July 1916. His body lies in Hawthorn Ridge Cemetery No. 1 which contains 150 burials, of whom only 82 were able to be identified.

Francis Howard Lindsay had been an Examiner with the Scotch Education Department since 1899, earning a First Division salary of £400 per annum. He was a Captain and Temporary Major in The 14th Battalion London Scottish along with his brother, James, who survived the war after being wounded in 1917. Another brother, Michael, was killed some years previously during the Boer War. Like many in the First Division, Francis had graduated from Cambridge as a Bachelor of Arts. He was 40 years old when, along with John Jolly and Harold Double, he was killed on the First Day of the Somme. He was survived by his wife, Helen Margaret MacDougall, who lived in South Kensington with their two children John (5) and Katherine (six months).

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A second son, David, died in 1914 aged just three months. Like his father, John Lindsay went on to be a Major but tragically was killed fighting in Italy in 1943. Francis Howard Lindsay has no known grave and is commemorated along with several of his Board colleagues on the Thiepval Memorial.

Francis’ daughter and only surviving child, Katherine Frances Lindsay-MacDougall, features on the 2012 electoral roll in Argyll, having previously served as a 1st Officer in the Women’s Royal Naval Service.

19-year-old Frederick Elton Cheyne worked alongside John Jolly at the Board’s offices in Edinburgh. He enlisted in the early stages of the war as a private in the 1st Battalion, The Cameronians and was killed on 29 October 1916 as the Somme offensive ground to a halt. Like John Jolly and Francis Lindsay, his body was never found and his name is also inscribed on the Thiepval Memorial. He lived with his parents, Andrew and Marjory Cheyne at James Place, near Leith Links.

Neil Ernest Jamieson was born in Montrose and joined the Board in 1913 as an Assistant Clerk. He was 21 when he died. His parents Thomas and Jane lived at Comely Bank Drive, Edinburgh, a short walk from the Board offices in Queen Street. He was a Private with D Company, The Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders and was injured on 13 March 1917.

He was brought to a casualty clearing station near Bray but died of his wounds shortly afterwards. He is buried in Bray Military Cemetery and his name also features on the Montrose War Memorial.

Francis Howard Lindsay

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Robert Thomas Ims was born in 1895 and joined the Board at Dover House in 1912 as an Assistant Clerk. He was promoted to Second Division Clerk in March 1913, earning £70 per annum. He enlisted to become a Rifleman with the 16th Battalion, The Queens Westminster Rifles, a territorial Battalion that was later to merge with the Civil Service Rifles. He was 20 when he died of his wounds on 23 August 1915, and is buried in Poperinghe New Military Cemetery which is located near Ypres. Prior to 1916, Poperinghe was a centre for casualty clearing stations, to which it is likely the wounded Robert was taken. Robert lived with his mother, Sarah, at Bessborough Place, London, his father having pre-deceased him.

Harold James Wills was just 17 years old when he died on 24 August 1917, serving as a Private with the Royal Buckinghamshire Hussars. His father, Frederick Edwin Wills, lived at Tower Road, Boscombe, Bournemouth, but his mother Emily pre-deceased him. Harold’s name appears on the Jerusalem Memorial which commemorates 3,300 Commonwealth servicemen who died during the First World War in operations in Egypt or Palestine, and have no known grave.

Samuel Frances Henderson Mackay joined the Board in 1906 as an Inspector earning £300 per annum. He was a Captain in the 5th Battalion East Lancashire Regiment. The Regiment spent the early part of the war in Egypt and Gallipoli, before finally arriving in Flanders in late spring 1917. By June 1917 the Regiment was near Havrincourt opposite the formidable Hindenburg Line, and it is here that Samuel was captured. Conditions in the camps were dreadful and Samuel subsequently died while a prisoner in German hands. He was 37 years old. He left a wife, Valentine, and his mother Agnes. He has no known grave and is commemorated along with over 20,000 others on the Loos Memorial.

Poperinghe New Military Cemetery

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Charles Gordon Maude was born in Melbourne, Australia, but his parents had moved to the UK to farm at Northallerton in Yorkshire by the time war broke out. He was their only son, the loss of whom would have been particularly hard for a farming family where succession is the norm. That said, he may already have turned his back on farming by choosing to join the Civil Service as an Assistant Clerk in 1911. Charles enlisted in the 2nd Life Guards (part of the Household Cavalry) where he held the rank of trooper. He was 22 years old when he died of pneumonia on 13 January 1916 and is buried in Lapugnoy Military Cemetery near Arras in northern France.

Arthur Newman Alfred Quixley was only 18 when he died. Like other colleagues based at Dover House, he had enlisted in the London Regiment where he was a private. He was killed on 26 May 1915, leaving only his mother, Caroline, as his father had pre-deceased him. His name is inscribed on the memorial at Le Touret Cemetery as he has no known grave.

Astley De Borde Cooper was a 2nd Lieutenant with 1st Signal Company The Royal Engineers who joined the Board as an Assistant Clerk in 1905. He was promoted to Second Division Clerk in 1910. Astley died of his wounds on 7 July 1915, aged 26. He is buried in Bethune Town Cemetery along with a further 3,003 Commonwealth dead and 87 German war graves. In 1915 Bethune was the location of the 33rd Casualty Clearing Station, through which Astley likely passed.

Edwin Cyril Edginton died in a hospital at Antwerp on 22 October 1918, a matter of days before the end of the war. An Assistant Clerk with the Board, he was 20 years old and a private in 8th Battalion, The Queens (Royal West Surrey) Regiment. He lived with his parents at West End Road, Southall, Middlesex and is buried at Schoonselhof Cemetery in Belgium. His remains were taken there after the armistice as part of a consolidation exercise.

Cemetery – Lapugnouy

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Another Board casualty two days later was Rupert J Smithson, a Second Division Clerk since 1903 and a Corporal in the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC). Rupert died on 24 October 1918. The principal role of the RAMC was the medical evacuation of casualties from the battlefield, and most of its own fatalities were caused by artillery fire. However, Rupert worked on the preventative health side, and had wide-ranging responsibilities covering waste management and provision of potable water and bathing and delousing centres. He would have come in to close contact with a range of debilitating diseases such as trench foot, typhoid and dysentery and in 1918 was exposed to the influenza epidemic that resulted in high casualty rates in the second half of the year. Rupert died aged 33 from influenza and bronchial pneumonia aged 33, in an epidemic that may also have accounted for the deaths of his colleagues Edwin Edginton and Robert Buckingham.

John Kenneth Rhodes joined the Board as a Second Division clerk in 1912. He was a 2nd Lieutenant in the Border Regiment and was 25 when he died on 16 July 1916 in the northern area of the Somme battlefield. On the basis that they were expected to lead from the front, the life expectancy for a 2nd Lieutenant at the time was less than a month, and at times as low as two weeks – the shortest for any rank in the infantry. He was survived by his mother who lived at Hill Park, Ulverston.

Cyril William Gibson was a Gunner with ‘B’ Battery, 47 Brigade the Royal Field Artillery. He was 21 when he was killed on 5 December 1917 by a defective shell which exploded while being handled. He is buried in Tyne Cot Cemetery near Ypres which, with nearly 12,000 graves, is the largest cemetery maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. The area was the scene of heavy fighting towards the end of 1917 as part of the advance on Passchendaele, also known as the Third Battle of Ypres, a battle that became synonymous with the misery of fighting in thick mud. Such was the carnage that nearly two-thirds of the burials at Tyne Cot are unidentified.

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Most of the battle took place on largely reclaimed marshland which was swampy even without rain. The heavy preparatory bombardment in which Cyril Gibson and the Royal Field Artillery would have participated tore up the surface of the land which, following heavy rain, turned the area into a sea of deep ‘liquid mud’. It was into this mud that an unknown number of soldiers, weighed down with their equipment, sunk without trace.

After three months of fierce fighting the battle ended, with the Allies sustaining almost half-a- million casualties. They had captured a mere five miles of new front at a cost of 140,000 lives, a ratio of roughly two inches gained per dead soldier.

The enormous casualty levels — coupled with the horrendous conditions in which the battle was fought — damaged Field-Marshal Douglas Haig’s reputation as a battle strategist. Haig’s statue now stands opposite Dover House, where Cyril Gibson used to work. Haig is buried at Dryburgh Abbey in the Scottish Borders beneath a headstone similar to those that commemorate the men who died under his command.

The last resting place of Field Marshall Sir Douglas Haig, Dryburgh Abbey

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There are four names on the Board’s memorial, which is located at the foot of the east staircase in St Andrew’s House.

William Murray Hutchison was born in Sheffield in 1893. He attended the Liverpool Institute (an all-boys grammar school) before coming to Edinburgh to join the Board in 1912. William’s decision to work in Edinburgh may have been influenced by the fact that his father, a journalist, was born in the city in 1866 and so had family links here. Although he did not study at Edinburgh University, like other civil servants he was able to join the University’s Officer Training Corps (OTC) where he held the rank of Cadet Colour-Sergeant.

The Local Government Board for Scotland

Wiliam Murray Hutchison

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The OTC was founded in 1908 to remedy a critical shortage of officers during the Boer War. It had a senior division in eight universities including Edinburgh, and a junior division based in public schools (later the cadet force). During the war, the senior divisions became officer producing units, with some 30,000 students passing through them.

His experience in the OTC made William well placed to join the rush to enlist in August 1914, and he duly volunteered to join the Special Reserve. Around 600 Edinburgh University students and graduates were given immediate commissions, and William became a 2nd Lieutenant in The King’s (The Liverpool Regiment). He was promoted to Lieutenant in 1915 and Captain in 1916. William was awarded the Military Cross in 1915 and was mentioned in dispatches twice.

When we talk about events in 1916 most people think of the Somme offensive, which started in the summer. However, the fighting was continual, and there was a steady loss of experienced soldiers even during the relatively quiet periods before the main offensive began.

During the action on 16th May, 1915, near Rue du Bois, at 3pm, in response

to calls for ammunition, Lieutenant Hutchison led a party of men across

the open under a very heavy machine gun fire, and succeeded in getting through

with most of his men. The last part of the journey had to be done on hands and knees. On the 18th May he organised and conducted an attack and led the bombing

party, and by his work forced the surrender of 200 Germans and caused

200 more to retreat, leaving their arms and equipment.

London Gazette, July 1915

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The King’s had been in the area of Bruay since mid-March and had used the time to rest pending the handover of the line from French to British forces. On 18 April William marched with his unit to Calonne and by 10 o’clock that evening had taken up position in second line trenches behind the South Staffordshires. Such relief operations were usually carried out under cover of darkness so as not to attract attention. The next few days saw sporadic action with intermittent shelling. On 22 April The King’s relieved the South Staffordshires and took up position at the front. The shelling continued over the next few days, and on the 27th a gas alert was given in the evening. Around this time, William was seriously wounded when a rifle grenade (a piece of ordnance which is as it sounds – a projectile grenade fired from a rifle) landed near him. He died two days later at the age of 22.

William had just been appointed to join the staff of his Brigade and was due to join them when he finished the period in the trenches in which he was killed. Having survived nearly two years of fighting when the average life expectancy for a commissioned officer in the infantry was six weeks, William’s luck had finally run out. Had he made it to the Brigade Staff, his chances of surviving the war would have markedly increased. One of four brothers, William was the second son of Mr and Mrs William Innes Hutchison of Sefton Park, Liverpool. His older brother, Captain Innes Owen Hutchison, served with The Black Watch and was killed in Mesopotamia four months earlier. Innes was 24 years old, has no known grave, and is commemorated on the Basra Memorial near where British troops were still fighting 90 years later.

William is buried in the Bruay Communual Cemetery Extension. Bruay is in the Pas-de-Calais north west of Arras. When the French Tenth Army handed over this part of the line to Commonwealth forces in early 1916, the 22nd Casualty Clearing Station at Bruay used the cemetery extension to bury those who died while being treated for their wounds. The cemetery contains around 400 dead.

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William features in the Edinburgh University Roll of Honour, along with over 900 students, graduates and alumni (including Elsie Maud Inglis, the noted doctor, and Lord Kitchener who drowned when HMS Hampshire was sunk about a month after William died). The roll, with over 850 pictures to match the names, is a particularly sobering document to review, with each page revealing some of the portraits of a lost generation.

Hugh Mackenzie was 45 years old when he died on 27 September 1915. He is commemorated on the Loos Memorial along with 20,000 other soldiers who have no known grave.

Son of Alexander and Isabella Mackenzie, of Nigg, Ross-shire, Hugh had served for over 23 years as a regular soldier with the Cameronians before leaving the Army to join the Board. When war was declared Hugh’s experience was called upon, and he found himself back in action serving with 5th Battalion as Company Sgt Major.

The Loos offensive began on 25 September 1915 following a four–day artillery bombardment in which 250,000 shells were fired. It was called off in failure three days later. Presided over by Field Marshall Haig, the British committed six divisions to the attack. Haig was persuaded to launch the Loos offensive, despite misgivings. He was concerned at both a shortage in shells and the fatigued state of his troops. He was further concerned given the nature of the flat terrain that would need to be crossed, but which offered no cover.

Set against these concerns however, was the fact that the British enjoyed massive numerical supremacy against the German opposition of up to seven to one in places. Once the initial bombardment had concluded, the battle plan called for the release of 140 tons of chlorine

Bruay Communual Cemetery Extension

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gas from the British front line. The quantity of gas used was designed to overcome the primitive German gas masks in use at the time, but this aspect of the attack did not go to plan. In places, the wind blew the gas back into the British trenches and resulted in over 2,600 casualties.

During the battle the British suffered 50,000 casualties including Hugh MacKenzie. German casualties were estimated at approximately half the British number.

Hugh was survived by his wife, Jane, who subsequently emigrated to Australia.

It was during this battle that Rudyard Kipling’s son, John, was lost believed killed. The fact that he was listed as missing sparked a campaign by his parents to locate his body and give him a proper burial. Despite their best efforts he was never found. The whereabouts of John and his comrades Hugh MacKenzie and Alexander Fraser (qv) remain unknown to this day. Rudyard Kipling provided the foreword to the Edinburgh University Roll of Honour, which also features William Hutchison and Bertram Matthews (qv).

Ronald William Sanders, son of William and Annie Sanders, of Granton Road, Leith, Edinburgh, died at Gallipoli on 12 July 1915. He was 22 years old.

Ronald was a Private with 4th Battalion The Royal Scots (The Queen’s Edinburgh Rifles). He sailed from Liverpool on 24 May 1915, and travelled via Egypt to the Gallipoli peninsula where the Battalion landed on 14 June 1915. By this time, around 6,000 Commonwealth troops had been killed and a further 15,000 wounded out of an original force of 70,000. The medical facilities were completely overwhelmed and one British soldier wrote that Gallipoli “looked like a midden and smelt like an open cemetery”. Gallipoli was one of the major disasters of the war, and was a factor which caused the architect, Winston Churchill, to retreat in to the political wilderness for the best part of 20 years. The idea was simple in that by opening a second front the Germans would be forced to split their army. However, poor preparation, an underestimation of the ability of the Turkish fighting forces and a lack of political direction all conspired to cause the operation to fail. Ironically, the one major success in the whole campaign was the withdrawal, which was done virtually without loss. However, as Churchill was to comment after another valiant withdrawal at Dunkirk some 25 years later, “Wars are not won by evacuations”.

Ronald’s Battalion returned to Egypt on 8 January 1916, but his body was never found and lies somewhere on the peninsula to this day. He is commemorated on the Helles Memorial along with more than 21,000 comrades.

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Bertram Cash Matthews was born in 1891 and attended Ilminster Grammar School. Alongside his colleague William Hutchison, he joined Edinburgh University OTC in October 1912 and served as a Cadet with the Corps until August 1914, when he received a Commission as a Second Lieutenant in the 11th Royal Scots.

11th Battalion, The Royal Scots were formed in Edinburgh in 1914 and, after training, landed in France in May 1915 as part of 9th Scottish Division.

By 1917 Bertram was serving with 2nd Battalion, The Royal Scots which had been a Regular Army Battalion prior to the war. Three years later the losses were such that most Regular units bore little resemblance to those that took to the field in 1914. In March 1917 2nd Battalion was fighting as part of 8th Brigade, and preparing for the Battle of Arras which was due to start in the middle of April.

Bertram was 25 years old when he died on 24 March 1917 in the preparatory stages of the Arras campaign. He is buried in Bailleul Cemetery near Arras, alongside 5,000 comrades. He was survived by his parents, Joseph Cash Matthews and Florence Matthews, of Alexandra Road, Parkstone, Dorset.

Bertram Cash Matthews

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Kitchener’s New Army11th Royal Scots were part of Kitchener’s ‘New Army’ which was formed at the outbreak of war. The New Army was made up of volunteers (as opposed to Regular units) which Kitchener (as Secretary for War) formed because he did not agree with the popular belief that “it would all over by Christmas”. Kitchener was convinced that the war would be long and brutal and that, if it was timed properly, the arrival of a new well-trained army would deliver a decisive blow. As things turned out, it did no such thing. Instead, thousands of inexperienced troops were poured into the grinding machine that was the Western Front, organised around geographical areas or workplaces like the Civil Service Rifles.

The Civil Service Rifles was known as a ‘pals Battalion’, so-called because in order to aid enlistment and build cohesion recruits were called up alongside people they knew from their civilian lives. The downside was that when the Battalion went into action, the town or organisation with which the men were associated was dealt a heavy blow, having to cope with a large number of casualties over a short period of time. Clearly Whitehall was a prime recruiting ground for the Civil Service Rifles, and so it was to this unit that Robert Buckingham enlisted, along with Dover House colleagues Frederick Grist and Charles Henry (qv). By the end of the war 1,240 men of the Civil Service Rifles were dead.

The trackbed of the railway leading into the grounds of Bangour Military Hospital

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There are 22 names commemorated on the Board’s memorial, only one of whom was not from the Second Division. The average age when they died was just 22.

Henry Stuart Adams was an Assistant Clerk who joined the Board in 1914. He was called up in 1916 and became Private 291946 Adams, 7th Battalion, The Black Watch (The Royal Highlanders). He died on 25 April 1917 and his name is recorded on the Arras Memorial as he has no known grave. This territorial Battalion was originally raised in St Andrews, Fife in August 1914 during the general euphoria that existed as young men rushed to see action before it was “all over by Christmas”. The Battalion became part of 153rd Brigade in 51st (Highland) Division – part of General Allenby’s 3rd Army – and landed at Boulogne on 2 May 1915. It saw action at Beaumont-Hamel on the Somme in 1916 and, by the time Henry joined, was fighting in the Battles of the Scarpe in the Arras sector.

The Arras Memorial commemorates almost 35,000 men who died in the Arras sector between spring 1916 and August 1918 (the ‘Advance to Victory’). The men listed on the memorial have no known grave. One of the most conspicuous events of this period included the Arras offensive of April-May 1917, in which Henry lost his life. The offensive started on 9 April and was an attempt to break the stalemate and push the war into the open ground behind the trenches, so that the Allies’ superiority in numbers could be better exploited. Allied troops made many advances, but they failed to achieve the breakthrough they has sought. The sector reverted to stalemate when the battle ended on 16 May with 160,000 casualties.

The Board of Agriculture

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George Tilson Kerr was a Clerk with the Board. He was called up in 1916, and two yeas later he was Sgt Kerr of the Royal Field Artillery. He was 24 when he died on 1 June 1918. His parents, George and Frances Phoebe Kerr, lived and worked at the Edinburgh War Hospital in Bangour, West Lothian. He is buried at Dainville War Cemetery in the Pas De Calais, which contains casualties sustained as part of the huge German advance that began in April of that year. His death was recorded by his mother at Linlithgow registrars on 11 December 1918. Mrs Frances Phoebe Kerr was also nominated as the executor of his estate George’s parents worked at Bangour Military Hospital, one of the many war hospitals established to cope with the large number of casualties.

Scottish Military HospitalsThe buildings at Bangour can still be seen near the village of Dechmont in West Lothian, including the relocated station and the remains of the track bed used by the hospital trains, which took the wounded straight in to the grounds. Bangour was built as an asylum in the early part of the 19th century, and was taken over in 1915 by the War Office as a military hospital. The number of staff and beds increased dramatically to cater for the influx of wounded soldiers who began to arrive from June of that year. Leith was a key port for the hospital ships, and by 1918 the hospital had reached a record capacity of 3,000 patients crammed into wards, huts and specially-erected marquees in the grounds. The hospital trains took the wounded straight into the grounds, which avoided any risk to public morale had the thousands of casualties been unloaded at a civilian station. The railway line into Bangour was closed in 1919. Another of the main receiving hospitals was the military hospital at Stobhill near Rutherglen. Requisitioned in 1914, casualties were again brought by rail directly into the grounds.

47

The Caledonian Railway Company was commissioned by the War Office to construct ambulance trains for the conveyance of wounded soldiers from the front.

Andrew Russell Jeff was a 2nd Lieutenant in 12th Battalion, The Highland Light Infantry, son of Mr and Mrs Andrew Jeff of Greenhead Avenue, South Govan, Glasgow. He was born in Coatbridge in 1898 and died on 13 August 1916 aged only 18. 12th Battalion was formed in Hamilton in September 1914, and after initial training Andrew’s unit landed at Boulogne on 10 July 1915. The Battalion saw action during the Somme offensive as part of the 15th (Scottish) Division under Major General McCracken. Andrew is buried at Villiers-Brettoneux in the Somme region. The cemetery was developed after the Armistice, when graves were brought in from other temporary burial grounds and from the battlefields.

Norman Haig Anderson joined the Board before war broke out. He was a Clerk earning £83 per annum by the time he was called up in May 1916, at 21 years old. This means that although he would have been old enough, Norman did not join up in the first ‘rush to enlist’. In 1916 the Government introduced the Military Service Act, which specified that all able-bodied men between the ages of 18 to 41 were liable to be called up, and Norman was likely caught up in this exercise. Norman would barely have had time to complete his initial training before he found himself with 2nd Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders on the Somme on the morning of 1 July 1916.

Interior of an Ambulance Train

48

2nd Battalion featured in the Order of Battle as part of VIII Corps, and Norman was seriously injured later that day while in action near Serre. He was evacuated back home but died of his wounds in a hospital in London on 23 July 1916. Unusually for a First World War casualty, Norman is buried in Edinburgh in the Commonwealth War Graves cemetery at North Merchiston, less than a mile from his family home at Polwarth Gardens where he lived with his parents, John Haig Anderson, mother Margaret and brother Ronald. Norman’s sister Kathleen died in 1901 aged 2. Inscribed on his tombstone by his father are the words Pro Patris.

Dulce et Decorum est Pro Patria Mori features in the work of Wilfred Owen. Roughly translated it means “it is a wonderful and great honour to fight and die for your country”. Owen, having described the death throes of a comrade coughing up blood from his froth-corrupted lungs following a gas attack, goes on to describe this as “the old Lie”. Nonetheless, it was clearly important for John and Margaret to be able to grieve on the basis that their son’s death had counted for something.

The Anderson family home at Polwarth Gardens, Edinburgh

49

Norman lies beneath a broken headstone in North Merchiston Cemetery, Edinburgh, alongside 116 other First World War Burials, most of whom died in the military hospitals here as a result of their wounds. As the other headstones show, the injured were still dying well into the 1920s.

Frank Symons Bussel Beedle was a 2nd Lieutenant in The Gordon Highlanders. He was killed in action on 11 April 1918 when he was only 19 years old. Although still a teenager, Frank’s bravery two months earlier resulted in him being awarded the Military Cross. The citation stated:

“ For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in an attack. When the leading waves were held up by an enemy machine gun and the whole attack was in danger of being delayed, he led his platoon forward, captured the gun and took the crew prisoners. Later he carried out a daring reconnaissance and also led a fighting patrol, obtaining valuable information on both occasions. He showed splendid courage and initiative.”

Frank was the son of Lieutenant Commander Beedle, R.N., and Mrs Marie A Beedle who lived at Lasswade in Midlothian. Along with 20,000 of his comrades, he is commemorated on the Loos Memorial as he has no known grave.

50

Oliver Bruce worked for the Board from 1914 until he was called up in 1917. 2nd Lieutenant Bruce served with 2nd Battalion, The Rifle Brigade. He was the son of Oliver and Jessie Bruce of Alder Bank Place, Edinburgh, and died on 9 June 1918 aged 21. He lies in Terlincthun Cemetery on the northern outskirts of Boulogne. 2nd Battalion was involved in the Third Battle of the Aisne, which raged from 27 May until 6 June and was the final attempt by the German Army to win the war before the arrival of US forces in France in numbers. The line facing the Germans was held by four British divisions of IX Corps which, somewhat ironically, had been sent from Flanders in early May in order to recuperate. The exhausted troops were unable to contain an onslaught launched with a bombardment by 4,000 guns and a gas attack. They suffered 29,000 casualties and IX Corps was virtually wiped out.

The first rest camps for those fighting at the front were established near Terlincthun in August 1914, and numerous hospitals and other medical establishments sprung up in the vicinity. The cemetery at Terlincthun where Oliver lies was begun in June 1918, when the space available for burials in the civil cemeteries at Boulogne and Wimereux became exhausted. From that point on Terlincthun was used for all burials from the base hospitals, and contained 3,300 dead by the time the war ended a matter of months later.

Thomas Arthur Dunn was 20 years old when he died on 16 November 1916. The Exchequer records held in the National Archives simply note that his service with the Board of Agriculture as an Assistant Clerk ended on that date. He was the son of Richard and Mary Jane Dunn, of Woodhorn Road, Ashington, Northumberland, and an old boy of Morpeth Grammar School. Thomas served with the 7th Battalion of The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, which was raised at Stirling in August 1914. The Division landed in France in December that year and by March 1916 was fighting as part of 51st Highland Division. In November the Division was committed to the Battle of the Ancre, the final act of the Battle of the Somme. The battle was launched on 13 November and, supported by artillery and tanks, Thomas’ Division stormed across the heavily-defended Y Ravine and captured the village of Beaumont Hamel. The fighting was savage, and casualties included the writer Hector Hugh Monro, who was killed by a sniper’s bullet. Like Monro, Thomas Dunn has no known grave and is commemorated on the memorial to the missing at Thiepval.

51

Alexander Fraser was a Second Division Clerk with the Board. As 2nd Lieutenant Fraser, he served with 1st Battalion The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders). He died on 13 October 1915 during the Battle of Loos (also knows as ‘The Big Push’). Seventeen ambulance trains were deployed to the area to handle the casualties. Alexander was survived by his parents, Mr and Mrs Donald Fraser of Blair-Atholl, Perthshire. Alexander has no known grave and is commemorated on the Loos Memorial. Percy Helms had worked for the Board for a number of years and was a Clerk receiving a top-end salary of £114 per annum. He was called up towards the end of 1917 and, as 2nd Lieutenant Percy Helms, he fought with 9th Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment. He was 27 years old when he died of his wounds on 5 October 1918, a matter of weeks before the end of the war. He was survived by his mother Elizabeth who lived in Northampton, a woman who had already had to cope with the loss of Percy’s father, John. Percy is buried in Doingt Communal Cemetery alongside 417 comrades. The cemetery served 20th, 41st and 55th Casualty Clearing Stations between September and October 1918. In October 1918 Percy’s Battalion was fighting as part of 25th Division which, on 5 October, was engaged in an assault of the German defensive line at Beaurevoir. Fighting for the well-defended position went on until 7 October, by which time a 3,000 yard advance had been made despite heavy casualties, including Percy.

BATTLE OF AUBERS Prior to the Battle of Loos, The Black

Watch had been in the area of Le Touret for the Battle of Aubers. This battle had been planned to press the Germans at a time when they were heavily committed

on the Eastern Front. On 9 May at 3.57pm, while the German trenches were being subjected to heavy bombardment, the

leading companies of The 1st Black Watch went over the top despite their support being late to arrive. Mindful of the risk of being out in the open, they

were ordered to move at the double across No Man’s Land, but to no avail. Most were either killed or captured. Alexander Fraser

was probably a replacement for one of more than 11,000 British casualties on that day, large numbers of whom were cut down by machine-gun fire within

yards of their own trench. Mile for mile, Division for Division, the losses suffered by The Black Watch on 9 May were one

of the highest of the entire war.

52

Walter Henderson was a Junior Staff Clerk earning £227 with the Board. Sapper Henderson of the Royal Engineers died on 21 February 1916 aged 21. Like his colleague Norman Anderson (qv), his is an unusual case in that he is buried in a cemetery in Scotland. His remains lie in Rutherglen Cemetery alongside 87 other casualties, most of whom died of their wounds after being evacuated home. Sapper Henderson died after enduring the long journey from the front to Stobhill Hospital. He was survived by his father Alexander, and his brother George.

Alexander Hunter worked as a Clerk until he was called up in 1917. 2nd Lieutenant Hunter served with the Lancashire Fusiliers, and was son to James and Mary Ferguson Hunter, of Russell Street, Falkirk, Stirlingshire. Alexander was 22 years old when he died on 20 November 1917. His unit was fighting as part of 154th Brigade with the 51st Highland Division. On 20 November the Division was attacking in the area of Flesquieres on the opening of the Battle of Cambrai. This was the battle where tanks were first deployed in numbers, helping to break deeply and quickly into apparently impregnable defences with few casualties. This result was widely regarded as being a great and spectacular achievement, but two months later a court of inquiry was convened after the hard-fought gains were lost to a German counter attack. The initial success which cost Alexander his life had been short lived, and there was bitter disappointment at the net result. Alexander has no known grave and is commemorated on the Memorial to the Missing at Thiepval.

“ This result was widely regarded as being a great and spectacular achievement, but two months later a court of inquiry was convened after the hard-fought gains were lost to a German counter attack.”

53

Private D Moodie served with 1/8 Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (The Argyllshire Battalion) which was raised at Dunoon in 1914. He died on 30 July 1918 and is buried at the St Sever Cemetery Extension near Rouen. Many Commonwealth camps and hospitals were stationed on the southern outskirts of Rouen, including eight general, five stationary, one British Red Cross and one labour hospital, and No. 2 Convalescent Depot.

A number of the dead from these hospitals were buried in other cemeteries, but the great majority were taken to the city cemetery of St Sever. In September 1916 it was found necessary to begin an extension which by 1920 contained 8,346 Commonwealth dead, only 10 of which could not be identified. The high level of identifications is unusual for a First War Cemetery, where it was common for men to be subjected to such a level of violence at their death that identification was often difficult. This was compounded by bodies being piled into mass graves by the other side after ground was taken. The meagre consolation for men like Private Moodie, who met their end in the casualty hospitals, was that their names were not lost.

By July 1918, Private Moodie was fighting as part of 15th Scottish Division which, on 27 July, was holding a two-mile stretch of front facing the village of Buzancy. On the 28th they attacked across ground that was devoid of cover, and although they took the Château of Buzancy quite quickly, they found the village more troublesome.

Eventually, outflanked and outnumbered, the Highlanders were driven first from the village, then from the château. They came clear of artillery fire only to find enemy machine gunners to the rear of them. These they bombed with hand-grenades taken from a German dump in the château grounds and, after having sent back as prisoners six officers and over two hundred others ranks, they regained their starting line soon after 6pm. The 15th Division, which had been in most of the heavy encounters of the war since Loos in September 1915, regarded the action on this day as “the severest and most gruelling” of them all. Private Moodie was a casualty and died of his wounds two days later.

54

D McDonald of 14th Battalion The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders was 21 when he died on 25 March 1918. His parents, Jonathan and Rachel McDonald, lived in Portree on Skye. The 14th Battalion was raised at Stirling in 1915, and by April 1918 had been reduced to cadre strength due to losses. Private McDonald is buried at Ètaples Military Cemetery south of the town of Boulogne. The area around Ètaples was the scene of immense concentrations of Commonwealth reinforcement camps and hospitals because it was remote from attack and accessible by railway from both the northern and the southern battlefields. In 1917 100,000 troops were camped among the sand dunes and the hospitals, which included 11 general, one stationary, four Red Cross hospitals and a convalescent depot. Together they could deal with 22,000 wounded or sick. The cemetery contains 10,771 Commonwealth burials. As with the St Sever Cemetery Extension, only 35 of these burials are unidentified.

John McFarlane was an Assistant Clerk who joined the Board on 7 December 1914 as he was still too young to join the Army. He seems to have joined up as soon as he could, however, as he does not feature on the Board payroll after April 1916. Private McFarlane served with 7th Battalion The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) which was raised in Fife. He died on 24 July 1918 and is buried at Bouilly Cemetery. The cemetery was formed after the Armistice to consolidate all the burials in the surrounding area, most of whom were killed in the Battle of the Marne which began on 18 of July. Over half of the 200 soldiers interred are unidentified.

Philip Henry Hamelin Nicholson, a Clerk with the Board, was a Private with the 1st/14th London Regiment (London Scottish), a territorial Battalion which had been fighting in France since October 1914. He died on 1 July 1916 in a diversionary attack on Gommecourt, as the main Somme offensive got under way. Four of the 20,000 who died that day are commemorated on the two war memorials at the foot of the West staircase in St Andrew’s House. Like so many others obliterated by the shellfire or lost to the mud, Philip has no known grave and is commemorated on the memorial to the missing at Thiepval, along with 72,000 of his comrades.

55

John Melville served as a 2nd Lieutenant with 2nd/5th Battalion the Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding Regiment). Another Clerk with the Board, he was 24 years old when he died on 27 November 1917, survived by his mother, Elizabeth Davidson Melville, of Lochlea Road, Newlands, Glasgow. His father William had pre-deceased him. The 2nd/5th had been formed at Halifax in September 1914 as a home service (‘second line’) unit, but such was the pressing need to replace mounting losses the Battalion was sent to France in January 1917 and by the autumn was engaged in the Battle of Cambrai. John died alongside his colleague, 2nd Lieutenant Alexander Hunter of the Lancashire Fusiliers. Like Alexander, John has no known grave and is commemorated on the Cambrai Memorial along with 7,000 others.

Robert Palmer was 23 when he died on 30 July 1916. Another Clerk with the Board, his parents lived at Sature Mill, Middlebie, Ecclefechan in Dumfriesshire. Along with his colleagues Henry Adams and John McFarlane (qv), Robert served with 7th Battalion, The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders). He is buried at Caterpillar Valley War Cemetery near Longueval in the Somme district. The cemetery was hugely increased after the Armistice, when the graves of more than 5,500 men were brought in from other small cemeteries and the battlefields of the Somme. Like Robert, the great majority of these soldiers died in the Somme offensive in the second half of 1916.

William Rust died on 24 April 1917. Like his colleague D McDonald (qv), he served with 14th Battalion The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, which was originally raised in Stirling. In April 1917 William’s Battalion was fighting as part of 40th Division and engaged in the assault on the hamlet of Beaucamp, which was captured over 24 and 25 April. Unfortunately, William was one of 11 Argylls belonging to the 14th Battalion who fell on the 24th. His name can be found on Pier 15A of the Theipval Memorial, which means that his last resting place is unknown. His remains lie to this day either in an unmarked grave or somewhere in the vicinity of Beaucamp. William was working for the Board as a Clerk when war broke out.

56

David Patton was a Surveyor with the Board and son to David and Margaret Patton of Pollok Road, Shawlands, in Glasgow. Born in 1882, he attended Strathbungo School and the OTC at Edinburgh University from March 1916 to May 1917. Second Lieutenant Patton served with 2nd Battalion The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) and died on 11 February 1918. He was 35 years old. David is buried at Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery along with 9,000 others. The village of Lijssenthoek, while close to the front, was out of the extreme range of most German field artillery and so became a natural place to establish a Casualty Clearing Station. The cemetery is 12 miles east of the town of Ieper, better known to the soldiers at the time as “Wipers” (Ypres).

Robert Waddell of the 14th Battalion Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders died 6 September 1916. He was 22 years old. The 14th Battalion was formed in Stirling in 1915 and landed at Boulogne in July 1916, shortly after the start of the Somme offensive.

Robert was survived by his mother, Hannah, who lived at Albert Road in Eyemouth. Waddell is a prominent family name in Eyemouth to this day, where Robert is commemorated on the town’s war memorial. He is buried at Maroc War Cemetery in the Pas de Calais.

David Patton

57

George Butler Walker, son of William and Ellen Louisa Foxley Walker of Bonaly Road, Edinburgh died on 9 April 1917. He served as a Lance Corporal with 1st/9th Battalion The Royal Scots and was 21 years old. The Battalion was raised in August 1914 at East Claremont Street, and was originally responsible for Scottish coastal defences. However, by 1917, such was the demand for reinforcements that they had been dispatched to France, and George found himself fighting as part of 51st Highland Division alongside his colleague Henry Adams in the Arras offensive. George died on the opening day, and Henry was killed two weeks later. George is buried at Nine Elms Cemetery, six kilometres from Arras. The cemetery includes a large number of soldiers who fell on the same day as George, including a row of 80 graves belonging to the men of a Canadian Infantry Battalion who were all cut down as soon as they stepped out their trench.

Nine Elms Cemetery. The crosses at the far end are French burials.

58

59

60

The Dead Man’s PennyOnce the carnage was over, the nation was in shock. The scale of the losses were enormous, with hardly a family across the land left unaffected.

This was a difficult time for the Government given events in the east where the Russian Revolution had taken hold, compounded by the fact that Britain was essentially broke.

There was a clear and pressing need to recognise the sacrifice of the fallen, but care had to be taken to do this in a way that was respectful and not seen as patronising. While there was undoubtedly a genuine desire in many quarters to recognise the sacrifice of many, there was also a desire to address well-founded concerns that the prevailing sense of disenchantment around the scale of the carnage, and the absence of the ‘land fit for heroes’, could develop into something more serious.

A memorial plaque was issued to the next-of-kin of all British and Empire service personnel killed as a result of the war. The plaques were made of bronze, and commonly referred to as the ‘Dead Man’s Penny’ because of the similarity in appearance to the somewhat smaller penny coin of the day. 1,355,000 plaques were issued using 450 tonnes of bronze, along with a facsimile letter from the King and a commemorative scroll.

However the Dead Man’s Penny was received then, holding one today you cannot escape the sense of scant consolation for the loved one who would never be coming home.

“ This was a difficult time for the Government given events in the east where the Russian Revolution had taken hold, compounded by the fact that Britain was essentially broke.”

61

Dulce et Decorum EstBent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs And towards our distant rest began to trudge. Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling, Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time; But someone still was yelling out and stumbling, And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime… Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light, As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. If in some smothering dreams you too could pace Behind the wagon that we flung him in, And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin; If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, My friend, you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory, The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est Pro patria mori.

Wilfred Owen8 October 1917

Adams, Henry Stuart Black Watch 25 April 1917 Unknown Board of

Agriculture

Affleck, Robert Royal Scots 8 May 1915 22 Scottish Insurance

Commission

Anderson,

David Alexander

Highland Light

Infantry

17 August 1916 27 Scottish Insurance

Commission

Anderson,

Norman Haig

Seaforth

Highlanders

23 July 1916 21 Clerk, Board of

Agriculture

Beedle, Frank

Symons Bussel

Gordon

Highlanders

11 April 1918 19 Board of

Agriculture

Bruce, Oliver Rifle Brigade 9 June 1918 21 Board of

Agriculture

Buckingham,

Robert

Civil Service Rifles 1 September 1918 19 Scottish Education

Board

Burgess, James

Reginald Homes

Royal Scots 10 April 1915 21 Scottish Insurance

Commission

Cameron, James

Ritchie

Lancashire

Fusiliers

23 March 1918 29 Scottish Insurance

Commission

Campbell, James

Henderson

Highland Light Infantry 23 April 1917 23 Scottish Insurance

Commission

Name Regiment Died Age Position

Roll of the Fallen

Cheyne, Frederick

Elton

Cameronians 29 October 1916 19 Scottish Education

Board

Cooper, Astley

De Borde

Royal Engineers 7 July 1915 26 Scottish Education

Board

David, Frederick

John Lewis

South Wales Borderers 19 September 1918 23 Scottish Insurance

Commission

Davie, John Royal Scots 11 May 1918 25 Scottish Insurance

Commission

Double, Harold

Ernest G

Middlesex Regiment 1 July 1916 Unknown Scottish Education

Board

Douglas, William Royal Naval Volunteer

Reserve

26 October 1917 21 Scottish Insurance

Commission

Dunn, Thomas

Arthur

Argyll & Sutherland

Highlanders

16 November 1916 20 Assistant Clerk,

Board of

Agriculture

Edington,

Edwin Cyril

Royal West

Surreys

22 October 1918 20 Scottish Education

Board

Francis, Christopher

Thomas

Royal Scots 26 May 1916 29 Scottish Insurance

Commission

Fraser, Alexander Black Watch 13 October 1915 Unknown Clerk, Board of

Agriculture

Name Regiment Died Age Position

Roll of the Fallen

Gibson, Cyril

William

Royal Field

Artillery

5 December 1917 21 Scottish Education

Board

Goodfellow,

William

Royal Scots 23 April 1917 31 Scottish Insurance

Commission

Grist, Frederick

Charles

Civil Service Rifles 7 October 1916 24 Scottish Education

Board

Helms, Percy Yorkshire

Regiment

5 October 1918 27 Clerk, Board of

Agriculture

Henderson, Ernest

Spring

London Regiment

(Artists’ Rifles)

30 October 1917 20 Scottish Insurance

Commission

Henderson, Walter Royal Engineers 21 February 1916 21 Junior Staff Clerk,

Board of

Agriculture

Henry, Charles

George

Unknown 15 October 1916 22 Scottish Education

Board

Hunter, Alexander Lancashire Fusiliers 20 November 1917 22 Board of

Agriculture

Hunter, James

Williamson

Royal Scots 14 November 1916 28 Scottish Insurance

Commission

Hutchison, William

Murray

The Kings 29 July 1916 22 Local Government

Board

Name Regiment Died Age Position

Roll of the Fallen

Ims, Robert Thomas Queens

Westminster Rifles

23 August 1915 20 Scottish Education

Board

Jackson, John Bell Royal Flying Corps 7 June 1917 29 Scottish Insurance

Commission

Jamieson, Neil Ernest Argyll & Sutherland

Highlanders

13 March 1917 21 Scottish Education

Board

Jarvis, Robert Bogie Royal Scots Fusiliers 23 April 1917 21 Scottish Insurance

Commission

Jeff, Andrew Russell Highland Light Infantry 13 August 1916 18 Board of Agriculture

Johnston, Robert

William

Gordon Highlanders 1 July 1916 20 Scottish Insurance

Commission

Jolly, John Spenser Royal Scots 1 July 1916 27 Assistant Keeper,

Scottish Education

Board

Kennedy, Norman Royal Scots Fusiliers 31 October 1917 23 Scottish Insurance

Commission

Kerr, George Tilson Royal Field Artillery 1 June 1918 24 Clerk, Board of

Agriculture

Legge, William Royal Air Force 13 June 1918 23 Scottish Insurance

Commission

Name Regiment Died Age Position

Roll of the Fallen

Lindsay, Francis

Howard

London Scottish 1 July 1916 40 Scottish Education

Board

Lindsay, James

Birrell

Scots Guards 19 December 1916 28 Scottish Insurance

Commission

McIntosh, R B Machine Gun Corps Unknown Unknown Board of Agriculture

MacDonald, Andrew

Linton

Seaforth Highlanders 6 August 1917 22 Scottish Insurance

Commission

McDonald, D Argyll & Sutherland

Highlanders

25 March 1918 21 Board of Agriculture

MacDonald, Hugh

Ferguson

Royal Scots 20 May 1918 25 Scottish Insurance

Commission

McFarlane, John Black Watch 24 July 1918 20 Assistant Clerk, Board

of Agriculture

MacFarlane, Peter Royal Air Force 10 August 1918 23 Scottish Insurance

Commission

McIlroy, James London Regiment

(Artists’ Rifles)

23 March 1918 24 Scottish Insurance

Commission

Macintyre, James

Riggs

Royal Scots 1 July 1916 21 Assistant Clerk,

Scottish Insurance

Commission

Name Regiment Died Age Position

Roll of the Fallen

Mackay, Alastair

Sutton

Royal Scots 29 April 1915 26 Scottish Insurance

Commission

Mackay, Samuel

Francis Henderson

East Lancashires Unknown 37 Scottish Education

Board

Mackenzie, Hugh Cameronians 27 September 1915 45 Local Government

Board

Marshall, William Argyll & Sutherland

Highlanders

15 October 1916 19 Scottish Insurance

Commission

Matthews, Bertram

Cash

Royal Scots 24 March 1917 25 Local Government

Board

Maude, Charles

Gordon

Life Guards 13 January 1916 22 Assistant Clerk,

Scottish Education

Board

Moodie, D Argyll & Sutherland

Highlanders

30 July 1918 Unknown Board of Agriculture

Murray, George

Hugh

Royal Scots 1 July 1916 22 Scottish Insurance

Commission

Nichols, Harold East Surrey Regiment 7 August 1918 24 Scottish Insurance

Commission

Nicholson, Philip

Henry Hamelin

London Scottish 1 July 1916 Unknown Clerk, Board of

Agriculture

Name Regiment Died Age Position

Roll of the Fallen

Melville, John Duke of Wellington’s 27 November 1917 24 Clerk, Board of

Agriculture

Nickalls, Edward

Gilbert

Kings (Liverpool)

Regiment

19 August 1916 21 Scottish Insurance

Commission

Palmer, Robert Black Watch 30 July 1916 23 Board of Agriculture

Palmer, Samuel

William

Royal Dublin Fusiliers 27 March 1918 21 Assistant Clerk,

Scottish Insurance

Commission

Patton, David Cameronians 11 February 1918 35 Surveyor, Board of

Agriculture

Pettigrew, James Unknown Unknown Unknown Scottish Insurance

Commission

Quixley, Arthur

Newman Alfred

London Regiment 26 May 1915 18 Scottish Education

Board

Rhodes, John

Kenneth

Border Regiment 16 July 1916 25 Scottish Education

Board

Rust, William Argyll & Sutherland

Highlanders

24 April 1917 Unknown Clerk, Board of

Agriculture

Rutherford,

Robert Slight

Unknown 10 July 1918 53 Scottish Insurance

Commission

Name Regiment Died Age Position

Roll of the Fallen

Sanders,

Ronald William

Royal Scots 12 July 1915 22 Local Government

Board

Scott,

James Robinson

Kings Royal Rifle Corps 23 March 1918 24 Second Division Clerk,

Scottish Insurance

Commission

Smithson,

Rupert J

Royal Army Medical

Corps

24 October 1918 33 Scottish Education

Board

Stewart, Robert

Graham

Royal Field Artillery 28 April 1917 21 Scottish Insurance

Commission

Thom, David Kings Own Scottish

Borderers

15 September 1916 21 Assistant Clerk,

Scottish Insurance

Commission

Waddell, Robert Argyll & Sutherland

Highlanders

6 September 1916 22 Board of Agriculture

Walker, George

Butler

Royal Scots 9 April 1917 21 Board of Agriculture

Williams, Joseph

Stephenson

Kings (Liverpool

Regiment)

25 September 1917 24 Scottish Insurance

Commission

Wills, Harold James Royal Bucks Hussars 24 August 1917 17 Scottish Education

Board

Name Regiment Died Age Position

Roll of the Fallen

70

I am grateful to John Russell for researching various documents relating the casualties; to Tristram Clarke of the National Archives for providing information on wills and his colleagues in the Search Rooms who helped me to locate the Establishment and Exchequer Records of the Boards; and to Carolyn Fishman for proof-reading the text. To Mark Holdgate for his poppy photograph; To the family of Francis Howard Lindsay for permission to use his portraits.

The Imperial War Museum

The National Archives of Scotland Commonwealth War Graves Commission www.cwgc.org The British Army in the Great War of 1914-18 www.1914-1918.net/index.html

Forces War Records www.forces-war-records.co.uk

Ancestry.co.uk

Warpoetry.co.uk

The Scottish Office, Sir David Milne. 1957

McCrae’s Battalion, Jack Alexander. 2003

Edinburgh University Roll of Honour. 1921

Acknowledgements

Sources

T H E S C O T T I S H O F F I C E

THOSE WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WAR

Compiled by Neil MacLennan

© Crown copyright 2012

ISBN: 978-1-78256-222-1 APS Group Scotland DPPAS13602 (11/12)

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