Queen’s Park in the Front Line 1914 - 1918

An account of the contribution made by members and players of Queen’s Park Football Club who enlisted for service in the Great War and saw active service north of the River Somme in 1916.

Index

1. and Edinburgh Pals Battalions Pages 2 - 5 2. Paying the Price on the Somme Pages 6 - 10 3. High Wood and Beyond Pages 11 - 16 4. Commemoration on the Somme Page 17 - 18

Written by Fred Ellsworth July 1st 2016

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Glasgow and Edinburgh Pals Battalions

One of the most effective ways of encouraging enlistment was to offer recruits the opportunity to join up, train and fight alongside friends and family. The original “Pals Battalions” were based on locality. In this way many small towns in the North of England raised their own battalions of up to 1,000 men e.g. the 11th Battalion of the East Lancashire were all men from the town of Accrington.

The scheme quickly spread to battalions composed of men sharing the same background or interest. Thus, the 12th Battalion of the were known as the Hull Sportsman’s Battalion. 4 Battalions of the were composed of former pupils and students of Public Schools and Universities. Two further Battalions of Royal Fusiliers were composed of sportsmen.

Both Glasgow and Edinburgh had their own versions of Pals Battalions. In Edinburgh the 15th Battalion was formed by Robert Cranston, a prominent city businessman and former Lord Provost. The 16th Battalion Royal Scots was formed by Sir George McCrae, a prominent businessman and former Member of Parliament. “McCrae’s Battalion” was largely composed of sportsmen, and footballers in particular.

Football Team of the 16th Battalion Royal Scots – composed of 6 players from Hearts, 3 from Falkirk and 3 from Raith Rovers. Sir George McCrae is centre of the front row

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In Glasgow the 15th, 16th and 17th Battalions of the Highland Light were men from the Tramways Department, the Boys Brigade and the commercial sector respectively. The 18th Battalion was originally a “bantam” battalion of men under the official regulation height of 5 foot 3 inches.

A number of Queen’s Park members and players served with the 16th and 17th Battalions. Those who served with the 16th (Glasgow Boys Brigade) Battalion included James Alexander, a committee member and former Treasurer seen here, MacDonald Cameron, goalkeeper with the Strollers X1 who represented his country in army internationals and Thomas Walker, outside left with the Strollers X1.

William Brown, Robert Duncan, Andrew Ferguson, John Roberts and Harry Nairn Robertson were amongst those who served with the 17th (Glasgow Chamber of Commerce) Battalion.

Additional to the newly created Pals Battalions, friends continued to enlist together into the same battalions of the regular and territorial armies. As we have seen, many Queen’s Park members and players enlisted in other battalions of the – in particular, the 9th (Glasgow Highland) Battalion. Amongst those serving with the Glasgow Highlanders in 1916 were John Barbour, James Bennett, Walter Coulter, Peter Moodie Walter Frier, Peter Moodie and John Stevenson.

The idea of encouraging enlistment through the formation of Pals Battalions, and the development of other battalions based on locality and shared identity, initially seemed to make perfect sense. However, the full scale of the human loss to come had not been anticipated, nor had the impact on men who were soon to witness the deaths of long standing friends and workmates, as well as brothers and cousins. The consequence of encouraging such battalions was that loss of life was not shared equally. Whole towns and communities were disproportionately hit when their battalions had the misfortune to be in the front line when a major offensive was launched.

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During periods of withdrawal from the front lines in Belgium and France, the Glasgow Highlanders engaged in inter battalion sporting competition. In March 1915 the Glasgow Highlanders competed in the 2nd Division football championship at Bethune in France, losing in the final to the 3rd Battalion, . In May of that same year the Glasgow Highlanders went one better, defeating the Royal Engineers 3 - 0.

From around the middle of 1915 the newspapers provided little coverage of sporting activities in Belgium and France. Fortunately, from the autumn of 1916, the diarist for the 9th Battalion appears to have had sufficient interest in sport to duly record the battalion’s considerable sporting achievement, with no defeats recorded in either cricket, rugby or football in the following two years.

Football Record of 9th Battalion Highland Light Infantry 22 November 1916 Defeated 1st Battalion Queen’s 5 - 0 in Brigade Semi – Final

26 November 1916 Defeated 16th Battalion King’s Royal Rifles 2 - 0 in Brigade Final

29 November 1916 Defeated 20th Battalion Royal Fusiliers 3 - 0 in 33rd Division Semi -

Final

2 December 1916 Defeated 2nd Battalion Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders 3 - 1 in 33rd Division Final

11 August 1917 Defeated 17th Battalion Highland Light Infantry 4 - 0

1 January 1918 Defeated 18th Battalion HLI, 35th Division Champions, 2 - 0

2 January 1918 Defeated 2nd Battalion Worcester Regiment 10 - 1

4 February 1918 Defeated 20th Battalion Royal Fusiliers 5 - 0 in 33rd Division Semi - Final

11 February 1918 Retained the 33rd Division Championship by defeating the 4th Battalion King’s Liverpool Regiment 7 - 0

7 September 1918 Defeated 5th Battalion Scottish Rifles 6 - 0

17 December 1918 Defeated 16th Battalion King’s Royal Rifles Regiment 8 - 0

Glasgow Highlanders at rugby practice in August 1917 at Ghyvelde in France. On 14 August they defeated the 16th Battalion King’s Royal Rifles 16 - 5 and on 5 September they defeated the 2nd Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers 10 - 3

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9th Battalion Highland Light Infantry Football Team March 1915

Back Row (from left) : Lance Corporal A Hunter (linesman), Private Walter Parks Scott (Queen’s Park), Private John Milroy (Hampden), Private Walter Coulter (Queen’s Park), Lance Corporal G Mills, Private MacDonald Cameron (Queen’s Park) Middle Row (from left) : Private A Armstrong, Lance Corporal James Bennett (Queen’s Park), Sergeant D G Houston (Manager), Private Robert Young (Captain) (Queen’s Park), Private James Walker (Queen’s Park) Front Row (from left) : Private C Andrew (Glasgow Academicals), Private J McDonald (Third Lanark)

It is not known whether other Queen’s Park players played during 1915 – the most likely to have done so, based on first X1 appearances, being James West.

Whilst MacDonald Cameron, Walter Scott, James Walker, James West and Robert Young were unavailable from 1916 as a consequence of gaining commissions with other units, Queen’s Park’s representation in the team would have been maintained with the availability from 1916 of other former first X1 players, including John Barbour, Alex Douglas, Andrew Leslie, David McIntosh, Robert Rhind and John Stevenson.

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Paying the Price on the Somme 1916

The more than any other battle of the war has come to be associated with the volunteer battalions of the “New Army” – and the Pals Battalions in particular.

Preceded by 7 days of constant artillery bombardment 100,000 British soldiers went “over the top” at 7.30 am on the morning of 1 July 1916, on a 15 mile (24 km) front stretching from Gommecourt in the North to the River Somme in the South.

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The 16th and 17th Battalions of Highland Light Infantry, as part of 97th Brigade of the 32nd Division, were entrusted with attacking the Leipzig Redoubt, south of the Thiepval plateau, from their trenches outside Authuille. The official history of the 17th Battalion describes the last minutes before the attack :

“In sun-baked trenches everyone longed for the zero hour, while the guns rolled and shells crashed with ever-increasing intensity. Nothing was real. Men stood and waited as if in a dream. They felt as if they were listening to the overture; that soon the curtain would rise. When the guns ceased their roar, in the death-like stillness was heard the warbling of birds in "no man's land" and the grim reality of it all was felt. With the lifting mist of the morning, the curtain rose and the Battalion started moving across "no man's land".

Throughout that first day of battle the 16th and 17th Battalions of Highland Light Infantry engaged in repeated failed attacks on the Leipzig Redoubt. Their steel helmets reflected in the strong sunlight, making them clear targets for the German machine guns. The 16th (Boys Brigade) Battalion, half of who were still in their teens, sustained 555 casualties from its original fighting strength of 777.

Captain James Alexander was wounded, and the Southern Press reported on 4 August that he was recovering in hospital in England. On 11 August the Southern press reported that Corporal Thomas Walker was also recovering in hospital in England from gunshot wounds to the head.

16th Battalion Highland Light Infantry Church Parade

The 17th (Chamber of Commerce) Battalion scarcely fared better with casualties amounting to 469, most of whom fell in the first 90 minutes of battle. Amongst those wounded were Sergeant William Brown and Corporal John Roberts. For his actions on 1 July 1916, Corporal John Roberts was awarded the Military Medal for Gallantry and promoted to the rank of Sergeant.

Fred William Mackie, goalkeeper with the Hampden XI before enlisting in the Royal Engineers was a second Queen’s Park player to be awarded the Military Medal for his actions that month. On the night of 10 July Sapper Mackie remained under shell fire with a wounded comrade before then taking the man to a place of safety. 7

36th Ulster Division Attacking North East from Thiepval Wood July 1st 1916

32nd Division 1 Thiepval Memorial 97th Brigade 2 Leipzig Redoubt Including 3 18th Division 16th Battalion Highland Light Infantry Memorial (Glasgow Boys Brigade) 4 Ulster Tower th 17 Battalion Highland Light Infantry 5 Mill Road Cemetery (Glasgow Commercials) 6 Connaught Cemetery Frontal Assault on Leipzig Redoubt 7 Authuille Church and defence network and Thiepval Cemetery plateau from direction of Authuille July 1st 1916

Highland Light Infantry Commemoration Plaque on the church wall at Authuille on the Somme

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On the second day of the Somme offensive, the 16th and 17th Battalions Highland Light Infantry were withdrawn from the front line, replaced in part by the 15th (Glasgow Tramways) Battalion. On 5 August 1916, following a period of rest and training, these two battalions took over the trench lines at Cambrin, 7.5 miles (12 km) north-west of Loos.

Harry Nairn Robertson was born in Greenock in 1893, a son of William and Annie Robertson. He was living in the family home at 101 Firpark Street, Dennistoun, and was employed as a stationer’s clerk in 1911. Harry Robertson enlisted in the 17th Battalion Highland Light Infantry. Having survived the opening day of the Somme on 1 July he was one of two men killed on 9 August 1916. The manner of their deaths was recorded in the battalion diary :

7 August 1916 T.M.s (Trench Mortars) and rifle grenades again do much damage to our front line and saps, particularly in vicinity of mine shafts. We have two men wounded and three buried (missing). During the night their bodies were recovered.

8 August 1916 Very quiet day. We have no casualties.

9 August 1916 During the day we have the misfortune of two men who are done to death in our own trenches by a small party of the enemy who take advantage of the long grass to crawl over unobserved. Our T.M.s and Stokes guns open violent bombardment on enemy’s lines

Private Harry Nairn Robertson is buried in Cambrin Churchyard Extension Cemetery.

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On 1 July 1916 the 15th and 16th Battalions of Royal Scots were in the first wave of attacks towards the village of Contalmaison on the Somme. Despite some measure of early success they were forced back through “Sausage Valley” towards their starting positions. McCrae’s Battalion alone suffered 256 dead and 320 wounded. The number of dead included 3 of the Hearts players – Duncan Currie, Ernest Ellis and Henry Wattie.

In 2004 a memorial cairn, designed by historian Jack Alexander, was erected at Contalmaison to commemorate all players and supporters of Heart of Midlothian Football Club, as well as other clubs, who fought and died in McCrae’s Battalion.

The cairn is constructed from Morayshire stone transported from Scotland and erected on site by Scottish craftsmen.

In 2014 Heart of Midlothian Football Club unveiled a commemorative plaque at Tynecastle to honour those players of the club who had enlisted 100 years previously.

The bronze plaque includes an image of the team photograph taken in November 1914 and is located on a wall at the spot where the footballers originally posed for the photograph.

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High Wood and Beyond

By comparison with most of what occurred on the first days of the Battle of the Somme, the attacks in the Southern sector achieved some results. Mametz and Montauban were overrun on the first day of the offensive. By July 14th Bernabay Wood, Trones Wood, Mametz Wood and Bazentin le Petit had all fallen, and the focus of attention turned to High Wood.

th Bazentin le Petit had been taken by the 7 33rd Division Division. Along with the 100th Brigade of 100th Brigade 33rd Division, they were then involved in the 2nd Battalion Worcester Regiment battle for High Wood which commenced on 1st Battalion The Queen’s July 14th 1916. Regiment A high ridge of heavily fortified German 16th Battalion King’s Royal held ground ran through the north end of Rifles Corp (The “Church Lads”) 9th Battalion the wood and overlooked the ground Highland Light Infantry around for a considerable distance. (Glasgow Highlanders)

1 Caterpillar Valley Cemetery 2 Thistle Dump Cemetery 3 Flatiron Copse Cemetery 4 Bazentin le – Petit Communal Cemetery 5 Bazentin le – Petit Military Cemetery 6 “9 Brave Men” MAMETZ Memorial WOOD

Amongst the ranks of the Glasgow Highlanders at High Wood on 14 July were Sergeant James Bennett, Lance Corporal John Barbour and Private Walter William Frier.

James Bryce Bennett was born in 1891 in Rutherglen. He played in 7 games for Queen’s Park between 1910 and 1914 in a variety of forward positions. Glasgow Highlanders out of the front lines

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John Barbour was born in 1890, the son of John Barbour of 72 Seymour Street (now Waverley Street), Shawlands. He was educated at Hutcheson’s Grammar School and scored in a schoolboy international against England. On leaving school, he was employed in the audit office of a railway .

Commonly known as “Doddie”, John Barbour made 37 appearances as an inside forward for Queen’s Park between 1910 and 1912, scoring 8 goals in the process. In 1912 he toured Holland and Belgium with the club. He moved to Dundee during season 1912 – 1913 and then to Preston North End in 1913, playing 13 games in Preston North End’s second division promotion winning team of season 1914 – 1915.

In August 1915 John Barbour returned to Glasgow to enlist in the 9th Battalion Highland Light Infantry. During his period of training, he played for a Glasgow Highlanders select which defeated Ayr United before losing to Rangers at Ibrox Park. Lance Corporal John Barbour arrived in France in April 1916.

On 14 July 100th Brigade was informed that 7th Division had taken High Wood and was ordered to advance north and take up position in a line from the north-west corner of the wood, westwards along the road to Bazentin le -Petit. As the Glasgow Highlanders made their way along the western side of the wood, it became apparent that much of the wood remained in German hands. Under fire from German machine guns, they withdrew 150 yards and dug themselves in. At 5.30 am on 15 July orders were received for 100th Brigade to resume moving to its planned position. At this point communications between HQ, 7th Division and 100th Brigade became utterly confused as to what exactly was happening in and around High Wood. When the Glasgow Highlanders emerged from their trenches at 9.00 am and advanced along the western side of the wood they were again hit by flanking artillery and machine gun fire.

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By the end of the day it was confirmed that 92 Glasgow Highlanders had been killed. Another 100 were posted missing, presumed dead. A further 229 had been wounded, including Sergeant James Bennett who had sustained gun shot wounds to his back.

Initially wounded, Lance Corporal John Barbour had continued to move forward before being hit once again. The Lancashire Daily Post said this of him :

“Though he more recently played for Dundee and Preston North End, his name will be most closely linked with the Queen’s Park Club. Whatever the motive that took him from Hampden, there can be no doubt his heart lay there always. A thorough young sportsman, he played the game as a sportsman should and never made an enemy on the football field. John Barbour met his death charging the enemy. George Dickson, the ex-Rangers reserve forward….was at his side in the charge when he fell, and he says the ex-Queen’s Park boy died like a true and gallant soldier”.

In an informal will, signed on 30 May 1916, John Barbour left his Preston North End League Winners Medal to Gladys Wallace of 4, St Fillans Place, Newport, Fife. John Barbour’s body was either never recovered or, if it was, remained unidentified at the point of later reburial, and he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial. The bitter struggle for control of High Wood continued for another two months before fully taken on 15 September.

At the edge of High Wood today is a memorial to men of the 9th Battalion Highland Light Infantry. Constructed in 1972, it comprises a cairn with 192 stones taken from the High Wood near Culloden in Scotland, and commemorates the 192 Glasgow Highlanders who were killed there.

The square stone on top is a Glasgow paving stone and the inscription reads “Just here, Children of the Gael went down shoulder to shoulder on 15 July 1916”.

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Walter William Frier was born in 1893 in Glasgow. He was educated at Shawlands Academy and lived at 73 Waverley Gardens in Shawlands. He was an employee of the Refuge Assurance Company and played for the Queen’s Park Victoria XI. As with near neighbour and fellow Queen’s Park member John Barbour, Walter enlisted in the 9th Battalion Highland Light Infantry. Unlike John Barbour, Walter Frier survived the battle for High Wood on 15 July 1916.

At 3.30 pm on November 1st the Glasgow Highlanders were ordered to take a system of consolidated shell holes known as “Hazy Trench” and “Boritzka Trench” on Transloy Ridge, East of High Wood. After days of rain, the attacking men had to wade through a muddy morass up to their knees and were met with a storm of German machine gun fire from several different positions. The advancing troops were forced to take whatever cover they could in the water filled shell holes before being forced back to their trenches after dark.

The battalion diary commented that the failure of the attack was as much to do with the weather as it was to do with the withering German fire. During this engagement Private Walter Frier was one of the 82 men who lost their lives. He is buried at Caterpillar Valley Cemetery.

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James Bryce was born in 1884 in Ratho, Midlothian, where his father was the landlord of the Bridge Inn. He worked as a law clerk and then for the Scottish Union and National Insurance Company. He made 26 appearances, mostly at left half, for the club between 1907 and 1910.

James Bryce enlisted in the 9th Battalion Royal Scots which in March 1916 joined the 154th Brigade of 51st (Highland) Division. On 21 July 1916 the Division took over the trench lines near Bazentin le - Petit.

On 23 July the brigade launched an attack on the northern edges of High Wood. Under heavy artillery and machine gun fire the battalion lost touch with the other battalions to their right and left and by the end of the day they had been forced back to their starting positions. The 9th Battalion remained in reserve on the Somme until the middle of August, but not long enough to see High Wood fully taken from German control.

On 14 August the 154th Brigade took over the trench lines at Armentieres, 25 km South of Ypres. Within a few days the 9th Battalion Royal Scots had been withdrawn from the lines altogether, having sustained no casualties according to the battalion diary. Yet James Bryce was one of 7 men of the 9th Battalion who lost their lives between 18 and 30 August.

It seems probable that James Bryce and the other six men had the misfortune of having being transferred to another battalion of the same Brigade, the 4th Battalion , which remained in the trench lines.

Private James Bryce died on 30 August 1916. His body was either never recovered or, if it was, remained unidentified at the point of later reburial. He is commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial in Belgium.

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Edwin Freeland was born in 1870 in Bridgeton, Glasgow. His father, William, was a newspaper journalist. The family lived at 34 Garturk Street, Govanhill, and Edwin was educated at Hutcheson’s Grammar School. On leaving school, he became a clerk in a fire insurance company office.

Edwin Freeland made 4 appearances for Queen’s Park between 1891 and 1892. He emigrated to Alberta, Canada, in the 1890s and was employed as a book-keeper in Medicine Hat. He enlisted as a Private in the Royal Canadian Regiment in April 1916.

The Regina Trench system near Grandcourt, 3 miles (5 km) east of Beaumont Hamel, had been briefly captured, and then lost again, by the Canadians on 1 October 1916.

Private Edwin Freeland was killed at the age of 46 when the 1st and 3rd Canadian Divisions attacked again, without success, on 8 October. The trench system was only fully cleared by the Canadians on 11 November 1916. Edwin Freeland is buried in the Regina Trench Cemetery.

Edwin Freeland was not the only Queen’s Park member to emigrate to Canada. John Ormiston was born in Glasgow in 1881, son of John and Jane Ormiston. He lived at 87 Stanmore Road, Mount Florida, and was educated at Queen’s Park Secondary School and the Royal Technical College (now part of Strathclyde University). He made 34 appearances at right half for the club between 1899 and 1903 prior to emigrating to Vancouver sometime before 1911.

For reasons unknown Private John Ormiston enlisted in the Central Ontario Regiment under the assumed name of Armstrong. Aged 36, he was killed on 1 March 1917 and is buried at Villers Station Cemetery in Villers-au-Bois, France - shown here as it was in 1917.

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Commemoration on the Somme

A Battle that began on July 1st and was expected to last a matter of days continued for more than 4 months. The Thiepval plateau, a first day objective, was finally captured by Canadian forces in late September.

The Somme offensive was finally called off on November 18th 1916 without the achievement of a decisive breakthrough, and without reaching the ultimate objective of Bapaume. The furthest point of advance was 7 miles (12 km).

Nationality Total Casualties Killed Almost 20,000 British British and 419,654 95,675 soldiers had died on July 1st Commonwealth alone - the worst day in the French 204,253 50,756 history of the . Total Allied 623,907 146,431 By the end of the battle total casualties were well over German 465,000 164,055 one million.

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The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before March 20th 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916.

Those named on the memorial include 3 Heart of Midlothian footballers – Sergeant Duncan Currie, Private Ernest Ellis and Private Henry Wattie and one Queen’s Park player – Lance Corporal John Barbour.

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