CL It . 3o. National Library of Scotland ii 1 1 ii nun ii i mi 1 111 ii *B000502323* Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2013 http://archive.org/details/georgeheriotssch1921geor ^^ ^ --^ tw^li tdUU^A. - ih.l. - Me Cttu, George Heriot's School Roll of Honour 1914-1919 EDINBURGH PUBLISHED BY THE WAR MEMORIAL COMMITTEE 1921 TO THE MEMORY OF THE "OLD BOYS" OF THE SCHOOL WHO GAVE ALL, EVEN LIFE ITSELF, IN DEFENCE OF THEIR HOME AND NATIVE LAND, THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED Executive Committee. Ex-Officio Members. The Right Hon. The Lord Provost (John W. Chesser, Esq., J. P., D.L.). The Convener of the School (Rev. William Main). The Convener of the Foundationers' Committee of the School (Councillor John Murray). The Headmaster of the School (Mr J. B. Clark). Other Members. John Aitchison. David Lyon. R. G. Broadwood. A. Murray Marr, Jr. Dr G. A. Carse. Dr R. Stewart MacDougall. D. M. Clark. David M'Gregor. J. W. COWNIE. Wm. Mackenzie. J. W. Dickson. A B. Mackie. J. G. Dobson. A. S. Officer. A. Fulton. Rev Thomas Porteous, B.D. D. M. Johnstone, M.A., B.Sc. J. Stewart Seggie, C.A. J. B. Laidlaw. Cecil F. Smith. James Lamb. D. L. Turnbull, M.A. G. Brown Latimer. Dr S. Walker. J. G. Lindsay, M.A., B.Sc. Robert Wilson. D. F. Lowe, LL.D. Joint Hon. Secretaries. John Ross, S.S.C., 57 Castle Street, Edinburgh (retired Feb. 1921) A. B. Mackie, 2 Melville Street. Hon. Treasurer. W. Smith Dickison, C.A., 20 Albany Street, Edinburgh. Editorial Committee. The Headmaster. Chairman. Dr G. A. Carse. J. B. Laidlaw. D. M. Clark. A. B. Mackie. J. W. Cownie. Dr S. Walker, Editor. CONTENTS. PAGE Foreword ------ 7 Contributions of Heriot Clubs to the War - - 13 The Serbians in George Heriot's School - - 22 M'Crae's Battalion at Heriot's - - 24 Honours gained - - - - 27 Names of those who died on Service as they will be placed upon the Memorial to be erected - 33 Biographical Notes and Photographs - -37 List of Herioters who served in the War - - 196 — FOREWORD GEORGE HERIOT'S HOSPITAL in the nearly three hundred years that have passed since its foundation stone was laid in 1628 has stood through many wars—civil wars, in which fierce battles were fought almost within sight of its walls, and greater wars among the nations. In 1628 the Thirty-years' War had already dragged one-third of its weary length, although Scotland had not much concern in it except that hundreds of her young men fought in its battles as " Soldiers of Fortune." Before many years had passed, however, indeed before the building of George Heriot's " Wark " was completed, our native land was destined to make very close acquaintance with war and its terrible realities. In 1650 Cromwell, having defeated the Scots under Leslie at Dunbar, marched on to Edinburgh and occupied the city. Finding the " Wark " a suitable building for the purpose he made it a hospital for his sick and wounded soldiers, and it continued to be used in this capacity till 1658 by the army which was left in Scotland under General Monk. It was not therefore till 1659 that the Hospital was available for the purpose intended by the Founder, " the maintenance, relief, and education of poor fatherless boys, freemen's sons of the Burgh of Edinburgh." During the latter years of the seventeenth century, during the whole of the century that followed, and even on into the nineteenth, there were wars on the continent of Europe, in which British soldiers were engaged, but the armies sent overseas were comparatively small, and there never was any menace to the soil of Britain, for was she not " A precious stone set in the silver sea Which serves it in the office of a wall, Or as a moat defensive to a house, Against the envy of less happier lands," — 8 GEORGE HERIOT'S SCHOOL Even during the Napoleonic Wars there was never any real danger of invasion, though for a year or two the possibility of such a catastrophe hung as a dark shadow over the land. Nor was it felt necessary for Britain to send a large army to the Continent. Wellington's force in the Peninsula numbered only 30,000 men, and even at Waterloo he had less than 25,000 British soldiers under his command. At the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century, however, a new set of conditions obtained in Europe which completely altered the position of Britain. Germany, strengthened and consolidated by three suc- cessful wars — in each of which she was the aggressor was building up a huge army, and at the same time was challenging Britain's supremacy on the sea. The wisest and most far-seeing soldier-statesmen warned the country again and again that, if war came, a great army would be needed, and they advised universal military training, but the nation at large, relying on the " silver streak " and on the fleet riding upon it, left that counsel practically unheeded. When the crash came in August 1914, and Britain felt herself bound in honour to go to the help of Belgium and France, it was seen that a great army would have to be raised, and the call for men was made. Right promptly did the youth of the land answer the call of King and Country. They saw before them the path of honour and of " duty, and followed it ; and the Old Boys " of George Heriot's School in no way lagged behind. From Canada and South America, from South Africa and far-off Australia and New Zealand, they came to join their brothers of the Home Country in defence of their native land. Was this to be wondered at when they had behind them the tradition of the Old Hospital, the tradition which had its spring in the noble Founder himself, whose motto is: "I distribute cheerfullie "? Had they not also the later tradition of the School, but twenty -nine years old it is true, but already splendid in achievement both in education and in the playing fields ? ROLL OF HONOUR 9 The local Territorial Battalions of the Royal Scots, the 4th and 5th (O.E.R.), the 6th, 7th, and 8th, and the 9th (Highlanders) claimed the first attention of the Boys. Many of them, indeed, had been for years members of these battalions, and to a man had volunteered for service abroad. No one who was present will ever forget that fateful meeting in the Old Physics Lecture Room, when the Football Club almost in a body, with the brothers Lamb leading off, joined the 5 th Battalion, which along with the 4th and 6th was to suffer so much in the unfortunate Gallipoli Campaign. The 1st Edinburgh Battalion, the 15th Royal Scots, raised in September, attracted a large number of Herioters, and the 2nd Edinburgh Battalion, the 16th Royal Scots, raised some weeks later, a still greater number. It was in affording a home for a few months to the 16th Royal Scots, under Colonel Sir George McCrae, that the Old Hospital made its second acquaintance with war— a closer and more poignant acquaintance, for this time it was sheltering under its roof not the soldiers of a hostile army, but the men of its own city, many of them its own dear lads, who doubtless felt a strange elation in being billeted in the rooms they knew so well or performing their military drill in the playground where a few years before they had played together as boys. These two battalions went together to France, and in the Somme Valley on 1st July 1916 they sustained terrible losses, many " Old Boys " being among the number of the fallen. By December 1914 the names of over 630 Former Pupils known to be serving were given in The Herioter, and a few months later the number had increased to 1000. A com- parison of the School records, with the lists of those who served and those who fell in the War, brings out some very interesting facts. It shows on the one hand how splendid was the response made by the boys to their Country's Call, and on the other how terrible the calamity which has befallen us in the loss of so many young men, the cream of the School in intellectual ability, cut off in the vigour and bloom of youth. Take Class VI. Senior from session — IO GEORGE HERIOT'S SCHOOL 1909-10 to session 1916-17. The lists contain 151 names: Of these 141 were serving, and 29 died on service. For the last five years the figures are : Total number on Roll, 89 ; number serving, 88 (one could not because of reasons of health ) ; number who died on service, 17. Take, again, the lists of the Prefects, the twelve head boys chosen each year to represent the Authority of the School in playground and playing-fields, and generally beyond the School walls : young men all of gifts and graces. From 1908, when the Prefect System was introduced, to all 19 1 7 (nine years) there were in 97 Prefects (some held the office two years in succession). Of these, 93 were on service, and no fewer than 18 of them fell in action, including two Captains of the School—James Bell, Captain in 191 5, and Herbert Philip Turnbull, Captain in 191 7. Most of those who| obtained honours in the School were on service, and the obituary list contains the names of three Duxes killed in action —Samuel Stephen Anderson, Dux in Robert Gilroy Hannerman, Joint-Dux in 1899; 1912 ; and Noel Rogerson, Dux in 191 7.