The tragic case of Colin Carmichael Private 27928, 17 th Royal Scots Thought to have died on or around 22nd August 1918 [All quotes from original sources]

On Friday 2 nd May 1919 a group of young children were playing on the banks of the River Almond close to the Cramond Brig. As they followed the banks of the river they spotted a small culvert, two feet ten inches high and twenty inches broad, which led through the riverbank to field drains. For some unknown reason one of the children, being braver than the others, decided to crawl into the channel and after travelling about thirty feet he spotted what appeared to be the body of a man stretched out.

Ewan Wallace, the Police Officer at Cramond, was contacted and after listening to the children made his way to the culvert and found the man just as they described. The body was badly decomposed, practically skeletal, the only flesh being located on one of his legs, a foot, his back and on his scalp which also had a covering of black hair with the exception of a bald spot on the back of the right side of the head (this latter feature was later discovered to be a known birth mark). The man was dressed in a torn and defaced khaki army uniform with the buttons torn off and no badges to help identify the regiment. Curiously his boots were missing as were his identity tags.

One unsubstantiated newspaper report stated that the man was discovered in a sitting position with a razor and a small sum of money being the only personal effects found around him. This report however does not match the initial description of the child seeing the man lying stretched out.

During a further examination of site an Army Furlough Pass in the man’s name was found along with two letters which were written to the man by his sisters. These helped identify him as Private 27928 Colin Carmichael who had recently served in the 17 th Royal Scots but had latterly been posted to the Depot of The Royal Scots.

The body was extracted with great difficulty, taken to the Cramond Mortuary and examined on the 3 rd of May 1919 by Dr William Muir M.B. C.M. of 7 Barnton Gardens, Davidson’s Mains, who concluded that it was “impossible to say what was the cause of death and when it occurred beyond saying that it must have been several months ago, not less than six and probably more”.

According to a Police report dated 4 th May 1919, written by Inspector E. Robson of the Corstorphine Police Office, a formal identification was made that same day by Pte Carmichael’s brother Archibald Carmichael and Archibald’s wife, Catherine McLean, who both resided at 6 Haddington Place, Edinburgh. Another brother, John, who resided at Coaltown of Balgonie, was scheduled to arrive on the 5 th of May to view the body. Amazingly the birth mark on the scalp of the body that had survived the process

1 of decomposition was one of the few remaining features that helped confirm that the body was that of Pte Colin Carmichael.

Pte Carmichael was last seen on the 21 st of August 1918. On that day he had been discharged from Moorgate Auxiliary Hospital in Rotherham having been granted a week’s furlough which, according to a Nurse M. Smith, he intended to use to visit his family who resided at Coaltown of Balgonie, Markinch, Fife. After this he was expected to report back on 28 th August 1918 to the Depot of The Royal Scots, located at the Regimental Barracks at Glencorse.

Newspaper reports and a family letter located within the partially preserved service records of Pte Carmichael do not reveal exactly how and when it was discovered that that he was missing.

From the Army’s perspective the only indicator is a report which stated that he had not returned to barracks when expected, 28 th August 1918, and therefore Pte Carmichael was “Declared a deserter” from that date. This decision would be revised later.

From a family perspective it is not known if Pte Carmichael had sent a telegram to his brother and sister [John C and Janet Carmichael] stating that he intended to visit their home in Fife and if they had become concerned when he didn’t arrive or if it was the Army’s enquiry into his possible desertion that alerted them to the fact that their brother was missing.

A letter written by John to the Army Infantry Record Office located at Hamilton on 5 th January 1919 stated that despite his extensive and exhaustive enquires no trace of his brother had been found and therefore he requested that the Army begin their own further investigation. He was concerned that his brother was “dead and buried” in some place unknown to the military or that his brother was “in some asylum or poorhouse”. He also sent a copy of two letters that he had received from Moorgate Hospital indicating that his brother had been “discharged from hospital in an unfit condition for service” what is more John thought the letters implied that Colin was “incapable of looking after himself”.

John wanted the military to trace and speak to a soldier who left hospital with Colin and he also sent a photo of Pte Carmichael to help them find him. He stated that he would be employing a solicitor to write to the War Office and would also be contacting his M.P., Sir Alexander Sprot (his frustration at officialdom coming to the fore at this point in the letter as he stated that the government of the day were saying a lot about what they would do for soldiers and their dependants yet here was a real case where John thought that he wasn’t being listened to and helped).

What about the man himself? What do we know of Private Colin Carmichael and his war service?

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He was born on 14 th November 1893 at Ardtalnaig, Kenmore, Perthshire. He was a son of Duncan Carmichael, master shoemaker then pier master, and Christina Carmichael (nee McIntyre) of Ardtalnaig, Kenmore, Perthshire. His siblings were John, Archibald and Peter (step-brothers), Janet and Jessie (step-sisters), Catherine and Tina (sisters, with Catherine being his twin).

The family later relocated to Coaltown of Balgonie, Markinch in Fife after Colin’s brother John bought over a business and he became joiner, cartwright and undertaker of the town. Colin became a joiner and he worked with his brother and resided with him, Peter and Janet at the West End of the town.

He enlisted at Kirkcaldy as part of the Derby Scheme on the 27 th of November 1915. He was described as being single, twenty two years of age, was five foot five and half inches tall with a chest size of thirty five inches, weighed one hundred and sixteen pounds, was considered “very fairly developed” physically speaking though he had slightly rounded shoulders. We also know from other sources that he had black hair and a bald spot on his scalp that was considered to be a birth mark. In terms of his nature one newspaper reported that people considered that he “was of a bright but rather reserved disposition”.

He was mobilized on the 24 th of January 1916 and initially served as Private 27928 in the Depot of the 3 rd Royal Scots. He entered France as a theatre of war on the 7 th of August 1916 and was initially meant to have been posted to the 11 th Royal Scots; the twenty third reinforcement to that particular battalion. However on the 19 th of August he was posted to the 13 th Royal Scots and was destined to play out his part in the Battle of the Somme with this battalion which was part of the 45 th Brigade, 15 th (Scottish) Division.

On the 8 th of August the Division took over a section of the line opposite Martinpuich and fought to capture a German position known as the Switch Line, which they secured on the 19 th of August, progressing then to capture the Intermediate Line on 30 th August.

Pte Carmichael sustained a gunshot wound in the left arm on the 29 th of August just as his unit was securing their objective. He was initially treated in the 1/3 NFA (possibly 1/3 rd Northumbria Field Ambulance), then the 34 th Casualty Clearing Station before being treated at the 10 th General Hospital at Rouen. On the 16 th of September he was transferred to the 20 th Infantry Base Depot at Etaples and then returned to his unit on the 25 th of September.

During October the 13 th Royal Scots took over a section of the line close to Bresle. The weather was atrocious so much so that many of the men became stuck in the mud and had to be dug out, especially in Scotland Trench. For days the men of the battalion sought to improve the trench doing so under enemy shell fire. On the 22 nd of October there was a particularly heavy bombardment and Pte Carmichael was once again wounded; this time he sustained shrapnel wounds to his left shoulder and hip.

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He was again initially treated in the 1/3 NFA, then the 13 th Casualty Clearing Station before being treated at the 8 th Stationary Hospital, Rouen. He then returned to the UK on 25 th October 1916 and was transferred to the 4th Scottish General Hospital located at Stobhill, Glasgow, and then on 23 rd November was transferred to the Depot of the 3rd Royal Scots.

He returned to France on 31 st January 1917, was initially posted to the 2 nd Royal Scots but was then posted to the 12 th Royal Scots on 20 th February. This battalion served in the 27 th Brigade of the 9 th (Scottish) Division and was preparing to take park in what was known as the Battle of Arras.

The 12 th Royal Scots took part in actions around Greenland Hill, the village of Roeux, the Roeux Chemical Works and the village of Fampoux. These latter two positions lay on the Roeux-Gavrelle road, were very heavily defended, and were the objectives of the battalion. The attack on the 12 th of April 1917 was a complete failure from an allied perspective as the troops had to advance down a slope that was in full view of the German machine guns.

Pte Carmichael was wounded in the left thigh on the 12 th , was initially treated at the 1st South African Field Ambulance, then the 26 th General Hospital, Etaples, and was then sent back to the UK to continue his recovery treatment at Trent Bridge Military Hospital, Nottingham then, from 7th May, the Lancashire Military Convalescent Hospital at Blackpool.

He returned to France on 31 st July 1917, was again initially posted to the 2 nd Royal Scots then the 17 th Royal Scots on 18 th August. This was a Bantam Battalion serving in the 106 th Brigade, 35 th Division.

The battalion was located in the Passchendaele region at the time of the great German Spring Offensive of March 1918 (the Second Battle of the Somme) and was quickly moved to the Somme Valley region to help stop the attack by fighting what was described as a gruelling and stubborn rear-guard action close to Maricourt, Bray then a position along the Amiens-Albert Railway near Dernacouty. This rear-guard action, from 24 th to 28 th March, proved to be successful but was costly for the 17 th Royal Scots with two officers and thirty men of other ranks (ORs) killed, two officers and one hundred and fifty five ORs wounded, and forty ORs missing.

Pte Carmichael came through that battle unscathed but he then had a short stay in hospital from 2 nd April 1918 having suffered inflammation of the connective tissue (I.C.T.) in the toes of his left foot, being initially treated at the 106 th Field Ambulance and then the 20 th General Hospital at Camiers. He then contracted measles and erysipelas on 23rd of April, was initially treated at the 46 th Stationary Hospital at Etaples before being sent back to the UK and admitted to the 3 rd Northern General Hospital, Sheffield, then latterly the Moorgate Auxiliary Hospital at Rotherham.

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By this time Pte Carmichael was in a poor condition physically and mentally and he was described by medical staff at this latter hospital as being “run down and despondent”.

He did recover a bit and was discharged from hospital having been granted furlough from 21 st August to 28 th August 1918; and that was the last sighting of Pte Carmichael until his body was discovered on 2 nd May 1919.

With regards to what happened on or around the 21 st of August 1918 one suggestion was that he travelled to Edinburgh by train, got off at Haymarket Station late at night, and possibly being confused by the dark and his state of mind, had started walking along the Queensferry Road towards Fife instead of going to his brother Archibald’s house in Edinburgh. The Procurator Fiscal’s report however seems to state that he was in fact on his way to his brother’s house in Edinburgh, something he had done on previous furloughs, had become exhausted and crawled into the culvert at Cramond Brig to rest but then died.

This latter statement seems strange though as it doesn’t explain which train station Pte Carmichael may have got off at instead of Haymarket and why. In John’s letter dated 5th January 1919 he states that “no trace of my brother Pte Colin Carmichael No 27928, The Royal Scots, has been got as yet & he is not at Nigg”. Scottish Command was located at a Depot at Nigg, did John think he had gone there or that they might have some idea of where he had gone? Army form W.5080, which listed surviving relatives of casualties, doesn’t mention any close relative residing at Nigg. One sister was in Mains of Fowlis, Invergowrie, Dundee and we know that his other relatives were in Coaltown of Balgonie and Edinburgh. Was this where the mystery soldier that left hospital with him was travelling to? According to the letter John certainly wanted that soldier traced. Did they travel on together from Edinburgh on a northbound train but then Pte Carmichael decided to visit his brother in Edinburgh first, getting off the train at Dalmeny before it crossed the Forth Rail Bridge and then did he start walking back towards Edinburgh, stopping off at the Cramond Brig when he got fatigued? Or did he get off at Haymarket as suggested, start walking towards Fife, going beyond the Cramond Brig, then after becoming tired changed his mind and started walking back towards his brother’s house in Edinburgh stopping at the Cramond Brig on the way back when he became fatigued? This still leaves the question about how on earth he found the culvert, especially if it was dark, as it was a place not even many locals knew about according to one newspaper report.

Newspapers at the time essentially reported the facts of the body being found however the idea of foul play was raised in a few of them. This was denied by both the family and the authorities.

The Procurator Fiscal of Midlothian, Henry H Brown, in his report dated 6 th May 1919, ruled out foul play as “There were no signs of a struggle” and he concluded that “it is supposed that deceased had been on his way to visit his brother in Edinburgh when he had taken ill and crawled into the culvert and died. Owing to the decomposed

5 state of the body it is impossible to ascertain the exact cause of death but it was probably natural causes”.

From an Army perspective Pte Carmichael was no longer considered a deserter. A Court of Enquiry at Glencorse Barracks on 5 th June 1919 stated “The court, having considered the evidence, declares that No 27928 Pte Carmichael C., of the Depot, The Royal Scots, should be struck off the strength of the Depot, The Royal Scots from the date of his death which, on direct medical evidence, must have been at least six months before 3/5/19 i.e. on 3/11/18; and that there is no substantial evidence to show that the deceased died on any date between 21/8/18 (when he was last seen) and 3/11/18” . The court declared its belief that Pte Carmichael had died on or around 3 rd November 1918 purely because Dr Muir had said that the decomposed state of Pte Carmichael’s body indicated that had he had been dead for at least six months therefore that was the date that they considered him to be struck of the strength of the regiment.

For his services in the war Pte Carmichael was awarded the British War Medal & Victory Medal. These, along with the memorial plaque, were sent to his brother John.

Exhaustion, exposure and finally succumbing to the long term effects of multiple wounds and illnesses over two years of stressful war service appear to be the reasons given for Pte Carmichael’s tragic end. He was buried in Cramond Parish Churchyard on the afternoon of Monday 5 th May 1919; his gravestone simply saying “27928 Private, C. Carmichael, Royal Scots, 22 nd August 1918, Aged 25”. His name is mentioned on the Markinch War Memorial, Fife.

Sources:

Burial Details

Commonwealth War Graves Commission website [www.cwgc.org]

Service Papers and reports from the Procurator Fiscal and Dr Muir

Ancestry.co.uk Findmypast.co.uk

Newspapers

Edinburgh Evening News, 05/05/1919, page 4 Fife Free Press & Kirkcaldy Guardian, 10/05/1919, page 7 Fifeshire Advertiser, 10/05/1919, page 6 The Scotsman 05/05/1919 [Monday], page 4

© Copyright Rev Garry A Ketchen, 2017 © Copyright Picture Rev Garry A Ketchen, 2017

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