Lest we Forget The story of the men from Bothwell who died in the First World War Lest we Forget The Story of the men from Bothwell who died in the First World War. Researched and published by the Bothwell Historical Society. Disclaimer While the information in this book has been given in good faith and every effort has been made by Bothwell Historical Society to ensure its accuracy, the Society assumes no liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions herein. Throughout the book the assumption has been made that if a man is known to have died on a specific date and his battalion was in battle or incursion on that date then he died in that same battle or incursion. In cases where records show a man‟s regiment and battalion at the time of his death, and where background information is given herein about that battalion, there is no certainty that the man served all his time with that battalion or that, in the period prior to his death, he fought in the battalion battles described. The Bothwell Historical Society gratefully acknowledges the permission granted to reproduce the material in this book. Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and to obtain their permission for the use of copyright material. The Society apologizes for any errors or omissions and would be grateful if notified of any corrections that should be incorporated in future reprints or editions of this book. Points of Explanation 1. Where „Land‟ is used in an address as in „Rait‟s Land, Main Street, Bothwell‟ or „Scott‟s Land, Green Street, Bothwell‟ it means a tenemental building owned by that named person. 2. Where „c‟ is used before a date, as in c1895, it means circa or about 1895. 3. The number below the Soldier‟s name is his regimental number. Officers do not have numbers. 4. Servicemen who died in WW1 are recorded on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission web site and this gives their date of death, regiment and battalion. If a man‟s battalion was involved in a battle, raid or other action on the day the man died, then for the purposes of this book, it is assumed he died in that action. The death in action of an officer was normally recorded in the battalion‟s war diary. Other ranks that died were not normally individually named in the war diary. 5. Where available, service records maintained by the National Archives have been used to help write the stories of the men. Unfortunately about 60% of the service records of the men who fought in WW1 were destroyed in September 1940, when a German bombing raid struck the War Office repository in London. This has limited the information available to build up a picture of some of the men. 6. The village of Bothwellhaugh in present day common usage is spelled „Bothwellhaugh‟ and this spelling has been used in this book. However on the WW1 Memorial plaque from the church it is spelled Bothwell Haugh. This spelling has been used in reference to the plaque. 1 Contents Page Foreword 5 Introduction 6 Bothwell War Memorial, WW1 Inscriptions 8 Bothwell Parish Church Memorial, WW1 Inscriptions 10 Kirkfield and Wooddean Church Memorial, WW1 Inscriptions 11 Men commemorated on gravestones in Bothwell Kirkyard 13 Men of Bothwellhaugh 14 Letters of Gold 15 Remembering the Fallen 16 Bothwell at War 19 The British Army in the Great War 22 The Battle of Loos 25 The Attack at Festubert 31 Bothwell’s Roll of Honour Baird William, Royal Scots, Private 35 Boyd John, Cameronians, Lieutenant 38 Boyd William MC, Royal Field Artilllery, Lieutenant 40 Breakenridge William, Royal Navy, Ordinary Seaman 43 Brown Charles H, Royal Garrison Artillery, Private 46 Brown James T, Cameronians, Lance Corporal 47 Brownlie James, Cameronians, Lance Corporal 48 Buchanan James DCM, Highland Light Infantry, Sergeant 50 Buller David, Highland Light Infantry, Private 53 Burns Thomas, Canadian Expeditionary Force, Private 55 Campbell Colin, Royal Scots, Private 58 Cameron John, Royal Scots, Private 59 Carson Frank, Cameronians, Sergeant 60 Casey William, Scots Guards, Private 62 Clark Thomas, Gordon Highlanders, Private 65 Coats James, Cameronians, Private 66 Collins James, Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders, Private 68 Crawford James, Machine Gun Corps, Private 70 Day William, Highland Light Infantry, Private 71 Dobbin Alexander, Highland Light Infantry, Private 72 Dobson Alexander, Machine Gun Corps, Private 74 Doyle Edward, Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders, Private 76 Duncan Alastair, Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders, Private 77 Flynn John, Highland Light Infantry, Lance Corporal 78 Gibson James, Merchant Navy, C.W.O. 79 Gordon George, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, Private 80 2 Graham Robert, Cameronians, Private 82 Graham Simon, Seaforth Highlanders, Private 84 Grant Alexander, Highland Light Infantry, Lieutenant 85 Grant W. Gordon, Highland Light Infantry, Lieutenant 87 Hamilton John, Cameronians, Private 89 Hands Thomas, Royal Engineers, Private 91 Hannah Charles, Cameronians, Private 93 Harvey Robert , Auckland Regiment NZ, Private 94 Henderson John, Cameronians, Private 96 Herbertson James H, Cameronians, Private 97 Hewitt Robert B, Royal Garrison Artillery, Private 98 Hotson Robert, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, Private 100 Houston John, Cameronians, Private 102 Jarvie Archibald, Cameron Highlanders, Sergeant 104 Jarvie James, Cameron Highlanders, Private 106 Johnston Samuel, Highland Light Infantry, Private 108 Johnston-Stewart Herbert E, Highland Light Infantry, Captain 109 Keir Walter, Royal Army Medical Corps, Private 112 Knox Samuel, Cameronians, Sergeant 114 Lawrie Allan J, Cameronians, Captain 116 MacKie James, Cameronians, Private 118 Mair John, Highland Light Infantry, Lance Corporal 120 Manual Thomas, Highland Light Infantry, Private 123 Marshall A, Cameron Highlanders. Private 126 Masterton George, Cameronians, Private 127 Maxwell Robert, Royal Scots Fusiliers, Lance Corporal 129 McCart William, Highland Light Infantry, Private 130 McConnachie James, Kings Own Scottish Borderers, Private 132 McConnell Thomas, Gordon Highlanders, Private 133 McCubbin Thomas, Highland Light Infantry, Private 135 McGhee Hugh, Royal Field Artillery, Private 137 McGregor Duncan, Highland Light Infantry, Lance Corporal 139 McIntyre Robert, Gordon Highlanders, Private 141 McKinnon Benjamin, Cameronians, Corporal 143 McLean Robert, Seaforth Highlanders, Private 145 McLennan John, Seaforth Highlanders, Private 148 McNab George, Highland Light Infantry, Private 150 McNab John B, Royal Engineers, Lieutenant 151 Meek John, Highland Light Infantry, Private 153 Meek Thomas, Highland Light Infantry, Private 155 Mitchell John, Royal Air Force, Lieutenant 158 Morrison Robert, Gordon Highlanders, Private 161 Murray James, Royal Munster Fusiliers, Private. 162 3 Newton David, Royal Scots, Private 163 Nimmo Stuart Henry, Royal Scots Fusiliers, Captain 165 O’Neil Hugh, Royal Scots Fusiliers, Private 167 Pagan Gavin, Royal Scots, Captain 168 Purdie T. Paterson, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, 2nd Lieutenant 172 Pringle M, Queen‟s Own Regiment Glasgow Yeomanry, Sergeant 174 Ramsay Stuart DSO, Loyal North Lancashire, Captain 176 Reid Joshua, Gordon Highlanders, Private 180 Reilly Thomas, Royal Navy, Able Seaman 182 Renshaw James, Highland Light Infantry, Private 184 Robertson D.B, Royal Marines, Private 186 Robertson David, Royal Scots Fusiliers, Sergeant 188 Robertson R. Hamilton, Hampshire Regiment, Lieutenant 190 Ross James, Machine Gun Corps, Private 193 Russell Alexander, Cameronians, Private 195 Russell Alexander, Cameronians, Private 197 Rutherford T, Yorkshire Regiment, Second Lieutenant 198 Semple David, Border Regiment, Lance Sergeant 200 Shaw David P, Cameronians, Major 202 Sim David, Cameronians, Private 204 Sim John, Black Watch, Private 206 Simpson John, Highland Light Infantry, Private 208 Simpson James G, Royal Scots, Private 210 Simpson Thomas, Black Watch, Private 212 Sneddon Hugh, Royal Engineers, Sapper 215 Sneddon James, Highland Light Infantry, Private 217 Sneddon Peter, Machine Gun Corps, Corporal 218 Sneddon Thomas, Kings Own Scottish Borderers, Private 220 Spence S. Norman, Australians, Sergeant 223 Steel James, Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders, Private 226 Steel William, Gordon Highlanders, Private 229 Stewart Peter, Highland Light Infantry, Corporal 230 Sutherland David, Seaforth Highlanders, Private 232 Sweeney Hugh, Cameron Highlanders of Canada, Private 234 Sweeney John T, Cameronians, Private 236 Sweeney John A, Highland Light Infantry, Private 237 Todd Robert, Cameronians, Private 238 Vance Thomas, Highland Light Infantry, Private 241 Watt John, Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders, Private 242 Wilson William, Royal Scots Fusiliers, Sergeant 244 Young John, Scots Guards, Guardsman 245 Before the Cenotaph 247 List of Subscribers 248 4 TheForeword members of the Historical Society deserve many thanks and warm congratulations from all citizens of Bothwell for their meticulous compilation of the Roll of Honour of those who served and died in the Great War. It is indeed a wonderful achievement that in the centenary year of that terrible conflict the town now has a definitive record of all the young men who made the ultimate sacrifice in defence of their homeland both in the killing fields of Belgium and France and in the service of the Royal Navy and merchant marine across the seas of the world. I was especially touched to read the names of the dead from Bothwellhaugh, the mining village that I remember from my youth, but whose buildings were levelled and quite literally disappeared from the face of the earth below Strathclyde