276360 Private
1/7th Battalion Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, 154th Infantry Brigade, 51st (Highland) Division
Age: 20
Date of Death: 3.9.17
Buried: Bard Cottage Cemetery IV.E.30
Family history: Son of Mr & Mrs Alexander Easton, 26 Longdyke Bothkennar. Before enlisting on the 30 May 1915, he was employed as a miner. He had three brothers and four sisters. His elder brother Andrew was a P.O.W. in Germany.
He was initially posted to the 3rd Battalion, the reserve battalion, and went to the 1/7th when he arrived in France on 27 September 1915 being posted from the Base Camp on 9 October 1915. He was wounded on 24 July 1916 on the Somme, gun shot wound to the neck and face and was admitted to the Base hospital at Rouen being transferred to Etaples on 29 July. He rejoined the Battalion on 6 September 1916. He was admitted to hospital again in April 1917 as a result of his old wound and later rejoined the battalion on 25 April 1917.
The action leading to his death
The Battalion was in billets at Murat Camp near the Ypres Canal. The War Diary records that two German shells burst near the camp killing three Other Ranks and wounding four others.
(Linesman Map showing the location of Murat Camp)
In a letter to his father the Battalion Chaplain, Reverend W Jardine, wrote that: ‘A shell hit a corner of this camp where he was on duty with his comrades. He died almost instantaneously.’ Edward is buried at the nearby Bard Cottage Cemetery. His personal effects were returned to his family and included a wallet, letter, ring, safety razor and photographs.
(From the 'Burnt Records' National Archive)
Medals Awarded
1915 Star, The British War Medal, Victory Medal.
Comments