4816 Private
1st Battalion Scots Guards, 1st Infantry Brigade, 1st Division
Age: U/K
Date of Death: 11.11.14
Buried: Menin Gate Memorial Panel 11
Family history: Married to Rachel. He had three children one of whom died in February 1918 age 3 years. His wife also died in 1918 and the children’s Guardian was Thomas Gillespie of 45 Banknock Rows, Banknock.
The action leading to his death
On the 11 November 1914 the 1st Battalion, Scots Guards were in the line at Veldhoek and on this day the Germans launched a major attack on a 9 mile front with 12 Divisions with the aim of breaking the British line and taking Ypres.
(Linesman Map showing the area)
The day dawned with a mist covering the frontline trenches and this was dispersed by a wind that brought rain which grew heavier as the day went on. At 0630 the Germans began an artillery barrage that grew in intensity and reached its peak by 0900. Some of the worst of the shelling fell on the line held by the Scots guards. The War Diary records:
The main German attack was directed to the front line opposite Gheluvelt and extending from the wood on the south of the Menin Road known to the British as Shrewsbury Forest to Nonnebosschen (Nuns Copse) and the edge of Polygon Wood beyond it. As the fighting continued, the 1st Scots Guards were overwhelmed the War Dairy recording:
The enemy broke through the British line but isolated pockets in strong points fought them off. About 100 men of the Black Watch, including the battalion staff, managed to hold Verbeek Farm, with some forty men holding the battalion’s own designated strong point ‘Black Watch Corner’ in Polygon Wood, which comprised of a trench inside the hedges of a cottage garden protected by a few strands of barbed wire. In trying to find their way around the British fire the German 1st and 3rd Foot Guard Regiments, some 900 men, pushed into Nonnebosschen and came within 200 yards of the British guns. They were fought off by gunners with rifles, various stragglers from 1st Brigade and the 5th Field Company, Royal Engineers including the latter’s cooks.
Medals Awarded:
1914 Star with Clasp, The British War Medal, Victory Medal
