Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders - PoW Other Ranks 1914

Having just completed some interesting research on a twice-wounded Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders regular who served from 1900 through to 1918, it seems a good enough reason to publish this list of men who served with the regiment and who, according to the list that I transcribed, became prisoners of war of the Germans on or before the 25th December 1914.

This list is compiled from three sources at The Imperial War Musuem, London:

B.O.2 1/112 is a four-page typed list from the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders Prisoners of War Fund; letter dated 3rd January 1919 
B.O.2 1/113 is a single typed list from the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders Prisoners of War Fund; no date 
B.O.2 1/115 is a five-page typed list from the records' office to Sir Ernest Goodhart dated 4th March 1919 

Some men appear on more than one list. 

The list below is an edited version of the full transcription which typically gives date of capture and home address. The full transcription is available for sale as a download or CD for £20. Contact me if you would like to purchase a copy.

I also offer a comprehensive, fast and cost-effective military history research service. Follow the link for more information. 

1209 Private J Adair, 646 Bandsman W Adderley, 9442 Private Alexander, 957 Private Anderson, 9516 Private J Arbuckle.

9632 Lance-Corporal E Balchin, 7571 Corporal J Balfour, 10290 Corporal A Balfour, 9257 Corporal A Beattie, 1118 Private S Beck, 9463 Lance-Corporal A Beedie, 8319 Private J Bell, 8956 Private R Bell, 9506 Private R Bell, 9655 Private Bell, 1036 Lance-Corporal Bellingham, 9699 Private A Best, 9586 Private J Bowie, 8843 Private Boyle, 9297 Private W Breslin, 918 Private R Brooke, 9078 Private A Brough, 9949 Sergeant J Brown, 9153 Private J Brown, 7865 Private Brown, 7925 Private G Bryce, 8839 Private J Buchanan, 3/6740 H Butter, 9155 Private W Bycroft.

7749 Private G Callander, 162 Private D Campbell, 7968 Private T Campbell, 8946 Private T Campbell, 8032 Private D Cargill, 1295 Private W Cassidy, S/5480 Private D Cassidy, 9106 Private S Clark, 8205 Private D Cleghorn, 6796 Private W Cooke, 10359 Private W Cooper, 1131 Drummer M Costin, 1114 Private C Counter, 1232 Private J Craig, 9604 Private P Craig, 7823 Private J Craig, 9152 Private Crawford, 1201 Private W Crease, 7397 Private A Cummings, 7397 A Cummings.

8982 Private W Dalgliesh, 9863 Private F Daws, 1240 Private J Deas, 10223 Private J Denny, 9164 Lance-Corporal J Devlin, 260 Private E Doherty, 7794 Private W Douglas, 5913 Private J Doyle, 58 Private S Duff, 8935 Lance-Corporal J Dunbar, 7454 Pte Kennedy Dunn.

10183 Private N Elliott, 1187 Private R Ellis, 8137 Private R English.

6834 Private J Faichney, 6803 Private F Falconer, 8077 Corporal D Finlayson, 7897 Corporal Fletcher, 8603 Private Flynn, 9855 Sergeant J Forrest, 9307 Private J Forsyth, 8333 Private S Foster, 7440 Private J Fraser, 262 Corporal Fraser.

1073 Private John Gallacher, 7077 Private J Gardiner, 10159 Private German, 8897 Private A Gibb, 6826 CSM A Gibb, 9283 Private G Gibson, 7676 Private R Gilchrist, 3/5693 Private Hugh Ginlay, 10159 D Gorman, 8805 Private P Gray, 9592 Private J Gray, 8953 Private W Greenlees, 7013 Private James Griffith.

10153 Private H Hadley, 7597 Private Hall, 9144 Private J Hall, 8257 Private J Hamilton, 1167 Private R Harron, 9843 Private John Henderson, 8074 Private T Henderson, 1332 Private J Hendren, 10567 Sergeant C Hill, 9237 Private W Holehouse, 8790 Corporal J Holland, 9889 Private W Howat, 1205 Private R Howie, 9525 Private T Hughes (pictured, above), 635 Private H Hutton, 7886 Private E Hynch.

1373 Private J Jackson, 3/6475 Private S Jamieson, 6531 Private R Jamieson, 7837 Private J Jamieson, 9419 J Johnstone, 9201 Private Robert Johnstone.

9378 Private J Kennedy, 9044 Private R  Kerr, 7530 Private A Kerr, 9687 Private D Kerry.

1190 Lance-Corporal W Laing, 7378 Private M Laird, 10249 Private P Lockhart, 7125 Private J Logan, 8983 Private J Long.

8938 Private Malone, 1320 Private A McDonald, 9345 Private A McEwan, 3/3921 Private McFadden,
9513 Private McGrath, 3/6593 Private McGregor, 9864 Private McIntyre, 10244 Private G McKerrell, 7169 Private A McKinnon, 8176 Private McLaughlin, 6048 Private McLean, 1220 Lance-Corporal D McLellan, 6810 Private J Meek, 1141 Private D Meldrum, 8013 Private A Menzies, 8085 Private Moon, 10622 Private A Morton, 8942 Private C Muir, 7467 Private J Muirhead, 1130 J Murphy, 9674 Private Murray.

1033 Private W Ospreay.

6942 Private Quin.

10551 J Rae, 9064 Private N Rennie, 5994 Private Andrew Rice, 1065 Drummer H T Robertson.

8094 Private Scott, 6896 Private J Sharp, 3/6137 Corporal John Smith, 9428 Private Charles Stirling

9034 Private John Watters, 6650 Pte James Workman.

Sleeping Companions: 8515 Pte John Duncan Macpherson & 12860 Pte John Hadden; 1st Scots Guards

Remembering

8515 Pte John Duncan Macpherson, 1st Scots Guards

 12860 Pte John Hadden, 1st Scots Guards

John Macpherson and John Hadden lie next to each other in the Guards Cemetery at Lesboeufs. I took this photograph on the 1st July 2016. Both men died on the 15th September 1916.

John Macpherson (McPherson on his medal index card) was a pre-war regular solider who had joined the Scots Guards in January 1913 and arrived in France on the 9th November 1914. No service record survives for him in WO 363 but he had certainly been in hospital in France in May 1915. A fragment in WO 363 lists him at Malassise Hospital on the 30th May. He was the son of John MacPherson, of The Aerodrome, Crail, Fife and it was not until 1919 that his body was found and re-buried in the Guards Cemetery. He was 21 years old. The inscription on his headstone reads: GRENADE THROWER / DIED AS A SOLDIER AT HIS POST.

John Hadden enlisted later than John Macpherson. He joined up in January 1915 and arrived in France on the 19th November that year. He was the son of William and Marion Hadden, of Harelaw, Longniddry, Haddington, East Lothian. His body too, was exhumed from the battlefield and brought in to the Guards' Cemetery at around the same time as John Macpherson. He was 22 years old.

The Scots Guards lost 110 men on the 15th September 1916. Fifteen of those men are buried at Lesboeufs but 83 have no known graves at all and are commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sleeping companions: 32866 Pte F Siddall, 16th Sherwood Foresters & R/16458 Rfm J Connor, 17th KRRC

Remembering 

32866 Private Fred Siddall, 16th Sherwood Foresters & 

R/16458 Rifleman James Connor, 17th KRRC

I was in France recently to mark the 100th anniversary of the Somme offensive and also the fateful attack the previous day on the Boar's Head at Richebourg L'Avoue. The two men above both fell on the 30th June 1916 and rest side by side at Le Touret Military Cemetery, Richebourg. I took the photo 100 years to the day since they died and decided to see what I could find out about them. Service records no longer survive for either man.

James Connor was born in central London: The Strand, Middlesex, and was living in West Kensington when he enlisted for wartime service only, at Holborn, in the King's Royal Rifle Corps. His regimental number indicates that he must have been issued with his number - at Winchester - in the second week of November 1915. He probably arrived in France by the end of April 1916 and thus had been overseas for barely two months when he was killed in action. At the time of his death, James was unmarried and both parents had pre-deceased him, His sister Margaret is recorded as his sole legatee and she would have been sent the memorial plaque and scroll as well as money owing to him at the time of his death.

Fred Siddall was also unmarried when he died of wounds on the 30th June 1916. He was the second oldest of four sons of Arthur and Annie Siddall, and one of seven children still living when the 1911 census was taken; four having already died, presumably in infancy. Fred is recorded on that census return as a fourteen-year-old coal miner's driver and was presumably working at the same pit as his nineteen-year-old brother, Albert and his 45-year-old father who are both indicated on the census as coal miner's driver and coal miner, respectively.

Fred initially joined the Royal Scots Fusiliers, his regimental number 20083 indicating that this must have been in August 1915. His regimental number for the Sherwood Foresters - 32866 - dates to a little later in the year, around mid-December 1915. Fred would have been about nineteen when he died of his wounds, his father Arthur noted as his next of kin.

Fred's elder brother Albert Siddall would be killed in action on the 31st March 1918 whilst serving with the same battalion of the Sherwood Foresters. His number, 25985, indicates that he joined the regiment in May 1915 and it remains a possibility, I suppose, that Fred later requested a transfer into the Sherwood Foresters so that he could be with his brother. Albert has no known grave and is commemorated on the Pozieres memorial.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.