Private William Gold

Private William Gold, 7th ( Service ) Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers. He was killed in France on 11th May 1915, aged 32 and is commemorated on the Loos Memorial, Dud Corner, Loos, France. He had been born in Berwick and was the son of Agnes and the late James Gold of 8 Walkergate, Berwick-upon-Tweed. On that day the Battalion was holding front line trenches in the Hill 70 sector near Loos and were heavily shelled in a German attempt to capture a position known as the ” Kink “. This area saw much tunnelling, mining, sniping and as the Regimental history calls ” general above ground frightfulness “. The Kink was not liked ! The photographs shows Scottish troops trying on their rudimentary gas masks. The Germans had begun using gas on the Western Front from the 22nd April 1915.