Corporal William Rutherford

Corporal William Rutherford, 2nd Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers. He was killed in France on 31st July 1916 during the Battle of the Somme and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Thiepval, Somme, France. At this time the Battalion were occupying front line trenches in front of Falfemont Farm which they were tasked to assault on 3rd September. He had been born in Berwick, lived in Berwick and had enlisted in York.  The autumn rains and the incessant shelling had turned the  ground into a glutinous quagmire in which it was difficult for men and machines to move. The colour image shows a peaceful Somme landscape today ” with no gas, no barbed wire, no guns firing now”.