Private Thomas Vallance

Private Thomas Vallance, 1st/6th ( Territorial ) Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders. He died in France on the 17th October 1917 of wounds received during the Third Battle of Ypres aged 32. He was the son of John and Annie Vallance of Smailholm, Berwickshire and the husband of Euphemia Vallance of High Street, Earlston. He is buried in Bucquoy Road Cemetery,Ficheux, France. The photographs give some idea of the desolation of the Flanders battlefield after the incessant shelling had destroyed the drainage systems. The Battalion was part of the 152nd Brigade in the 51st ( Highland ) Division and after the War an impressive Memorial was raised in its commemoration. It was erected overlooking ” Y” Ravine on the Somme where on the 13th November 1916 the Division had stormed and captured the strong German positions in Beaumont Hamel. A Plaque on the Memorial reads in both English and Gaelic ” Friends Are Good On the Day Of Battle “.