Private William Strother

Private William Strother, 1st/4th ( Territorial ) Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders. He was killed in action on the first day of the German March Offensive on 21st March 1918 aged 25. He was the son of Ellen and the late William Strother of Garden Cottage, Horncliffe and is commemorated on the Arras Memorial, Arras, France. ( He had been transferred from the Royal Scots Fusiliers). He had been born at Gainslaw Hill and had enlisted in Newcastle. The photographs show Allied troops in defensive positions preparing to resist the advancing Germans. The Battalion was part of the 154th Brigade in the 51st ( Highland ) Division and after the War an impressive Memorial was raised in commemoration. It was erected overlooking ” Y” Ravine on the Somme where on the 13th November 1916 the Division had stormed 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”.

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