Private James Mather

Private James Hogarth Mather, 1st/4th ( Border ) Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers. He was killed in action, aged 20, at Gallipoli on 12th July 1915 during the ” Charge ” on the Turkish trenches at Achi Baba Nullah and is commemorated on the Helles Memorial, Helles, Gallipoli, Turkey. He had been born in Kelso and was the son of Archibald and the late Margaret Mather. Before enlisting he had been employed as a farm worker at Hownam, Roxburghshire That fateful day became known as the ” Black Day of the Borders” as out of the over 700 Officers and Other Ranks who had begun the attack only 70 unwounded men answered evening roll call. Few Border towns or villages did not lose at least one of their sons. The contemporary photo shows Achi Baba marked with a cross. This “hill” dominated the battlefield and was never captured. The second photograph shows the Borderers attacking at Gallipoli and the third shows the Battlefield in 1922.

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