Lieutenant John Cuthbert

Lieutenant John George Gunn Cuthbert, 28th Battalion, Machine Gun Corps. He died in France on 19th October 1916 of wounds received in action during the Battle of the Somme, aged 26. He was the son of the late James and Mrs Cuthbert of Hownam, Kelso and is buried in Dernacourt Communal Cemetery Extension France. His Headstone is inscribed ” Gladly He Lived And Gladly Died “. Before the War he had gained an M.A.( Honours ) from Edinburgh University. His education began at Hownam school before attending Woodside School, Glasgow.  At Edinburgh University he studied Arts and Divinity from 1910-1915. During that time he was a Cadet Corporal in the Officers Training Corps, Infantry. He served first with 9th Royal Scots Fusiliers before being transferred to the M.G.C. and he had already been wounded in July 1916. The M.G.C. used the Vickers water cooled gun in both defensive and offensive roles. The photographs show a group of gunners on the Somme and the nature of the battlefield after the autumnal rains. The colour image shows a peaceful Somme landscape today with ” no gas, no barbed wire, no guns firing now”.

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