Private William Paterson

Private William Paterson, 1st/4th (Border) Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers. He was killed on 12th July 1915 in Gallipoli, aged 20, during the “Charge”. on the Turkish trenches at Achi Baba Nullah. He had been born in Leadhills and was the son of John and Mary Paterson of Harryburn Cottage, Lauder and is commemorated on the Helles Memorial, Helles, Gallipoli, Turkey.  Before enlisting he had been employed as a grocer in Lauder. That fateful day became known as the “Black Day of the Borders” as at evening roll call only 70 unwounded men answered out of the over 700 Officers and Other Ranks who had begun the attack. Twenty Officers were in action and eleven including the Colonel and His Adjutant were killed and another six were wounded. Few Border towns and villages had not lost at least one of their sons that day. The first photo shows Achi Baba, the objective, marked with a cross. This “hill” dominated the battlefield and was never captured. The second shows the Borderers going into the attack and the third shows the battlefield in a photo taken in 1922.