Private Thomas McGlasson

Private Thomas McGlasson, 7th ( Service ) Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders. He was killed in action, aged 25, in France on 25th September 1915 on the first day of the Battle of Loos and is commemorated on the Loos Memorial, Dud Corner, Loos, France. He had been born in Castleton and was the son of the late Andrew and Bessie McGlasson of Riccarton Junction, Castleton. He had been employed by the North British Railway Company at Caldercruix Station, Lanarkshire and had enlisted in Airdrie. The Battalion was a Unit in the 9th ( Scottish ) Division which together with the 15th ( Scottish ) Division played a major role in the capture of parts of the Hoenzollern Regoubt and Fosse 8 and consequently suffered 378 casualties. The first photograph shows Scots troops marching up to the line before the Battle and the second shows an actual assault with the troops disappearing into a ghostly cloud of gas and smoke. This day. was the first time the British Army had used gas in the War. The third shows the village of Loos after capture and the fourth shows Hill 70 across the northern outskirts of Loos village.