Private William Boyes

Private William Boyes, 6th ( Service ) Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers. He was killed in action in Belgium on 13th October 1917, aged 21, during the Battle of Third Ypres. He was the son of Elizabeth and the late William Boyes of Townfoot Bar, Necastleton and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Zonnebeke, Flanders, Belgium. He had been born at Roberton, Lanarkshire, lived in Necastleton and had enlisted in Dumfries. He fell in an attack near Poelcappelle where the flooded state of the terrain made any advance impossible.  During this chaos  the Battalion lost 196 casualties with included 5 Officers killed together with 15 Other Ranks  and a further 27 missing presumed drowned. The photos show the desolate state of the Flanders battlefield where the incessant shelling had destroyed the drainage systems. The colour photo shows the impressive memorial raised to commemorate the men of the 9th and 15th ( Scottish ) Divisions who fell during the Battle. 6th K.O.S.B. was part of the 27th Brigade in the 9th Division. It was erected on Frezenberg Ridge near the village of Zonnebeke in the Ypres Salient and was unveiled in August 2007. A plaque in both Gaelic and English with a quotation from the Declaration of Arbroath is affixed to the front of the Memorial.