Second Lieutenant Andrew Birrell

Second Lieutenant Andrew Smith Birrell, 6th (Service) Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers. He was killed in action in France on 9th April 1917, aged 30, during the Battle of Arras. He was the son of Andrew and Kate Birrell of Lilliesleaf and the husband of Katherine Birrell of 199 Bruntsfield Place, Edinburgh and is buried in Tilloy British Cemetery, Tilloy-Les-Mofflaines, nr. Arras, France. He fell on the opening day of the Battle when the Battalion took its objective ” Obermayer ” trench. 2 Officers were killed and 12 wounded. Other Rank casualties were not given and the History says ” they do not seem to have been out of the way “. His father was the schoolmaster in Lilliesleaf.  His Headstone is inscribed ” He Giveth His Beloved Sleep”. The first photo shows British troops accompanied by a tank in the main street of a captured village near Arras and the second shows the 9th ( Scottish ) Division Memorial at “Point de Jour” ridge near Arras. It stands beside the remnants of a German blockhouse captured by the Battalion during the Battle.

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