Private John Lauder

Private John Lauder, “C” Coy., 2nd Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers. He was killed in action in Belgium during the Second Battle of Ypres on 23rd April 1915, aged 19. He had been born in Tweedmouth and was the son of Mrs Rose Ann Lauder of Big Jack’s Close, Canongate, Edinburgh and is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Flanders, Belgium. He fell in an abortive attack near Gravenstafel Ridge designed to support Canadian troops who were valiantly resisting the first German gas attacks.  The Battalion attacked without any meaningful plan, no supports and no artillery and consequently suffered heavy casualties. The photo shows Scots troops with their primitive gas masks.