Private John Kennedy

Private John Kennedy ,2nd Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers.  He died in the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, aged 48, on the 14th October 1916. He had been born in Coldstream and was the son of Peter and Jane Kennedy of Lennel, Coldstream. He had been employed as a groom when he enlisted in 1895 as a Regular Soldier in the Seaforth Highlanders. He served 6 years at Malta and Egypt and was at the Battle of Atbara in April 1898 and at Khartoum in September 1898 where Lord Kitchener’s forces decisively defeated the Dervish Army at the Battle of Omdurman.  He was awarded two Campaign Medals, the Egyptian Sudan Medal with the clasp ” Khartoum” and the British Sudan Medal. The Regiment was also involved in the occupation of Crete in 1897. He was transferred to the Reserve in 1903. and discharged from the Army in 1911.  He re-enlisted in August 1914 joining the K.O.S.B in France in December 1914. He was wounded in April 1915 and evacuated to England where he was discharged from the Army as unfit for further War Service. He was living at Loanhead, Midlothian when he suffered a fractured skull in an accident with a motor taxi and died in hospital. His burial place is unknown.