Private Andrew Murray

Private Andrew George Murray, ” D ” Coy.,1st /6th ( Territorial ) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers. He was killed by a sniper in France on 15th April 1917 during the Battle of Arras, aged 23. He was the son of Andrew and Eleanor Murray of Middleton Hall, Wooler and was a native of Berwick-Upon-Tweed. He is buried in Wancourt British Cemetery, Wancourt, Arras, France. He had been a Lewis Gunner and fell in the very heavy fighting involved in the capture of  Wancourt Ridge . The village itself had been captured on the 12th April 1917. His Battalion was part of the 50th ( Northumbrian ) Division. Before enlisting he had been a fireman on the North British Railway. The photograph shows an alert Lewis gun section. After the War an impressive Memorial was raised to commemorate the 50th ( Northumbrian ) Division of which the Battalion was part. It was erected near the village of Wieltje in the Ypres Salient near to where the Division had fought its first action of the War on the 26th April 1915 only days after landing on the Continent.