Gunner William Turnbull

Gunner William Turnbull, “A” Battery, 69th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery. He was killed by a stray shell at Gallipoli on 22nd October 1915 aged 27. He was the son of John and Martha Jane Turnbull of” Belvedere House”, Norham and was a native of Belford, Northumberland. He is buried in Shell Green Cemetery, Gallipoli, Turkey. Both he and his brother James joined the Artillery in Glasgow on 28th June and landed on the Peninsula on 6th October. His brother was by his side when he fell.  Before the war he had been a butcher with his father in Belford and was a member of the Belford Young Mens Mutual Improvement Society. He was also a bell ringer at the Parish Church. The standard R.F.A gun was the 18 pounder artillery piece and was usually used in an anti infantry role using both high explosive and shrapnel shells one of which is shown below.