Rifleman Robert Hunter

Rifleman Robert How Hunter, 21st ( Service ) Battalion, Kings Royal Rifle Corps. He was killed in action in France, aged 27, on 17th September 1916 during the Battle of the Somme and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Thiepval, Somme, France. He had been born in Milfield and was the son of Andrew and Rachel Hunter. He had been educated at Berwick Grammer School and Edinburgh University where he had graduated M.A. in 1908. Before enlisting he had been employed as a schoolteacher in Grays, Essex. His brother Norman also fell – see above.  The autumn rains turned the churned up chalky soil of the Region on the Somme battlefield into a glutinous quagmire in which it was difficult to move men guns and machines. The colour image shows a peaceful Somme landscape today with ” no gas, no barged wire, np guns firing now”.