Lance Corporal William Armstrong

Lance Corporal William Armstrong, 7th ( Service ) Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders. He was killed in action in France, aged 23, on the 25th September 1915 on the first day of the Battle of Loos. He had been born at Cavers Knowers, Kirkton and was the son of William and Janet Armstrong of Westmiddles, Cavers. Before enlisting he had worked on the Cavers Estate and at Gala House, Galashiels and had landed in France with his Battalion in May 1915. He is commemorated on the Loos Memorial, Dud Corner, Loos, France. The Battalion was part of the 26th Brigade in the 9th ( Scottish ) Division. He fell in the Divisional assault towards Cite St. Elie which included the epic storming of the Hoenzollern Redoubt by the 26th Brigade. The first photo shows shells falling on the Redoubt, the second an attack at Loos through a ghostly mixture of gas and smoke and the third is an artist’s impression of an attack at Loos led by the Battalion pipers. 25th September was the first time in the War that the British Army had used gas.

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