Sergeant John French

Sergeant John Douglas French, 1st/9th ( Highland ) Battalion, Royal Scots ( The Dandy Ninth ). He was killed in France, aged 27, on the 23rd December 1917 and is buried in Red Cross Corner Cemetery, Beugny, France. He had been born in Cockburnspath and was the son of William and the late Elizabeth of The Hotel, Cockburnspath and Commercial Street, Edinburgh. He had landed in France with the Battalion in February 1915. It is recorded that the Battalion suffered an air raid on the 23rd December on their camp at Fremicourt and suffered 7 casualties. The Battalion was part of the 154th Brigade in the 51st (Highland) Division and after the War an impressive Memorial was raised in commemoration. It was erected overlooking “Y” Ravine in Newfoundland Park on the Somme which was taken when the Division stormed the strong German positions in Beaumont Hamel on the 13th November 1916 at the end of the Battle of the Somme.