Private Herbert Marshall

Private Herbert ( Bert) Marshall, 1st/4th ( Border ) Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers. He was killed in action, aged 19, on 12th July 1915 in Gallipoli during the “Charge” on the Turkish trenches at Achi Baba Nullah and is commemorated on the Helles Memorial, Helles, Gallipoli, Turkey. He was the son of Mr and Mrs J. W. Marshall of Cornhill. That fateful day became known as the “Black Day of the Borders” as out of the over 700 Officers and Other Ranks who had begun the attack only 70 unwounded men answered evening roll call. Both the Colonel and his Adjutant were killed.  Few Border towns and villages had not lost on of their sons that day.  The authors great Uncle Corporal Jim Murray from Coldstream was wounded and spent 6 weeks in hospital in Alexandria before returning to the “Pen” as he called it. The first photo shows Achi Baba marked with a cross. This “hill” dominated the battlefield and was never captured. The second shows the Borderers attacking at Gallipoli and the third shows the battlefield in 1922.