Lance Corporal George Storey

Lance Corporal George Alexander Storey, 10th( Service ) Battalion, Cameronians.  He was killed in action in France, aged 36, on the 25th September 1915 on the first day of the Battle of Loos. He had been born in Duns and was the son of the late Agnes and John Storey formerly of  South Street, Duns. He was the husband of Mary Storey of 10 South Street, Duns and is commemorated on the Loos Memorial, Dud Corner, Loos, France. He had been employed as a stone mason before enlisting as a Regular Soldier in 1901 and serving in the 2nd Anglo-Boer War. He was discharged after his term of engagement expired but re-enlisted on the outbreak of War landing in France in July 1915. His Battalion was part of the 46th Brigade in the 15th ( Scottish ) Division and they had the most spectacular advance on the first day of the Battle storming the village of Loos and most of Hill 70 but with heavy casualties as ever. The first photo shows an attack at Loos with the troops advancing through a ghostly cloud of gas and smoke. This was the first time the British Army had used gas in the War. The second shows the village of Loos after capture and the artist’s nightmarish illustration shows an attack at Loos with the troops wearing their gas hoods.