Private George Whitelaw

Private George Hope Whitelaw, 42nd ( Royal Highlanders of Canada ), Battalion, Canadian Infantry.  He was killed in action in Belgium during the closing stages of the Battle of Third Ypres on 16th November 1917, aged 20. He was the only son of Alexander and Margaret Whitelaw of Caverton Mill, near Eckford. He was born at Crailing and is commemorated on the Menin Gate, Ypres, Flanders, Belgium.  The final actions saw the Canadians finally capture the village of Passchendaele. The photographs show the desolation of the Flanders battlefields where the incessant shelling had destroyed the fragile drainage systems.