Private Joseph Learmonth

Private Joseph Christopher Learmonth, 2nd Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders. He was killed in action in Belgium, aged 30, on 25th April 1915 during the Battle of St. Julien ( part of the greater Battle of Second Ypres ) and is buried in Seaforth Cemetery, Cheddar Villa, Belgium. He had been born in Coldingham and was the son of Jane Learmonth. He had been employed as a farm servant in the Edrom and Chirnside area  but was working with North British Railway Company when he enlisted in the Seaforths as a Regular Soldier in 1912. The Battalion landed in France in August 1914 and fought at Mons, the Marne and the Aisne where he was wounded. He rejoined his Battalion in January 1915.  The cemetery was originally named Cheddar Villa but in 1922 the C.O. of 2nd Battalion, Seaforths managed to get the name changed to Seaforth Cemetery as over 100 Seaforths who fell in that action are buried there.  The second photo shows Scottish troops trying on their rudimentary gas masks. ( The Germans had used poison gas for the first time on the Western Front on the 22nd April ).