Lance Sergeant William Cleghorn

Lance Sergeant William Cleghorn, 1st/8th (Territorial) Battalion, Royal Scots. he died from wounds in Belgium, aged 41, on the 27th November 1914 and is buried in Boulogne Eastern Cemetery, France. He had been born in Galashiels and was the son of the late William and Jane Cleghorn formerly of Galashiels and the husband of Marion Cleghorn of Innerleithen. whom he had married in Galashiels in 1907. He was employed as a tweed pressman when enlisted in the Territorials in 1908. he was mobilised with his Battalion in August 1914 and landed in France on 5th November 1914 and proceeded to Belgium where they occupied trenches in the Ypres sector. Some casualties were suffered from shellfire. The Battalion was the first Scots Territorial Battalion to be deployed for action on the Western Front and in August 1915 was transferred from the 7th Division to became the Pioneer Battalion for the 51st (Highland) Division. After the War a very impressive Memorial was raised in commemoration. It was erected in newfoundland Park on the Somme over looking “Y” Ravine which was captured in the storming of Beaumont Hamel on the 12th November 1916. A plaque on the Memorial reads in both English and Gaelic ” Friends Are Good On the Day Of Battle”.