Private Thomas Mather

Private Thomas Mather, 16th ( 2nd Glasgow ) Battalion, Highland, Light Infantry. He was killed in action  in France during the attack and capture of Beaumont Hamel by the 51st  (Highland) Division on the Somme on 18th November 1916 aged 33. He had been born in Gordon and was the son of James and Isabella Mather of Greenlaw and is buried in Ancre British Cemetery, Beaumont Hamel, Somme, France.   He had served his apprenticeship as a grocer in Greenlaw and originally enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery in June 1916 before being posted to the H.L.I. in France. The Battalion had been formed in 1914 from former members of the Boys Brigade and was known as the Glasgow Boys Brigade Battalion. (At this time” D ” Company of the Battalion took part in the famous defence of “Frankfurt Trench” against overwhelming odds until reduced to about 15 wounded men, three of whom died soon after, and were forced to surrender) . That day was the last day of the Battle of the Somme which had been raging for the previous 141 days and Beaumont Hamel had been an objective on 1st July. The photographs show the state of the Somme battlefield in late Autumn.

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