Private Joseph Learmonth

Private Joseph Christpoher Learmonth, 2nd Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders. He was killed in action in Belgium, aged 30, on 25th April 1915 during the Battle of St. Julien and is buried in Seaforth Cemetery, Cheddar Villa,  Poelcapelle, Belgium. Over 100 Seaforths lie in this cemetery.  He had been born in Coldingham and was the son of Jane Learmonth.  He had been employed as a farm servant in the Reston, Edrom and Chirnside areas but before enlisting he had worked for the North British Railway Company when he enlisted as a Regular Soldier in 1912.  The battalion had landed in France in August 1914 and had fought at Mons, the Marne and on the Aisne where he was wounded. He rejoined his Battalion in January 1915. The photograph shows Highlanders trying on their rudimentary gas masks and in a trench using a periscope The Germans had used gas for the first time on the Western Front on the 22nd April.