Private Alexander Cairns

Private Alexander Taylor Cairns, 11th ( Service ) Battalion, Royal Scots. He died from wounds in Belgium, aged 19, on the 20th September 1917 during the Third Battle of Ypres. He had been born in Maxton, Roxburghshire and was the son of Thomas and Isabella Cairns formerly of Bonjedward and of Boundaries, Jedburgh. He is buried in Mendinghem Military Cemetery, Flanders, Belgium. He had been employed as a draper with David Thomson & Sons in Canongate, Jedburgh before he enlisted in the Kings Own Scottish Borderers. He was then posted to the Royal Scots in France. On that day the Battalion took part in the Battle of the Menin Road where they supported the attack on the ” Zonnebeke Redoubt”. The attack was successful but 100 casualties were suffered mostly from shellfire. Private Cairns was seriously wounded by shellfire and died in the 14th Casualty Clearing Station at Mendinghem. ( His brother George also fell – see above ). The photos were taken during the Battle.