Private John White

Private John White, 1st/4th ( Border ) Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers. He was killed in action on 12th July 1915 in Gallipoli, aged 26, during the “Charge” on the Turkish trenches at Achi Baba Nullah and is commemorated on the Helles Memorial, Helles, Gallipoli, Turkey. He was born in Lauder and was the son of Isaac and Eliza White of Mid Row, Lauder. He had been a tailor in Lauder and as a member of the Territorial K.O.S.B. was mobilised with the Battalion in August 1914. This disastrous attack cost the Battalion 630 Casualties in killed and wounded out of the 700 assaulting Officers and Men and included the Colonel and his Adjutant who were both killed. It is forever known as “The Black Day of the Borders” as almost every town and village lost someone that fateful day. The first photo shows Achi Baba, the objective, marked with a cross. This “hill” dominated the battlefield and was never captured. The second shows the Borderers attacking at Gallipoli and the third shows the battlefield in 1922.