Rifleman Robert Forester

Rifleman Robert Forester, 1st/8th ( Territorial ) Battalion, London Regiment, ( Post Office Rifles ). He was killed in action in France on 15th September 1916 during the Battle of the Somme, aged 20. He was the son of Robert and Agnes Forester of Lowick, Berwick upon Tweed and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Thiepval, Somme, France. He fell during the capture by the 47th ( London ) Division of High Wood  which had withstood two months of furious effort and a very heavy casualty list .The Battalion was relieved on 20th September by the Black Watch but the cost to the Battalion was heavy with 63 killed, 50 missing and 185 wounded, about a third of the Battalion strength. The Battalion history shows Rifleman Forester had enlisted at Ford Castle, Ford although it spells his name Forrester. The photographs show troops during the Battle with the colour image showing a peaceful Somme landscape today.