Lieutenant James Lawrie

Lieutenant James Alexander Lawrie, 6th ( Service ) Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers. He was killed in action in France, aged 25, on 3rd May 1917 during the Battle of Arras. He was the son of Thomas and Jane Lawrie of Melrose and the husband of Robina of Edinburgh and is commemorated on the Arras Memorial, Arras, France. He had been employed in Edinburgh as a mercantile clerk before enlisting in the 9th( Highland ) Battalion, Royal Scots and from there being commissioned into the K.O.S.B. in January 1916. He fell in the disastrous unreconnoitred night attack on the strong German positions at “Greenland Hill”. The attackers advanced unsupported too far into the enemy positions and were cut off. Only some 50 men of the three attacking companies managed to return to British lines. 10 Officers and 51 Other Ranks were killed and 3 Officers and 152 Other Ranks were wounded. In addition 200 Other Ranks were posted missing ( This usually meant killed ). The first photograph shows troops with a tank in a captured village near Arras. The second shows the 9th ( Scottish ) Division Memorial. It originally stood beside the remains of a German blockhouse captured by the Battalion during the Battle but due to the volume of traffic it was moved in 2006 to the front of the Pointe de Jour Military Cemetery. It is 30 feet high built from granite and bears the Divisional Battle Honours. It is surrounded by 26 granite boulders bearing the names of the units which served in the Division 1915-1918.