Private Alexander Henderson

Private Alexander Henderson, 1st/4th ( Border) Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers. He died at Gallipoli on 12th July 1915, aged 19, from wounds suffered during the “Charge” on the Turkish trenches at Achi Baba Nullah. He was the son of Alex and Joan Henderson of Asylum Cottages, Melrose and is buried in Skew Bridge Cemetery, Gallipoli, Turkey. Before being mobilised with the Territorial K.O.S.B. in August 1914 had been employed as an apprentice engineer in Galashiels. 12th July became known as the “Black Day of the Borders” as only 70 unwounded men answered evening roll call out of the over 700 Officers and Other Ranks who had begun the attack. Both Colonel McNeile from Bowden and his Adjutant Captain Lang from Newstead were posted missing presumed killed. The first photo shows Achi Baba, the objective, marked with a cross. This “hill” dominated the battlefield and was never captured. The second shows Borderers going over the top at Gallipoli and the third shows the battlefield in 1922.