Private Thomas Lunham

Private Thomas Lunham, 1st/4th ( Border ) Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers. He died in Egypt on 24th July 1915, aged 24, of wounds received in the ” Charge ” on the Turkish trenches at Achi Baba Nullah, Gallipoli on the 12th July. He had been born at Newton Don, Kelso and was the son of George and Janet Lunham of West Lodge, Nenthorn, Kelso. He is buried in Cairo War Memorial Cemetery, Cairo, Egypt where his Headstone is inscribed ” Until The Day Dawns”. He was a Battalion Piper and as such wore the Buchanan tartan. He had been a member of Nenthorn Rifle Club and a Territorial, being mobilised with the Battalion in August 1914.  12th July became known as the “Black Day of the Borders” as out of the over 700 Officers and Men who began the attack only 70 unwounded men answered evening roll call. Few Border towns and villages had not lost at least one of their sons that fateful day. The first photo shows Achi Baba marked with a cross. This “hill” dominated the battlefield and was never captured. The second shows the Borderers attacking at Gallipoli.  ( The author’s Great Uncle Corporal James Murray was also wounded and spent six weeks in hospital in Alexandria before returning to his comrades at Gallipoli. ).