Sergeant Wellwood Johnston

Sergeant Wellwood Maxwell Johnston, 1st/4th ( Border ) Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers. He fell in action on Gallipoli on 12th July 1915 during the “Charge” on the Turkish trenches at Achi Baba Nullah, aged 25.  He was the son of William and Anne Johnston of Angus Cottage, Preston and The Crooks, Hirsel, Coldstream and is commemorated on the Helles Memorial, Helles, Gallipoli, Turkey. ( He is also commemorated on the Coldstream War Memorial ). Before enlisting he had been employed as a forester by the Earl of Home at Preston.  That fateful day became known as the “Black Day of the Borders” as only 70 unwounded men answered the Roll Call that evening out of the over 700 Officers and Men who had begun the attack.  Seventeen of the twenty Officers had become casualties including the Colonel and his Adjutant who were both killed. Nearly every town and village had lost at least one of their sons. The first photo shows Achi Baba marked with a cross. This “hill” dominated the battlefield and was never captured. The second shows the Borderers going over the top at Gallipoli.