Private William Dickson

Private William Dickson, 1st Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers. He was killed in France on the 26th October 1916 during the Battle of the Somme. He had been born in Newcastleton and was the son of John and Margaret Dickson of Roberton. He is buried in Euston Road, Cemetery, Colincamps. On 26th October the Battalion occupied front line trenches opposite the very strong German positions in the village of Serre and suffered some casualties from shellfire. By late Autumn the rains and the shellfire had turned the chalky Somme battlefield into a glutinous quagmire making movement very difficult. The colour image shows a peaceful Somme landscape today with ” no gas, no barbed wire, no guns firing now”.