Lance Corporal William Henderson, 1st/4th ( Ross Highland Territorial ) Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders. He was killed in action in France, aged 20, on the 20th July 1918 and is buried in Marfaux British Cemetery, France. He had been born in Selkirk in 1898 and was the son of James and Susan Henderson of 20 Dunsdale Road, Selkirk. He enlisted ( underage) at 17 in the 1st K.O.S.B and joined them at Gallipoli in September 1915. It is unclear whether his age was discovered or whether he fell ill but he was sent home. In September 1917 he joined the 1st Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers in France before transferring to the Seaforth Highlanders. He fell in the attack on German positions, an action in which Sergeant John Meikle won the Victoria Cross for destroying machine guns which had been holding up the Seaforths. The Award was posthumous. The photographs show the Seaforths in France in 1918. The colour photograph shows the very impressive Memorial raised to the men of the 51st ( Highland) Division of which the Battalion was part. It was erected in Newfoundland Park on the Somme overlooking “Y” Ravine which was captured when the Division stormed the very strong German positions in Beaumont Hamel in November 1916. On the front of the Memorial is a plaque in both English and Gaelic which reads ” Friends Are Good On The Day Of Battle”.
