Private Arthur Lawrie

Private Arthur Lawrie, 2nd Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers. He was killed in action , aged 20, in France on the 30th July 1916 during the Battle of the Somme. He had been born in Selkirk in 1896 and was the son of Robert and Agnes Lawrie of Victoria Crescent, Selkirk. When he enlisted he had been employed in the Ayrshire Market in Selkirk and he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Thiepval, Somme, France. He fell in the attack by the 30th Division, of which the Battalion was part, on Trones Wood and the village of Guillemont. The Battalion gained its objective but flanking attacks failed resulting in a retirement to avoid being cut off. Heavy losses were suffered with 9 Officers and 15 Other Ranks killed and 8 Officers and 618 Other Ranks wounded or missing. The photos show Scottish troops during the Battle and the colour image shows a peaceful Somme landscape today with ” no gas, no barbed wire, no guns firing now”.