Private George Dryden Douglas, 2nd Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. He was killed in action in France, aged 30, on the 25th September 1915 on the first day of the Battle of Loos. He had been born in Selkirk and was the son of the late Edward and Grace Douglas of 8 Croft Terrace, Selkirk. Before enlisting in September 1914 he had been employed as a mill worker before joining his Battalion in France in February 1915. He is buried in Cambrin Churchyard Extension, Cambrin, France where 79 of his comrades from the 2nd Battalion also lie. His Battalion was part of the 19th Brigade in the 2nd Division and attacked “Mine Trench”. The attack was stopped almost immediately in the face of uncut wire and intense machine gun fire with the resultant heavy casualties. The first photograph shows Highlanders marching up to the line at Loos and the second shows troops attacking at Loos into a ghostly cloud of gas and smoke. This was the first time the British Army had used gas in the War. The third shows the village of Loos after its capture.
