Private John Black

Private John Cochrane Black, 2nd Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers. He was killed in action in France , aged 25, on the 31st July 1916 during the Battle of the Somme. He had been born in 1891 at Gala Rig, Whitmuir Hall, Selkirk ( with the middle name McEwan )and was the son of John and Jessie Black of Whitmuir Hall, Selkirk. He had joined the Battalion in France in July 1915 and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Thiepval, Somme, France. He fell near the notorious Delville Wood in an attack on a German held orchard which was not very successful and cost 15 Officers and 244 Other Ranks in killed and wounded. The the photos show Scots troops during the Battle with the colour image showing a peaceful Somme landscape today.