Private John Grierson

Private John Charles Grierson, 16th ( Service ) Battalion, Middlesex Regiment. He was killed in action, aged 23, on the 23rd October 1916 during the Battle of the Somme. He was born in Selkirk in 1893 and was the son of the late Jane Grierson and William Grierson of 48 East Claremont Street, Edinburgh (where he was a Minister in the Catholic Apostolic Church ). He was educated at George Heriot’s School and then Edinburgh University where he graduated M.A. with Honours in History IN 1915. Whilst at University he had been a member of the O.T.C. ( Artillery ). After graduating he went to London to work in the banking sector. He joined his Regiment as a Lewis Gunner in the Spring of 1916 and he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Thiepval, Somme, France. The photograph shows a Lewis gun section ready for action and the colour image shows a peaceful Somme landscape today./