Private John Tyson

Private John Tyson, 1st/4th ( Border ) Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers. He was killed in action, aged 29, at Gallipoli on the 12th July 1915 during the ” Charge” on the Turkish trenches at Achi Baba Nullah. He had been born in Selkirk in 1885 and was the son of Bertram and Joan Tyson of 26 Anderson Road and 16 South Port, Selkirk. He had been employed as a millworker when he enlisted in October 1914 and he landed with his Battalion and the rest of the 52nd ( Lowland ) Division on the Gallipoli peninsula on the 15th June 1915. 12th July became known as the ” Black Day of the Borders” as out of the over 700 Officers and Other Ranks who had begun the attack only 70 unwounded men answered evening Roll Call. Few Border towns and villages had not lost at least one of their sons that fateful day. The photograph shows the Borderers ” going over the top” at Gallipoli. ( His brothers Bertram and James also fell – see above ). The second photo shows Achi Baba, the objective of the attack. This “hill” dominated the battlefields and was never captured. The third shows the battlefield in 1922.