Private Robert Borthwick

Private Robert Johnston Borthwick, 1st Battalion, North Staffordshire Regiment. He was killed in action in France, aged 21, on the 24th March 1918 during the German Spring Offensives on the Somme. He had bben born at Soutra, Midlothian and was the son of Peter and Mary Borthwick of 8 Hill Street, Selkirk. He is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial, Pozieres, Somme, France. Before enlisting in the Army Service Corps in July 1915 he had been employed as a ploughman at Sunderland Hall Farm Lindean, Selkirk. He was posted to the Salonika theatre as a Driver where he contracted enteric fever and was evacuated back to Malta and then Manchester in February 1916. Upon recovery in October 1917 he was posted to the North Staffs in France. ( Tragically his brother George was killed in action on the same day, see above ). The photographs show Allied troops preparing to resist the advancing Germans.