Private Robert Brown

Private Robert Brown, 1st/4th ( Border ) Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers. He was killed in action at Gallipoli, aged 32, on the 12th July 1915 during the “Charge” on the Turkish trenches at Achi Baba Nullah. He had been born in Selkirk in 1883 and was the son of the late Robert and Euphemia Brown formerly of Ettrick Road, Selkirk. He had been employed as a spinner in a Selkirk mill. That fateful day 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 Roll Call that evening. Few Border towns and villages had not lost at least one of their sons. He is commemorated on the Helles Memorial, Helles, Gallipoli, Turkey. The first photo shows Achi Baba, the objective, marked with a cross. This “hill” dominated the battlefield and was never captured. The second shows the Borderers going over the top at Gallipoli and the third shows the battlefield in 1922.

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