Private Thomas Trotter

Private Thomas Trotter, 1st/9th ( Highland ) Battalion, Royal Scots. He was killed in action, aged 22, on the 23rd July 1916 during the Battle of the Somme. He had been born in Cambusbarron, Stirlingshire, and was the son of William and Jessie Trotter of 2a Curror Street, Selkirk. Before enlisting in August 1915 he had been employed in Gardiner’s Mill, Selkirk and he joined his Battalion in France in February 1916. He is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France. He fell in an abortive attack on the infamous High Wood which took place over open ground over 1,000 yards wide and in the face of uncut wire and intense machine gun fire. Against these odds heroism could not prevail. 11 Officers and 162 Other Ranks had become casualties. His Battalion was part of the 154th Brigade in the 51st ( Highland ) Division and after the War an impressive Memorial was raised in its commemoration. It was erected overlooking “Y” Ravine on the Somme where on the 13th November 1916 the Division had stormed the strong German positions in Beaumont Hamel. A Plaque on the Memorial reads in both English and Gaelic ” Friends Are Good On The Day Of Battle”. The other photos show Scots troops on the Somme.