Private William Macaulay

Private William Birrell Macaulay, 1st/9th ( Highlanders ) Battalion, Royal Scots. He died, aged 19, from wounds suffered during the Battle of the Somme in Hospital in Aberdeen on the 11th August 1916. He had been born in Selkirk in 1897 and was the son of the late James Macaulay of the Fleece Hotel, Selkirk and Ellen Macaulay of 45 St Georges Terrace, Jesmond, Newcastle. He is buried in St Andrews and Jesmond Cemetery, Newcastle-on-Tyne. Before enlisting he had been employed as a Law Clerk in Selkirk and joined his Battalion in France in October 1915. The Battalion was heavily involved on the Somme and he was badly wounded in Battle with a leg having to be amputated. He was evacuated to the 1st Scottish General Hospital in Aberdeen where he died. After the War an impressive Memorial was raised to commemorate the 51st ( Highland ) Division of which the Battalion was part. It was erected in Newfoundland Park on the Somme overlooking “Y” Ravine which was taken when the Division stormed and capture the very strong German positions in the village of Beaumont Hamel on 13th November 1916. A plaque on the Memorial reads in both English and Gaelic ” Friends Are Good On The day Of Battle “. The photos show Scottish troops on the Somme.