Private William Nisbet

Private William Nisbet, 13th ( Service ) Battalion, Royal Scots. He was killed in action in Belgium, aged 19, on the 22nd August 1917 during the Battle of Third Ypres. He had been born in Selkirk and was the son of Alexander and Euphemia Nisbet of Ashybank, Selkirk. He was an apprentice watchmaker when he enlisted in the 1st/5th Royal Scots in November 1915. He joined them in France in May 1916 but fell ill and was hospitalised. He re joined in December 1916 but was wounded and evacuated to Birmingham. Upon recovery he was posted to the 13th Battalion in Belgium in August 1917. He was killed only two weeks later and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Zonnebeke, Flanders, Belgium. He fell in the fruitless attack on the German positions near Frezenberg which was halted by intense machine gun fire from a large German “pillbox” named ” Potsdam”, German counter attacks were repulsed and the Battalion suffered 276 Casualties in killed wounded and missing. The photos show troops during the early stages of the Battle which had commenced on the 31st July.