Private Thomas Hardie

Private Thomas Hardie, 1st Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers. He was killed in action in France on 1st July 1916 on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, aged 35 and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France. He had been born in Stow and was the son of Thomas and Beatrice Hardie of Thornbank, Stow. Before enlisting he had been employed as a surfaceman with the North British Railway.  He had served at Gallipoli and Egypt before the Battalion moved to France in March 1916. On that fateful day the Battalion, as part of the 29th Division, took part in the attack on the German positions near ” Y ” Ravine.  In the face of intense machine gun fire he attack was a complete failure  resulting in very heavy casualties. 11 Officers and 83 Other Ranks were killed and 9 Officers and 406 Other Ranks were wounded. In addition 59 Other Ranks were posted missing. That night the battered remnants were moved into reserve. The photo shows British troops attacking across a very wide no mans land with very little cover. The colour image shows a peaceful Somme landscape today “with no guns, no barbed wire, no guns firing now”.