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World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great 1914 1918 first battalion regiment

2nd Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders



   2nd Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders were based in Scotland when war broke out in 1914. They proceeded to France and served on the Western Front throughout the Great War.

3rd Oct 1914 Wounded in Battle

25th Dec 1914 Compliments of the Season

24th Feb 1915 Thrilling Stories

26th Feb 1915 Well Cared For

3rd Apr 1915 Territorials Under Instruction

22nd May 1915 Digging Saps

25th Sep 1915 19th Brigade in Action

23rd Nov 1915 Reliefs Complete

1st Dec 1915 Reliefs  location map

2nd Dec 1915 Poor Conditions  location map

4th Dec 1915 Quiet

6th Dec 1915 Bombardment

7th Dec 1915 Artillery Active

8th Dec 1915 Mine Exploded

9th Dec 1915 Wet Day

10th Dec 1915 Moves

11th Dec 1915 Reliefs

12th Dec 1915 Flooding

12th Dec 1915 Training

15th Dec 1915 Training

17th Dec 1915 Instructions Issued

19th Dec 1915 Instructions

21st Dec 1915 Storm

22nd Dec 1915 Conference

23rd Dec 1915 Poem of the Trenches

23rd Dec 1915 Orders Issued  location map

24th Dec 1915 Flooding

26th Dec 1915 Flooding

27th Dec 1915 On the March

28th Dec 1915 Reliefs  location map

29th Dec 1915 Reliefs

30th Dec 1915 Reliefs  location map

31st Dec 1915 Shelling  location map

31st Mar 1916 Relief Completed  location map

10th Apr 1916 Re;iefs  location map

12th of April 1918 Enemy Advances  location map

17th Apr 1918 Relief

29th Sep 1918 Attack made

21st Oct 1918 2nd Argylls into billets

22nd Oct 1918 2nd Argylls back into the line

23rd Oct 1918 2nd Argylls in action

If you can provide any additional information, please add it here.





Want to know more about 2nd Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders?


There are:41 items tagged 2nd Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders available in our Library

  These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Great War.


Those known to have served with

2nd Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

during the Great War 1914-1918.

  • Armour James. Pte. (d.26th Aug 1915)
  • Ballentine Samuel. Cpl. (d.21st October 1914)
  • Bell William John Key. Pte (d.28th August 1916)
  • Cairns James. Sgt. (d.20th Jan 1916)
  • Cameron Arthur. Pte. (d.15th July 1916)
  • Cameron William. Pte (d.8th Aug 1916)
  • Carmichael Gabriel Baird. Pte (d.25th Oct 1918)
  • Carmichael Gabriel Baird. Pte. (d.25th Oct 1918)
  • Collins John Joseph. pte. (d.23rd Apr 1917)
  • Collins John Joseph. Pte. (d.23rd April 1917)
  • Coyle MM and Bar. James. CSM.
  • Deeprose Walter. Pte. (d.20th Nov 1917)
  • Dick William Laird. Cpl. (d.21st Oct 1914)
  • Dunlop J.. Pte. (d.1st Jul 1918)
  • Dunlop Samuel. Pte.
  • Grealey David. Pte
  • Hill Hugh. Pte. (d.24th Apr 1917)
  • Kelly William. L/Cpl (d.25 Sept 1915)
  • Kennedy Peter. Pte. (d.21st Oct 1914)
  • Kennedy William Robert. 2Lt. (d.25th Sept 1915)
  • Kilpatrick Robert. Pte. (d.10th November 1914)
  • Kinghorn Robert. Cpl.
  • Knowles John. Pte (d.12th May 1917)
  • Lee MM. John Douglas. Pte.
  • Liddell MC VC John Aidan. Captain (d.31st August 1915)
  • Maclean Arthur Kirkpatrick. Lt. (d.26th August 1914)
  • McDonald Thomas Andrew. Sgt. (d.23rd April 1917)
  • McEwan MM. James. Pte.
  • Mclean Donald. Cpl. (d.21st Oct 1914)
  • McLean Donald. Cpl. (d.21st October 1914)
  • McLintock Peter Gordon. Piper (d.2nd Mar 1915)
  • McQuade John. Pte. (d.13th Jun 1916)
  • Smithson William. L/Cpl. (d.18th Aug 1916)
  • Timlin John. Pte. (d.28th Aug 1916)

All names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed, please Add a Name to this List

Records of 2nd Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders from other sources.


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  2Lt. William Robert Kennedy 2nd Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (d.25th Sept 1915)

My Uncle Bill Kennedy, an older brother of my yet-to-be-born mother, was a promising medical student at the University of Aberdeen, where he gained 1st class certificates of merit in his first year.

Initially, her served in the Gordon Highlanders, going into the trenches on his 19th birthday on 8th March 1915, he displayed such conspicuous bravery in carrying urgent despatches across a shell-swept zone, by motorcycle, from his Battalion to Divisional HQ, that he was complimented by the Major-General commanding the Third Division, was recommended for the DCM, and singled out for promotion.

After a six-week course at the French Military College at St Omer, he was instead awarded a commission on the field, 2nd Lieut. in 2nd Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. After two days leave in August to get his uniform, during which he managed to get home and see his parents for one night, he was killed at Loos, at the head of his platoon, leading them against the enemy, shot through the heart on a day when the battalion lost 10 officers and 112 men. The chaplain Rev Fred Langlands buried him in Cambrin Churchyard on the 28th and wrote to his parents, Dr John Robert Kennedy and Mrs Cecilia Kennedy. My mother, born in 1916, was given the middle name Cambrin, in his memory.

Louise Dickson






  Pte. Robert Kilpatrick 2nd Btn. Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (d.10th November 1914)

Robert Kilpatrick is remembered on the Ploegsteert Memorial.

Robert Burns






  Cpl. William Laird Dick 2nd Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (d.21st Oct 1914)

William Dick was my great granddad.

Euan R Brown






  Lt. Arthur Kirkpatrick Maclean 2nd Btn. Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (d.26th August 1914)

Arthur Maclean, the sixth child of Rev George Maclean, died at Le Cateau on 26th of August 1914.







  Pte. James McEwan MM. 2nd Btn. Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders

James McEwan served with distinction in the Great War spending four years in the trenches with 2nd Btn. Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders. He was part of the 33rd Division and won the Military Medal for bravery in the field in the Ypres Salient. He was also presented with a certificate of distinction by the commanding officer of the 33rd Division. James took part in the Battle of Arras, The Battle of the Somme and the Third Battle of Ypres (Easschendaele). He was seriously wounded in 1917 probably during the last named battle.

During the Second World War James served in the Home Guard where his valuable experience was used training is local Home Guard unit in which he served as a Sergeant until he was accidentally wounded while on the rifle range. He died from gas gangrene in a Military Hospital in Edinburgh on 23rd of January 1943 and was buried with military honours at Cambusnethan Cemetery. James was the son of John and Janet McEwan of 89 Meadowbum Road, Wishaw, Husband of Elizabeth Miller McEwan of 15 Crindledyke Crescent, Newmains.







  Pte. John Joseph Collins 2nd Btn. Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (d.23rd April 1917)

John Collins was married to Eleanor Collins and had two boys - John (Jack) Joseph (my grandad) and Terence Collins. The family were originally from St Helens in Lancashire but had moved to Glasgow for work. John Collins worked as a glass blower at the time of enlistment when he was in his thirties. He died age 35 and my grandad, age 4 at the time, remembered the day the the telegram arrived and listening to his mother sob into her apron at the table in the room where they lived. John died in the 2nd Battle of Arras on 23rd April 1917 and is buried in the Heninel-Croiselles Road Cemetery.







  Cpl. Donald McLean 2nd Btn. Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (d.21st October 1914)

My grandfather, Corporal Donald McLean, 2nd Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, is commemorated at Ploegsteert Memorial to the Missing. He is the first name for 1914 on the Rothesay War Memorial, Bute-shire.

He was promoted to Corporal from Lance Corporal after saving the life of Captain Stirling who was wounded by shrapnel. He left behind his seven months' pregnant widow (the baby was my father, also named Donald) and four other children. He had just had his 34th birthday the day before he died on 21st of October 1914 in Flanders.

Heather McLean






  Pte. Arthur Cameron 2nd Btn. Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (d.15th July 1916)

Arthur Cameron was my grandfather. He was killed at the Somme on 15th July 1916. He lay in a shallow grave on the battlefield before being re-exhumed, along with another three Argylls on 31st July 1919, and interred in Flatiron Copse Cemetery, Mametz.

Richard Cameron






  Sgt. James Cairns 2nd Btn. Argyll & Southern Highlanders (d.20th Jan 1916)

Dominic Fusco was my grandfather's brother, my great uncle, He joined the army under an assumed name, James Cairns because his name was Italian. His brother Antonio Fusco also went through WW1 in the Scots Guards as James Ramsay but he survived the war.

Ann Jordan






  CSM. James "Johnny" Coyle MM and Bar. 2nd Btn. Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

James Coyle (my grandfather) joined the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in 1905. He was stationed at Fort George near Inverness when WW1 began and acted as Officers' Mess Sergeant. The unit travelled by train, then by ship, to Boulogne shortly after the declaration of the war. They took part in the unofficial truce in Christmas 1914. He saw action in both open and trench warfare on the western front throughout the war. He was awarded the Military Medal in 1917 and a bar to that medal in 1919. On the sporting front, he was a notable footballer and men's hockey player for the regiment.

After WW1, he left the Officers' Mess and became a duty Colour Sergeant and Company Sergeant-Major. On retirement, he was employed as Mobilisation Storeman at Stirling Castle and then on the Recruiting Staff. Lastly, on the outbreak of WW2, he joined the clerical staff at the Ordnance Depot at Forth side. He died in 1964.

Alan J McKenna






  Piper Peter Gordon McLintock 2nd Btn. Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders (d.2nd Mar 1915)

Peter McLintock was born in Glasgow on 17th May 1896. He went to school at Mossbank Industrial School, Glasgow. He enlisted on 3rd October 1911 at the age of 15 as a "boy". At the age of 18 he became a Private and on 6th July 1914 was appointed a Piper. He died on 2nd March 1915 and is buried at Ration Farm Military Cemetery, La Chapell-D'Armentieres. He was awarded 1914 Star, Victory Medal and British Medal. This information has been found in British Army WWI Service Records on the Ancestry website.

Graham Seton Hutchison wrote "A Batmans Biography" which is about Peter McLintock. According to the story, Peter McLintock was batman to Graham Seton Hutchison. The story says Peter was an orphan, in reality, he lost his mother in 1903, but his father lived until 1931. An extract of the story appeared in the Western Mail (Perth) on 12th of October 1933.

L Shaw






  Captain John Aidan Liddell MC VC RFC 7 Squadron (d.31st August 1915)

John Aidan Liddell was born in Newcastle upon Tyne on 3rd August 1888. He studied zoology at Balliol College Oxford. At the outbreak of war he joined the 2nd Btn, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, where he was appointed Captain in command of the machine gun section of the Battalion. He was in the front line at Le Maisnil, France. He was wounded and invalided home, and received the award of the Military Cross on 14th January 1915.

Prior to the war Aidan Liddell had already obtained privately a flying certificate and, on being declared fit for further service, he joined the RFC. Ha was posted to No.7 Squadron in France on the 24th July 1915. On the 31st July, on only his second mission, his plane was attacked by ground fire during a reconnaissance patrol over Ostend in Belgium and he was seriously injured and the aircraft was badly damaged. Although he successfully returned to his base, and saved his observer Second Lieutenant R.H. Peck and his plane, his leg had to be amputated and he died of septicaemia a month later. For his courage and skill he was awarded the Victoria Cross.







  Pte. James Armour 2nd Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (d.26th Aug 1915)

John Armour was my great granddad, who came from Greenock, Scotland, and served and died during WW1 in France, leaving his wife Martha widowed.

Tommy Mitchell






  Pte. Samuel Dunlop 2nd Btn. Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

Sam Dunlop is my mother's great-uncle. He was extremely musical all of his life, and in the 2nd Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders he served as Band Master, he carried on being a band master well after the war, having a number of civilian bands.

James






  Pte. John McQuade 2nd Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (d.13th Jun 1916)

John Mcquade was a serving soldier at the start of the war and qualified for the 1914 star. He was killed on the 13th June 1916 at Cuinchy. The war diary for the 2nd Battalion describes that day as 'normal' with 2 killed and 1 wounded. He is buried in Cambrin Churchyard Extension.

J Russell Morgan






  Pte. Hugh Hill 2nd Battallion Argyll and Sutherlands Highlanders (d.24th Apr 1917)

Hugh Hill was my mother's uncle. I first heard of him when visiting Edinburgh Castle and seeing his name in a remembrance book when I was a child. There was no more mention of him until I started family research recently, a gap of some sixty five years. As usual I was too late to ask those who had gone before me. I, therefore suggest to those still young enough to ask your family everything they know about their history you will be surprised at what you find. Good luck.

James Murray






  pte. John Joseph Collins 2nd Btn. Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders (d.23rd Apr 1917)

John Collins was my great grandfather. He originally came from St.Helen's in Lancashire. We know he was a glass blower living with his wife and two boys in Glasgow. He joined the 2nd Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland regiment and fought and died at Arras on 23rd April 1917. My grandfather, his eldest son, remembers his mother receiving the telegram while sitting in their one room tenement, he was four his brother was two.

lisa crampton






  Cpl. Donald Mclean 2nd Btn. Argyll & Sutherland Highlander Regiment (d.21st Oct 1914)

Donald McLean served with the 2nd Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders during WW1 and was killed in action on the 21st October 1914, aged 34. He is commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial to the Missing in Belgium. He was the son of John and Jane McLean, of Kelvinhaugh St., Glasgow; Husband of Nellie McLean, of 31, Sleigh Drive, Lochend, Edinburgh.

The Buteman & West Coast Chronicle reported: Corporal Donald McLean [8380] 2nd Btn Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, of Rothesay, Isle of Bute officially notified as missing. Shortly after entering the fighting line in France he was promoted from Lance-Corporal to Corporal for an act of bravery in going to the assistance of Lieut. Stirling in the retirement from Le Cateau, and thereby saving the officer’s life. McLean performed the gallant act at considerable risk to himself. It is hoped that McLean, who has been 12 years in the army and took part in the South African war, is still unharmed and may have become separated for a time from his regiment. He was killed on the 21/10/1914, the day after his 34th birthday. He left his pregnant wife and 3 children.

S Flynn






  Pte. Peter Kennedy 2nd Btn. Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders. (d.21st Oct 1914)

Peter Kennedy served with the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders 2nd Battalion, and was killed in actionon 21st October 1914. He is commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial to the Missing in Belgium.

s flynn






  Pte. Gabriel Baird Carmichael 2nd Btn. Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders (d.25th Oct 1918)

Excerpt from A&SH War Diary sent to me by their office:

The 2nd Battalion moved to billets in Troisvilles on the 21st. On the 22nd the battalion moved off and relieved the battalions holding the outpost line east of Montay on the Le Selle River. 23rd 33rd Division attacked in conjuction with the remainder of the 3rd army and 2 corps 4th army at 2am. The 2nd Battalion objective was the fourth line of enemy trenches The battalion assembled and moved off behind the Middlesex. Very heavy shelling was encountered by the companies as they moved to the assembly area and many casualties were incurred and owing to the confusion certain platoons of A, C and D companies were very late in arriving at the assembly area. The companies moved at intervals in a north easterly direction and south of the main Forest Englefontaine road. The advance of the 2nd Bn started at 5am. B company who were leading lost their direction shortly after this and moved to far to the right but attacked the front line where they were successful but incurred many casualties and no touch was regained with this company until 2pm. A company on the left, C company on the right and D in support moved on astride Forest-Englefontaine road in the rear of the 4th kings until the general line was reached and the 4th Kings were held up and started to dig in. Various attempts by the Kings to advance proved ineffectual. However pressure from the attack on the left allowed the Kings to eventually push on to the 2nd objective of Calevaux and then the 3rd objective at Vert Baudet. It was reported at 12.30 that these objectives had been taken. C company having first ascertained the the 4th Kings were not in their objective as they had claimed were ordered to move up to the line with A company, closely supported by D company and were told to capture the 3rd objective then move on and take the 4th one. At 3.30pm the commander of C company reported that this had been done without enemy opposition. At 5pm the battalion continued to advance but were held up with the Cameronians by heavy machine gun fire from an enemy line running north west and south east through Paul Jacques Farm. Touch was also established with B company. As night grew darker A and C companies gradually dribbled their men across the road and at 7.30pm captured the farm, by an enveloping movement, together with a few prisoners. An outpost line was established consisting of A C and D companies, all in line 100 yards short of their final objective which was found to consist of a continuous belt of barbed wire protecting numerous machine gun posts. These three companies then numbered 35 to 40 rifles apiece. At 9pm it was found that the 18thy division had come to about Bousies Wood Farm, B company consisting of 3 officers and 25 men were withdrawn into battalion reserve at Battalion headquarters. At midnight orders were received that the attack would resume. The 2nd battalion continued to fight on and together with other units successfully took the objective. The casualties for the action were 32 killed and 125 wounded and 6 missing.

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Pat Donoghue






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