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1st Battalion, Black Watch
1st Battalion, The Black Watch were based in Aldershot with the 1st (Guards) Brigade, 1st Division when war broke out in August 1914. They proceeded to France almost at once, landing at le Harve on the 14th, being amongst the first troops of the British Expeditionary Force. They fought in The Battle of Mons and the subsequent retreat, The Battle of the Marne, The Battle of the Aisne, the First Battle of Ypres and the Winter Operations of 1914-15. In 1915 they were in action during The Battle of Aubers and the Battle of Loos. In 1916 they were in action in the Battles of the Somme. In 1917 they saw action in The German retreat to the Hindenburg Line and the Third Battle of Ypres. In 1918 the Battles of the Lys, the Second Battles of Arras, the Battles of the Hindenburg Line, The Battle of the Selle and The Battle of the Sambre, in which the Division fought the Passage of the Sambre-Oise Canal. At the Armistice, 1st Division was selected to advance into Germany and formed part of the Occupation Force at Bonn.
14th Aug 1914 1st Black Watch land in France 1st Battalion Black Watch land at Le Havre with the BEF as part of 1st Division.
26th Aug 1914 On the March
29th Aug 1914 At Rest
30th Aug 1914 On the March
31st Aug 1914 On the March
1st Sep 1914 Outpost Duty
2nd Sep 1914 Rear Guard
3rd Sep 1914 Advance Guard
3rd Sep 1914 Retirement
4th Sep 1914 In Action
6th Sep 1914 In Reserve
19th Sep 1914 Reliefs Complete
24th Oct 1914 Withdrawl
30th Oct 1914 Shelling
31st Oct 1914 Divisional HQ Hit
3rd Nov 1914 Orders
11th Nov 1914 A Desperate Stand 
11th Nov 1914 Black Watch Corner
15th Nov 1914 Orders
15th Nov 1914 Brothers Wounded
20th Nov 1914 Downhearted
29th Dec 1914 Escape Reported
25th Jan 1915 In Action
25th Jan 1915 Attack
25th Jan 1915 In Action
26th Jan 1915 In the Trenches
26th Mar 1915 Shrapnel
9th May 1915 The Battle of Aubers Ridge: The Souther pincer Richebourg L’Avoue. At 4.06am: sunrise and all very quiet on this front.
5.00am: British bombardment opens with field guns firing shrapnel at the German wire and howitzers firing High Explosive shells onto front line. German troops are seen peering above their parapet even while this shelling was going on.
5.30am: British bombardment intensifies, field guns switch to HE and also fire at breastworks. The lead battalions of the two assaulting Brigades of 1st Division go over the top to take up a position only 80 yards from German front. (2nd Brigade has 1/Northants and 2/Royal Sussex in front and 2/KRRC and 1/5th Royal Sussex in immediate support; 3rd Brigade has 2/Royal Munster Fusiliers and 2/Welsh in front, with 1/4th Royal Welsh Fusiliers in support). Heavy machine-gun fire cuts the attackers down even on their own ladders and parapet steps, but men continue to press forward as ordered.
In the area of the Indian Corps, the lead battalions of the Dehra Dun Brigade of the Meerut Division (2/2nd Ghurkas, 1/4th and 1st Seaforth Highlanders) were so badly hit by enemy fire that no men got beyond their own parapet and the front-line and communications trenches were soon filled with dead and wounded men.
5.40am: British bombardment lifts off front lines and advances 600 yards; infantry assault begins. Despite the early losses and enemy fire the three Brigades attempted to advance across No Man's Land. They were met by intense crossfire from the German machine-guns, which could not be seen in their ground-level and strongly protected emplacements. Whole lines of men were seen to be hit. Few lanes had been cut in the wire and even where men reached it they were forced to bunch, forming good targets for the enemy gunners. The leading battalions suffered very significant losses, particularly among officers and junior leaders. Around 100 men on the Northants and Munsters got into the German front, but all were killed or captured. The advance of the supporting battalions suffered similarly, and by 6.00am the advance had halted, with hundreds of men pinned down in No Man's Land, unable to advance or fall back.
6.15am: A repeat of the initial bombardment is ordered, with the added difficulty of uncertain locations of the most advanced troops.
7.20am: Major-General Haking (CO, 1st Division) reports failure and asks if he should bring in his last Brigade (1st (Guards)). He offered his opinion that it would not be successful.
7.45am: A further one hour bombardment starts, ordered by Lieut-General Anderson (CO, Meerut Division). Its only impact is to encourage German artillery to reply, bringing heavy shelling down onto British front and support trenches. German fire continued until about 10.30am.
8.00am: First reports reach Haig, but they underestimate losses and problems. Haig also hears of early French successes in Vimy attack; he resolves to renew the effort in the Southern attack, with noon being the new zero
hour. This was subsequently moved when it was learned from I Corps how long it would take to bring supporting units up to replace those that had suffered in the initial attacks. The new attack at 2.40pm would again be preceded by a 40 minute bombardment. The various movements of relief forces were achieved only with much confusion and further losses under renewed enemy shellfire. The time was again moved, to 4.00pm. In the meantime, the German infantry in the Bois de Biez area was reinforced.
3.20pm: Bombardment repeated and seen to be a little more successful, blowing gaps in the wire and in the enemy front-line.
3.45pm: Bareilly Brigade, moving up to relieve the Dehra Dun, loses more than 200 men due to enemy shelling.
3.57pm: The leading companies of the 1/Black Watch of 1st (Guards) Brigade, brought in to replace the shattered 2nd Brigade, went over the top despite the 1/Cameron Highlanders being late to arrive and moved at the double across No Man's Land. Some reached the German breastwork just as the bombardment lifted; most were however killed or captured in the German firing trench although a small party reached the second position. The two lead companies of the Camerons, coming up on the left of the Black Watch a few minutes later, suffered heavy machine-gun casualties in crossing between the front lines. At approximately the same time, the two fresh battalions of the 3rd Brigade, the 1/Gloucestershire and 1/South Wales Borderers began to advance but were cut down without reaching the enemy. Meerut Division orders Bareilly Brigade to advance, even though it is clear that conditions are unchanged: few men even reached a small ditch 20 yards in front of their own front line, and the Brigade suffered more than 1000 casualties within minutes.
4.35pm: 1st Division orders another 10 minutes shelling but it is seen to have no effect.
4.40pm: Large explosion at German ammunition dump in Herlies, hit by a long-range British heavy shell. Smoke clouds drifting towards British lines caused a gas alarm. Br-Gen. Southey (CO, Bareilly Brigade) reports that further attempts to advance would be useless.
5.00pm: General Haig, hearing of the continued failure of the Southern attack, orders 2nd Division to relieve 1st Division with a view to a bayonet attack at dusk, 8.00pm.
9th May 1915 Attack Made
9th May 1915 Pipers Play
24th of May 1915 Zeppelin under observation
18th Aug 1915 Magnificent Trenches
1st Sep 1915 Determined Fighters
3rd September 1915 Enemy fired Rifle Grenades
14th Sep 1915 Guns Captured
25th Sep 1915 In Action
25th Sep 1915 In Action
25th Sep 1915 In Action
25th Sep 1915 In Action
12th Oct 1915 No Dugouts
13th November 1915 Operational Order No.42.
14th November 1915 Reliefs
26th of November 1915 Special Order - To be read to all men
1st Jan 1916 Reliefs
16th of November 1916
1st Jan 1917 Moves
9th Jan 1917 Working Parties
10th Jan 1917 Moves
17th Jan 1917 Heavy Snow
22nd Jan 1917 Working Parties and Training
23rd Jan 1917 Moves
24th Jan 1917 Moves
31st Jan 1917 Very Cold Weather
6th Feb 1917 Reliefs
6th Feb 1917 Reliefs
7th Feb 1917 Reliefs
8th Feb 1917 Reliefs
9th Feb 1917 Reliefs Complete
10th Feb 1917 Hard Ground
11th Feb 1917 Quiet
12th Feb 1917 Quiet
3rd Mar 1918 Trench Raid
1st Apr 1918 Hostile Artillery
2nd Apr 1918 Trench Raids
3rd Apr 1918 Quiet
4th Apr 1918 Orders
5th Apr 1918 Moves
6th Apr 1918 Reliefs Complete
7th Apr 1918 Moves
8th Apr 1918 Moves
9th Apr 1918 Artillery Barrage
27th Oct 1918 Reliefs
If you can provide any additional information, please add it here.
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These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Great War.
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Those known to have served with1st Battalion, Black Watch during the Great War 1914-1918. - Bennet Andrew. Pte. (d.21st Jun 1915)
- Boyle John. L/Cpl. (d.23rd Feb 1917)
- Canavan Richard. Pte. (d.9th May 1915)
- Culpin George Frederick. Sgt (d.11th Nov 1914)
- Curran Francis. A/CSM. (d.18th Aug 1916 )
- Davidson Archibald. Pte. (d.25th January 1915)
- Delaney Patrick. Pte. (d.15th Sep 1914)
- Doyle Edward. Pte. (d.9th May 1915)
- Edwards Albert John. Sgt. (d.25th Sep 1915)
- Fairbairn George. Pte.
- Glen James. L/Cpl. (d.31st October 1914)
- Henderson Robert. Pte. (d.25th Sep 1916)
- Hodnett James. Pte.
- Kelly Francis. Pte. (d.25th July 1916)
- Low James. L/Sgt. (d.9th May 1915)
- Macfarlane Duncan Anne. Pipe Mjr.
- Murdoch Thomas Fleming. Mjr.
- Purvis William James. Pte. (d.13th Oct 1915)
- Ritchie John. Pte. (d.5th Oct 1916)
- Roberts Alexander Stuart. Pte. (d.25th Sep 1915)
- Sangster Adam Jamieson. Pte. (d.5th Sep 1916)
- Small Joseph. Pte.
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 1st Battalion, Black Watch from other sources.
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Mjr. Thomas Fleming Murdoch 1st Battalion Black Watch Thomas Murdoch joined up in July 1914 and served with the 1st Battalion, Black Watch. He was wounded on 29th of October 1914 at Battle of Gheluvelt. Wounded at Aubers Ridge on 9th of May 1915. He then transferred to the Seaforth Highlanders and served in Salonika from August 1916 until 1919.
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Pte. Andrew Bennet 1st Btn. Black Watch (d.21st Jun 1915) Andrew Bennet is remembered with honour on the Le Touret Memorial. He has no known grave. He died as a POW.
The Black Watch Museum has his 1914 Star medal but we can not trace his other two medals.
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L/Cpl. James Glen 1st Battalion Black Watch (d.31st October 1914) From the Arbroath Roll of Honour:
"Lance-Corporal, James Glen, 1st Black Watch, was a son of Joseph Glen, 33 Sidney Street, Arbroath. He was twenty-one years of age, and was unmarried.
He was an apprentice wood turner in the employment of Messrs Douglas Fraser & Sons. He was a well-known footballer, and played in the Arbroath Fail-field Club, and was a member of the team which won the Arbroath and District Cup, the Newgate Cup, and were Melvin League champions in 1911-12.
Lance-Corporal Glen was a member of the Territorial Force, having joined in July 1909 (age 16) as a private in the Third Battalion of the Black Watch (Special Reserve). In 1910 he served as an honour guard at the coronation of King George V.
He was mobilized as a reservist four days after the outbreak of hostilities. He was transferred to the 1st Black Watch, and went to France with that Battalion at the beginning of September 1914. He took part in the battles of the Marne and the Aisne, and came through scathless the historic stand made by the Black Watch in the latter engagement, but fell in action on 31st October 1914 at the first battle of Ypres."
His elder brother Joseph also served in the Black Watch, with the rank of sergeant, and survived the war.
His family emigrated to the United States in 1920, where their many descendants still reside.
His youngest sister Lillian, who was 11 when he died, remembered him as always smiling, with a ready wit, and fond of practical jokes. He was a handsome young man, as is confirmed by a photograph of him posing in his uniform, which she kept displayed on a table in her home until she passed away in 1996, aged 93.
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A/CSM. Francis Curran 1st Btn. Black Watch (d.18th Aug 1916 ) Francis Curran was killed in action on the 18th of August 1916 and is remembered on the
Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France.
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Pte. Alexander Stuart Roberts 1st Btn. Black Watch (d.25th Sep 1915) Alexander Roberts lost his life while serving with the 1st Black Watch. His older brother Peter Jackson Roberts died on 7th June 1917 at the Battle of Arras.
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Pte. George Fairbairn 1st Btn. Black Watch George Fairbairn was my grandfather. He was in the 1st Black Watch and was reported as wounded on 29th of December 1917, shot in the upper arm in the Battle of Cambrai, France. Before that, he was in 1/2nd Scottish Horse. He arrived in Gallipoli (Suvla) on 2nd of September 1915 and was evacuated to Egypt on 20th of December 1915.
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Pte. Francis Kelly 1st Btn. Black Watch (d.25th July 1916) Frank Kelly, was the eldest of four brothers, all to join the Black Watch, Royal Highland Regiment. He had previously served during the Boer War 1899-1902. He became a Territorial Soldier, and joined up full time in 1914 when war was declared.
He was killed in action on 25th of July 1916, during the Somme Offensive. His name appears on the Thiepval Memorial in France.
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L/Sgt. James Low 1st Battalion Black Watch (d.9th May 1915)  James Low was my great grandfather. His address was 3 Yeamans Alley, Lochee, Dundee. He was the son of Mary Jean Scrimgeour but was raised by his Grandmother, Mary Low aka Granny Booth, who married John Gibson Booth after she gave birth to Jane. James's father was never in the picture along with Jane's father so he went by his grandmother's maiden name which was Low as she was Low when she gave birth to James's mother Jane. Neither his grandmother nor his mother married but neither of those men were blood relatives to James hence why he went by his Grandfather's surname.
He was in the 1st Battalion of the Blackwatch (Royal Highlanders) service number 874. While serving in Ireland he met my great grandmother Nellie Hoare. Nellie became pregnant with my granfather Patrick Low and James and Nellie got married on the Isle of Wight on the 12/01/1914.
James joined the war with the Blackwatch on the 14/09/1914. They fought in The Battle of Mons and the subsequent retreat, The Battle of the Marne, The Battle of the Aisne, the First Battle of Ypres and the Winter Operations of 1914-15. It was on the 09/05/1915 during the Battle of Aubers Ridge when he died. James won the WW1 Victory Medal.
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Pte. Robert Henderson 1st Btn. Black Watch (d.25th Sep 1916) Robbie Henderson was an office boy who lived in Love Street Paisley, who enlisted in the army at Dunkeld, Perthshire and was attached initially to 1771 Scottish Horse. He was killed aged 21 on 25th of September 1916 during an attack down Flers trench in support of an attack on Goose Alley. One of the missing of the Somme, his name is inscribed on the memorial at Thiepval, France, the largest war memorial in the world, containing the names of 72,000 men who fell on the fields of Flanders. He had five brothers and sisters, one of whom, Margaret Henderson, was my maternal grandmother.
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Sgt. Albert John Edwards 1st Btn. D Coy. Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) (d.25th Sep 1915) My great uncle Albert John Edwards was born in Edinburgh in 1888 and died, aged just 27 years, at the Battle of Loos. He enlisted in Dundee as a young man.
At some point, Albert was transferred to the 1st Battalion, probably when they were sent to France for the "big push". (His medal card shows he was in the 1st Battalion when he was killed in action.)
On 31st of March 1915 Albert married his sweetheart Emily at 39 South Street, Edinburgh. The marriage record shows Albert as a Sergeant - F Coy 3rd Black Watch, 27 years old and a bachelor. His usual residence is stated as stationed at Nigg, Ross-shire.
Albert must have married Emily while on leave before he went off to fight in France, but was killed in action just six months later on 25th September at the Battle of Loos. Albert does not have a grave but is listed on the Loos Memorial.
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Pte. James Hodnett 1st Btn. Black Watch Grandad James Hodnett joined up under age, he had lied about his age. He survived the war and was then sent to India as he was a regular. He was discharged to the reserves in 1925.
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L/Cpl. John Boyle 1st Btn. Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) (d.23rd Feb 1917) John Boyle enlisted in Leven Fife with the 1st Black Watch and landed in le Harve, France on 12th of Septe,ber 1914. He was wounded in June 1915, and was killed in BFebruary, he lies in the New British Cemetery, Somme.
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Pte. William James Purvis 1st Btn. Black Watch (d.13th Oct 1915) My Great Grandfather William James Purves went to the western Front in May 1915 and lost his life in the Battle of Loos in October of the same year. He served with the Black Watch 1st Battalion and is commemorated on the Loos memorial in Pas de Calais, France.
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Pte. Patrick Delaney 1st Btn Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) (d.15th Sep 1914) Patrick Delaney, the of Charles and Flora Delaney of 65 Albion Street Jarrow, died aged 18.
He was born in Dumbarton and lived in Jarrow. Patrick Delaney,age 15, Rivet Catcher in Shipyard, is with his mother Flora Delaney and family at 28 South Street, Jarrow on the 1911 census.
He enlisted at Sunderland.
Patrick is buried in Vendresse British Cemetery and is commemorated on the Triptych in St. Paul's Church Jarrow.
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Pipe Mjr. Duncan Anne Macfarlane 1st Btn. Black Watch My great grandfather, Duncan Macfarlane, was in the Black Watch in WW1.
He was born in Brig O'Turk and served throughout the war returning to Scotland and living until 1968.
He was a Pipe Major at some stage and was active in the Comrie and Creiff areas. I do not have any more details of his service and would like to find out more. I think that he may have been in the 1st Battalion.
His son, also Duncan Macfarlane, was in WW2 but did not return home.
He was captured in St Vallery en Caux before being sent to Poland where he died in 1943.Again more details on my great uncle are sought.
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Pte. Richard Canavan 1st Battalion Black Watch (d.9th May 1915) My uncle Richard Canavan died at the Battle of Aubers Ridge. I don't know much else really except that he deserted on Christmas Eve 1914 and rejoined on the 8th of January.
Additional Submission from another relative: Richard Canavan was my grandmother's (Catherine Wellcoat nee Canavan) brother. What we know of Richard was that he was wounded in the hand and shoulder, sent home to recuperate in December 1914 and returned to the front in 1915. Where you got the idea he deserted is a mystery to me! The Black Watch have confirmed he was not a deserter.
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Pte. Adam Jamieson Sangster 1st Btn. Black Watch (d.5th Sep 1916) Uncle Adam Sangster was a member of the Black Watch, Royal Highlanders. He lies in Heilly Station Cemetery, Mericourt-L'Abbe.
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