|
|
This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site you agree to accept cookies.
If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation.
Site Home
Help & FAQs
Features
Submissions
Information
Advertisements
World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great 1914 1918 first battalion regiment
2nd Lt. James Adam Hamilton Fergusson
British Army Highland Light Infantry
(d.20th Sep 1914)
The first of the local men to fall was Second Lieutenant James Adam Hamilton Fergusson of the Highland Light Infantry, son of Sir James Ranken Fergusson of Spitalhaugh and Lady Fergusson.
He enlisted in the Highland Light Infantry in February 1912 and was killed at the Battle of the Aisne on Sunday, 20th September 1914. In a letter to Lieutenant Fergusson’s parents, Colonel Wolfe Murray wrote; "I daresay before this reaches you you will have heard that poor Hamilton was killed in the trenches by a rifle bullet to the head. Lieutenant O'Connell, Royal Artillery Medical Corps, our Medical Officer, most gallantly went to his assistance under a heavy fire and was himself shot dead. From what I hear, however, there was no hope from the first that he (Hamilton) died shortly afterwards. I cannot tell you how grieved I am, and we all are, at his loss. It was only the day before that his Company commander, Captain Gaussen – who is slightly wounded – told me how plucky and cool he always was under fire, and I myself have seen it. We buried him in the evening, with O’Connell and another brother-officer, young McKenzie. He was a general favourite with officers and men, and showed promise of becoming a splendid officer."
His Company Commander wrote "I know a letter don’t do much good at a time like this, but I was with your boy almost at the end, and so thought you might like to hear from me. Also I loved him too. All through the war he had done so well, and was always cheery, that I had got to look at him as my right-hand man".
Related Content:
Can you help us to add to our records?
The names and stories on this website have been submitted by their relatives and friends. If your relations are not listed please add their names so that others can read about them
Did your relative live through the Great War? Do you have any photos, newspaper clippings, postcards or letters from that period? Have you researched the names on your local or war memorial?
If so please let us know.
Do you know the location of a Great War "Roll of Honour?"We are very keen to track down these often forgotten documents and obtain photographs and transcriptions of the names recorded so that they will be available for all to remember.
Help us to build a database of information on those who served both at home and abroad so that future generations may learn of their sacrifice.
Celebrate your own Family History
Celebrate by honouring members of your family who served in the Great War both in the forces and at home. We love to hear about the soldiers, but also remember the many who served in support roles, nurses, doctors, land army, muntions workers etc.
Please use our Family History resources to find out more about your relatives. Then please send in a short article, with a photo if possible, so that they can be remembered on these pages.
The free section of The Wartime Memories Project is run by volunteers.
This website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions.
If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running.
Hosted by:
The Wartime Memories Project Website
is archived for preservation by the British Library
Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV
- All Rights Reserved -We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.
