250685 L/Cpl. David Elder Robertson British Army 8th Btn. B Coy, 5 Platoon. Black Watch from:Musselburgh, Midlothian, Scotland (d.3rd May 1917) Great Uncle David Robertson was born in Inveresk, Musselburgh, at the end of 1889. After school he worked on the railways and as a miner. He was married early 1915 and volunteered on 2nd of June 1915. He joined the training company of 8th Black Watch at St Lucia Barracks, Bordon. A letter he wrote home just after 3 weeks manoeuvres without shelter in bad weather and little sleep (being a L/Cpl) made him determined to lose his stripe and get to the front. Little did he know when he wrote on 26th of September 1915 that his unit and 9th Scottish Division, had been launched the day before at Loos and would suffer terrible casualties. By mid-October, he was with 8th Black Watch near Zillebeke, opposite the infamous Hill 60. He survived a week of hell at Longueval where 8th Black Watch assaulted with 739 all ranks and only 171 came out, right through to Arras, April 1917. But on 3rd of May 1917, a poorly ordered assault on Greenland Hill did for him and he died that day. He is remembered on the Arras War Memorial.
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