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2nd battalion gordon highlanders


jock297

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hi everyone i was wondering if anybody out there has any photo's of the 2nd bn gordon highlanders from around 1904-dec 1914 as my great grandfather l/cpl 9848 robert brydson served in them at that time before he was killed and was buried at hazebrouk cemetery 2nd nov 1914 .

i already have both his and his brother william's great war medals but not much else other than roberts 1911 delhi durbar medal .

i would appreciate very much if any more information is known about the 2nd bn movements leading up to his untimely death.

with regards James

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The 2nd Battalion were in India from 1902? to 1912 ( from South Africa), then in Egypt stationed at Kase-el-Nil until 1914. In France they were part of the 7th Division at the 1st Ypres.

Hope this helps.

Bydand

,

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The second Battalion went to France and Flanders from Egypt and landed on October the 14th 1914

The Second Battalion War diary is available from the National Archive. It is already digitised so it will cost you 3.50 per month.

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

This will give you about the best detail you can find on the period. I do not recall the level of detail recorded in the 2nd Bn Diary - this varies considerably by Battalion.

Your best other source would be the first 50 pages of "Life of a Regiment" (Vol IV) by Cyril Falls, this describes the actions fought by the Battalion. This is sometimes hard to get hold of so if you run into difficulties drop me a PM and I'll see what I can do.

I have quite a few Gordons pics but have concentrated on TF battalions so I do not think I have any that are positively identified as 2nd Battalion.

IIRC there is a picture of Col Alistair Gordon of the 2nd Bn lying wounded (at Festubert?) in Royle's "Concise History" but off the top of my head I cannot think of many 2nd Bn pictures in publications.

The Gordon's Museum at Aberdeen might be a source - they are very helpful (but very overworked) volunteers - they do have lots of pictures and I am sure would have some of the 2nd Battalion during this period. If you do contact them - a small contribution to the museum funds in exchange for assistance is always welcomed.

Have you checked ANCESTRY for his MIC and possibly service record? its an outside shot but always worth checking.

Hope this helps

Chris

Edit: there appear to be some enlistment papers/service record for a Robert Brydson (19 years old) enlisting in the Gordons in 1905 in Dumfries... they are quite burnt and Ancestry is running very very slowly for me so I can only get at the first couple of pages and then I get error messages. The record indicates that there are 33 pages! which would be a result if it is the correct man. I hope I am not giving you a false lead here - as I say I can only get at the first 2 pages then get error messages.... I will keep trying - perhaps another pal could try also?

EDIT II:

You are in luck... a few pages into the record it started working again:

post-14525-1235024665.jpg

You can see date (2/11/14) and cause of death (hemorrhage of lung) and burial location etc here - so I think this is indeed your great grandfather. If you do not have access to Ancestry let me know and I will see if I can download these and send them on to you. I have not looked through them all so I do not know exactly what is there.

Edit III I have now looked through them all and despite the damage there is a more or less complete service record.

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The second Battalion went to France and Flanders from Egypt and landed on October the 14th 1914

The Second Battalion War diary is available from the National Archive. It is already digitised so it will cost you 3.50 per month.

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

This will give you about the best detail you can find on the period. I do not recall the level of detail recorded in the 2nd Bn Diary - this varies considerably by Battalion.

Your best other source would be the first 50 pages of "Life of a Regiment" (Vol IV) by Cyril Falls, this describes the actions fought by the Battalion. This is sometimes hard to get hold of so if you run into difficulties drop me a PM and I'll see what I can do.

I have quite a few Gordons pics but have concentrated on TF battalions so I do not think I have any that are positively identified as 2nd Battalion.

IIRC there is a picture of Col Alistair Gordon of the 2nd Bn lying wounded (at Festubert?) in Royle's "Concise History" but off the top of my head I cannot think of many 2nd Bn pictures in publications.

The Gordon's Museum at Aberdeen might be a source - they are very helpful (but very overworked) volunteers - they do have lots of pictures and I am sure would have some of the 2nd Battalion during this period. If you do contact them - a small contribution to the museum funds in exchange for assistance is always welcomed.

Have you checked ANCESTRY for his MIC and possibly service record? its an outside shot but always worth checking.

Hope this helps

Chris

Edit: there appear to be some enlistment papers/service record for a Robert Brydson (19 years old) enlisting in the Gordons in 1905 in Dumfries... they are quite burnt and Ancestry is running very very slowly for me so I can only get at the first couple of pages and then I get error messages. The record indicates that there are 33 pages! which would be a result if it is the correct man. I hope I am not giving you a false lead here - as I say I can only get at the first 2 pages then get error messages.... I will keep trying - perhaps another pal could try also?

EDIT II:

You are in luck... a few pages into the record it started working again:

post-14525-1235024665.jpg

You can see date (2/11/14) and cause of death (hemorrhage of lung) and burial location etc here - so I think this is indeed your great grandfather. If you do not have access to Ancestry let me know and I will see if I can download these and send them on to you. I have not looked through them all so I do not know exactly what is there.

Edit III I have now looked through them all and despite the damage there is a more or less complete service record.

hi chris

thanks for the info you are spot on this is in fact my great grandfather. would appreciate it very much if you could have a go at downloading for me as i dont have access to ancestry.

and my pc came out of the arc with noah so it tends to have fits and starts.

once again thanks for the help.

with regards james

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The 2nd Battalion were in India from 1902? to 1912 ( from South Africa), then in Egypt stationed at Kase-el-Nil until 1914. In France they were part of the 7th Division at the 1st Ypres.

Hope this helps.

Bydand

many thanks for the info at last it looks like with the help of you guys on this site i am starting to fill in some of the blanks in my family history and as a bonus has started to get me back to researching military history as i used to do quite a lot during my time with the forces.

with regards james

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  • 5 years later...

Hi there,

This is my first go at anything like this so please bear with me.

Off and on for about two years now I have been looking into my grandfathers experiences in WW1. I knew that he had been in at the beginning and had been taken prisoner in 1914 this and a couple of anecdotes from my father was where I started.

After my father passed away I came across two letters one was from Lyndhurst Camp, Southampton not dated and written on YMCA headed paper the other was from the front or ‘in the field’ postmarked 17th October 1914.

The details that I got from the two letters gave me a good start.

8732 Pte. J W Morrison

No 10 Platoon C company

2nd Gordon Highlanders

7th Division

Expeditionary Force

In The Field

I have obtained the war diaries for the 2nd Gordon Highlanders for 1914.

I have found out from the Red Cross website that,

James Watson Morrison 8732 Cpl? 2nd Gordon Highlanders was taken prisoner at Ypern 2/11/1914 and was sent to Lager Gustrow. He is listed here as Cpl.

On another document on the Red Cross site lists him as at Parchim again listed as Cpl..

I was on a site, a few years back, called ‘Behind the wire’ which I cannot seem to access now, can anyone explain why? It listed him at Broida and Pattern.

WO/161/100/20 No 1162 an interview with Davis J. S., Private, No. 18036. 3rd Canadian Infantry. In it he mentions a Private Morrison of the Gordon Highlanders at Broida and Pattern.

This is where I am at the moment. There is very little on the web about Broida and Pattern. The only other reference I have came across is FO 383/388 which refers to Private Davis’s escape. Can anyone provide more information this place/s.

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  • 10 months later...

Image.jpg

James this is a picture of the 2nd Gordon Highlanders taken sometime after 1911. My Grandfather is the handsome lad in the lower right hand corner with the moustache. I'm sorry but there is no identification of any of the others in the photo.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello humans...I am also looking for a photo of my 3rd great uncle Pte Robert Stirling from 2nd Bn but was KIA July 1, 1916 I have a photo of his headstone...

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