Your favourite local War Memorials

[Derek Robertson]

Doubtless like many other keen historians on the Forum, whenever I'm out and about I am always drawn by local war memorials.

I have 2 particular favourites in my neck of the woods.

The first is the Canonbie War Memorial in the small village of that name.

[Derek Robertson]

And my other particular favourite is in the churchyard at Minto, a small village just outside Hawick.

The face of the statue is said to have been modelled on that of the late Lt. Esmond Elliot, the son of the Earl of Minto who was killed near Ypres in 1917.

On the memorial’s completion, the Countess of Minto is reputed to have had the figure turned from its original position of facing the family estate because she said that ‘a British soldier never turns his back on the enemy’.

The memorial was unveiled by Sir Douglas Haig in September, 1921, a metal plaque records the names of 7 men who fell. The sculptor of the statue was Thomas J.Clapperton who was based in London (though a native of Galashiels), amongst his other works was the Flodden Memorial in Selkirk.