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Remembered Today:

The Dandy Ninth


Heriotkay

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My Great Uncle Alexander Wright (#1257) was a Private with "The Dandy Ninth" and died on the 5th of September 1916. I believe the Ninth was in action at High Wood at that time. Would someone please confirm whether or not this was the case. Thanks in advance for your help!

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Hi,and welcome to the Board.

I am a West Coaster,so not very knowledgeable about the Royal Scots,but from what I have read,the 1/9th Royal Scots were part of the 51st(Highland)Division who fought at High Wood up till 23 July 1916.They suffered 175 casualties.

25 July:They were at Becordel-Becourt.

1 August:Mametz Wood.

6 August:bivouacs near Dernacourt.

9 August:Entrained at Mericourt-l'Abbe for Longpre.

11 August:Entrained at Pont-Remy for Steenbeque.

30 September:Arrived Candas from Armentieres.

I see from the CWGC website that Alexander was buried at Armentieres beside a Royal Scots comrade - JL Hood - who is recorded as being killed in action on the same day.Hopefully,one of our more expert members will be able to give more information on the circumstances behind Alexander's death.

Regards,

Chris,

Glasgow.

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I don't know the answer to the original question but I am confused. I believe the 'Dandy Ninth' was the nickname of the 9th Foot - The Norfolk Regiment. They earned the title as they were the best dressed regiment of their day. That;s where the quotation ' Dressed up to the nines' comes from.

I stand to be corrected

Tony

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Tony

No, the Norfolks never were called Dandies, but the Gloucestershire Regt were known as the Silver Tailed Dandies. I gather that the 1st/9th Royal Scots got the nickname the Dandy 9th because they were the only kilted battalion in the Regiment.

Charles M

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Thanks so much for the info Chris. I'll try following up on JL Hood. If you feel there might be a better forum through which to present this inquiry, please let me know. I'm new to the game!

Best Regards,

John

Memphis

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My Great Uncle Alexander Wright (#1257) was a Private with "The Dandy Ninth" and died on the 5th of September 1916. I believe the Ninth was in action at High Wood at that time. Would someone please confirm whether or not this was the case. Thanks in advance for your help!

From the "Long, Long Trail" link (above, top left) you can get a summary of the 1/9th Royal Scots.

http://www.1914-1918.net/royalscots.htm

Tom.

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Alexander Wright, from the Medal Index Card (free on Ancestry), landed in France on the 24th February 1915 with, or just before, the main body of the Battalion which in the link above is shown as landing on the 26th.

There is an entry for Johnstone Latto Hood in Du Ruvigny's he 'was killed by shell fire together with a comrade in their dug-out near Armentieres on the 5th September 1916.' Presumably his comrade was your g-uncle. His Platoon officer was Lt Paulin; CWGC records 'A' Company so should be comparatively easy to trace his movements with 9th Bn through the war diary available for £3.30 as a download from TNA

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7354792

Hood's number was 1458, a Post Office employee he joined the TF in March 1912 which. given the sequencing, puts your great uncle's enlistment a few months before so they almost certainly knew each other from before the war and may have been close friends.

The War Diary is in three parts, for this earlier period from February 1915 to December 1915 http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7353476

and for completeness the final part from February 1918 is here http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7352815

Ken

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Brilliant! Thanks so much Ken! I'll follow the links to retrieve the additional information. You've been a great help!

John

Memphis

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You may well have seen this, but while researching a relative of a friend who served with the 9th Royal Scots I came across this excellent memoir from a 51st Div site.

http://51hd.co.uk/accounts/macpherson_high_wood. Their War Diary is also now available for download.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thanks so much Will! Extremely interesting! What an incredible account! My Great Uncle was in "A" Company. I'll continue to research.

Thanks again for your help!

John

Memphis

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  • 1 month later...

" Journal of an Edinburgh Mountaineer" discusses this attack

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  • 2 months later...
The Battalion War Diary for 5th September 1916 reports 'Day quiet, except that about 4.30 p.m. three large Minenwerfer Bombs were fired into "A" Coy area - two men were killed...'
The Brigade War Diary adds 'Rained heavily on and off all day... Enemy showed rather more activity with their Trench Mortars in the afternoon'.
The 9th Royal Scots were in the right subsector of the line, between the River Lys and Le Gheer, so were immediately north of the river (C16b74 to C4a60) with A, B, C Coys in the front line from right to left. There is quite a good map of this area, with places recognisable from the War Diary, here http://maps.nls.uk/view/101464966

Lys (excerpt)


An 'In Memoriam' was inserted for Alexander Wright in The Scotsman, 5th September 1922, by his parents of 16 Broughton Rd.
Regards, Neill (researching 9th RS)
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  • 2 years later...
On 28/03/2015 at 14:12, Heriotkay said:

Thanks so much for the info Chris. I'll try following up on JL Hood. If you feel there might be a better forum through which to present this inquiry, please let me know. I'm new to the game!

Best Regards,

John

Memphis

Pte Johnstone Latto Hood 9th Royal Scots. 

374707CC-4A67-4583-9000-31FD175CB511.jpeg

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  • 4 weeks later...

The identity of Bill Hay's friend, Alexander Wright is being discussed here: 

 

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