Pipe Major Robert MacKenzie 6th KOSB Age 59

[kenmorrison]

Can anyone help me please with the pre-war service of this man who was resident in Annan in Dumfriesshire in August 1914.

The info I have is:

Robert MacKenzie – age 59 – Pipe-Major (14851) 6^th Battalion, King's Own Scottish Borderers.

He was born in 1856 Duthil, Inverness-shire/Elginshire and married in 1879 in St. Andrew, Edinburgh. He seems to have joined the army after that.

Robert had served "in the Egyptian campaign" and had been awarded Long Service and Good Conduct Medals. He became the caretaker of the drill-hall in Dumfries until 1897 and for the next 18 years he was the attendance officer of Annan School Board. He landed with the 6^th KOSB at Boulogne in May 1915 and was wounded during the battle of Loos on 25^th September. Robert died in the 25^th General Hospital at Dannes-Camiers on 8 October 1915. He was Mentioned in Despatches.

His daughter Elizabeth was born c.1882 in Ireland, his sons Robert was born c.1885 in Ireland, George was born c.1887 in England, Ronald c.1892 in India, and Margaret born 1907 in Kirkcudbrightshire.

Many thanks

Ken

 

[Ron Abbott]

2 hours ago, kenmorrison said:

Can anyone help me please with the pre-war service of this man who was resident in Annan in Dumfriesshire in August 1914.

The info I have is:

Robert MacKenzie – age 59 – Pipe-Major (14851) 6^th Battalion, King's Own Scottish Borderers.

He was born in 1856 Duthil, Inverness-shire/Elginshire and married in 1879 in St. Andrew, Edinburgh. He seems to have joined the army after that.

Robert had served "in the Egyptian campaign" and had been awarded Long Service and Good Conduct Medals. He became the caretaker of the drill-hall in Dumfries until 1897 and for the next 18 years he was the attendance officer of Annan School Board. He landed with the 6^th KOSB at Boulogne in May 1915 and was wounded during the battle of Loos on 25^th September. Robert died in the 25^th General Hospital at Dannes-Camiers on 8 October 1915. He was Mentioned in Despatches.

His daughter Elizabeth was born c.1882 in Ireland, his sons Robert was born c.1885 in Ireland, George was born c.1887 in England, Ronald c.1892 in India, and Margaret born 1907 in Kirkcudbrightshire.

Many thanks

Ken

 

 

 

'Floo'ers O' The Forest - Fallen Pipers of The Great War' has this recorded : -

 

 Born at Grantown-on-Spey about 1856.Enlisted in the 78th Highlanders (no,337) in November, 1874 and was appointed Piper in November, 1876. Purchased his discharge in October,1878 and re-enlisted in The King's Own Scottish Borderers (no.276I) in July of the following year.Appointed Pipe-Major and served with the 2nd Battalion in the action at Gemaizah in 1888.Awarded the medal for Long Service and Good Conduct and retired to pension in October, 1896. Employed 16 years as Truant Officer for the Annan School Board, Dumfrieshire where he had resided at Ednam Street.Volunteered for service in the Great War.Went to France as Pipe-Major of the 6th (Service) Battalion The King's Own Scottish Borderers, in the 9th (Scottish) Division. Mentioned in Field-Marshall French's despatch of 30th November, 1915 for his gallantry at Loos (‘London Gazette’ 29422, 1st January, 1916). He had been gassed and wounded on the 25th September while playing the Battalion over the parapet when shot in both legs. Though he managed to crawl back to his own lines,his leg had to be amputated and he died of shock shortly afterward."He was the finest and grandest old man in the Regiment, and we were justly proud of him." Died of his wounds on the 8th October,1915 "having well deserved the V.C." Because of his age,about 59,he had been offered the position of Battalion postman, but insisted on staying with his Company. Survived by his wife, Mrs. Jane MacKenzie of 40 Cliff Street,Yonkers, New York.Buried in the Etables Military Cemetery,France;Plot III,Row C,Grave 9A.(Photograph in ‘The K.O.S.B.in the Great War’)

[kenmorrison]

12 hours ago, Ron Abbott said:

"He was the finest and grandest old man in the Regiment

He was indeed. Thank you so much Ron for finding and posting this.

I have found the following report in the Dumfries and Galloway Standard of 9 September 1916 and, with the help of the Dumfries Museum staff, am now trying to track down the memorial.

Ken

MEMORIAL TO ANNAN SOLDIER

An oval bronze memorial to the late Pipe- Major Mackenzie, attendance officer of Annan School Board, has been erected in the hall of Annan Public School. The cost has been defrayed principally by the children attending the school, assisted by the children of the Academy, Breconbeds, and St Columba’s, while the remainder has been contributed by the staffs of all the schools, the members of the Board, a few friends, and some former scholars. This is recorded on a small brass plate, mounted on an oak base, beneath the memorial, and on the memorial itself is the following inscription “In memory of Pipe-Major Robert Mackenzie, 6th K.O.S.B., who, after eighteen years faithful service as attendance officer of Annan School Board, died the age of fifty-nine, from wounds received on September 25th, 1915, at Loos, France.” The inscription is surrounded a wreath of laurel and oak with intertwined ribbons, the continuity of the border being broken at the top by the regimental arms the K.O.S.B., and at the bottom by the Annan burgh arms, and the wreath is the emblem of victory, not of mourning.

Edited 7 February , 2018 by kenmorrison

[Mark1959]

Out of interest 

https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-public-school-in-annan-c1901-1901-online

 

Wonder if he is in it!

[kenmorrison]

Pleased to report that the memorial is on display and in the care of the Devil's Porridge Museum in Eastriggs near Annan.

The museum commemorates the people who worked in what became the largest munitions factory of World War One.

 http://www.devilsporridge.org.uk/

 

Ken

[cjnd307]

You may be interested to read about Pipe Major MacKenzie in this article:

https://pipingpress.com/2021/11/13/an-unsung-hero-of-ww1-piper-harry-stott-kosb/

Harry Stott taught me to play the pipes.