Remembered today - 14th August

[eve]

David Henderson Welsh, son of James and Mary Welsh. Wounded in France 1st August 1916, died in hospital in Manchester on 14th August 1916 aged 22. Buried in Newlands Old Chuchyard

"And he lies in the glen at Newlands - a cheery soul - open, kindly, brave and true"

[Tim Godden]

Raising a glass to him.

May he rest in peace.

Tim

[dycer]

Eve,

If you go the recent Thread entitled "John and George Souness" you'll see photographs of 8th Royal Scots Men taken before and during the War(The War time photograph was taken in November 1915)

George

p.s. It appears Pte. Welsh was wounded in the Battle of the Somme at High Wood.

[eve]

Hi George

Great photographs - thanks for pointing me in their direction.

According to the local Book of Remembrance David Welsh was an original 1/8th Royal Scot having joined the Territorials in the Spring of 1914. He saw a lot of action in 1916 and at the beginning of August,when the 8th Batt were on pioneer work with the 51st Division, they were heavily shelled. Does that tie in with what you said? You can tell I'm a real novice

Evelyn

[dycer]

Eve,

You'll see I've tidied up my previous post I thought Pte Welsh was wounded on 14 August but re-checking I see he was wounded on the 1st whilst the Battalion was still in High Wood.

I have a short History of the Battalion wriiten for the Haddingtonshire Courier after the War.

The references for the dates around Pte Welsh's wounding include "The billets of the Battalion were continually shelled"."While at work, the Battalion was subjected to very heavy shell and machine-gun fire every night",etc,etc.

I don't know where Pte Welsh came from. Both my Uncles were born and brought up in Haddington.It is likely,though, he may have known George Souness(His original Number was 20 and he was a Sjt in the Machine Gun Section).More problematic if he knew John Souness who again was a pre-War Territorial(Number 152) but who died of wounds in January 1915.

If you e-mail me your contact details I'll gladly send you a photocopy of the History of the Battalion.

George