Cameronians

Two pals at War

Two pals at War

These photographic postcards show two pals from Glasgow, William Wilson (seated on left) and Alexander Harris (standing on right) during the First World War. Soldiers often had photographs like these taken as souvenirs to send home to their families.

William and Alexander enlisted into the British Army in November 1914, and were both posted to the 10th Battalion Scottish Rifles. The 10th Battalion was a Service Battalion of The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), raised as part of Lord Kitchener’s ‘New Army’. On enlistment Alexander was given the regimental number 17097, and William given 17098, suggesting they enlisted together.

In the left photograph, William and Alexander are wearing ill-fitting scarlet jackets; uniform that was largely out of fashion by the time of the First World War. This suggests the image dates to late 1914 or early 1915, when the rapidly expanding army was faced with severe shortages of uniform and equipment resulting in new recruits being issued with old, obsolete uniform from stores. Both men are bare-headed, suggesting that there was no headdress available. The photographer’s negative number, 4798, is recorded in the bottom left corner of the photograph.

An officer of the 9th Scottish Rifles, another battalion of Kitchener’s Army, described the problems faced in clothing and equipping these new battalions:

“We had absolutely nothing in the way of uniform or equipment or anything else. In spite of that we started marching quite soon, as one of the first things to do was to get the men as fit as possible. I think that broomsticks, instead of rifles, were the first equipment that we learnt to drill with. Then a certain amount of uniform started to arrive. This was all old full dress uniform from every kind of unit, and you got a most extraordinary selection on parade. You’d see a man for instance in a rifle tunic and tartan trews, wearing a straw hat, next to somebody else in a red coat and some civilian trousers. At all events the men were clothed – in a way. The next stage was khaki and everybody got fitted out, not so very long after.”

Captain (later Lt-Col) R. M. S. Baynes, quoted in A Tale of Two Captains

In the right photograph, William and Alexander are now wearing khaki Service Dress jackets and trousers, along with Glengarry headdress complete with the cap badge of The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles). Now identifiable as Cameronians, the two friends have a new photograph taken to mark the occasion. They return to the same studio, with the same background as in the first photograph, and adopt similar poses. The negative number on this photograph is 6102.

Dressed in new khaki uniforms, and finally equipped with the correct service rifles, the 10th Scottish Rifles embarked for France on 10th July 1915 on board SS Victoria. They would remain on the Western Front for the duration of the War. Their first real experience of battle was at Loos in September 1915 where, along with the other battalions of the 15th Scottish Division, they would suffer heavy losses.

Alexander Harris was killed in action on 27th January 1916 – the anniversary of the Kaiser’s birthday. The German forces opposite the 10th Scottish Rifles celebrated the Kaiser’s birthday with a heavy bombardment of the British trenches, followed by an attack later that evening. The attack was repulsed but the heavy artillery bombardment resulted in several casualties, Alexander being among them. The whereabouts of Alexander’s grave is unknown, and he is commemorated on the Loos Memorial.

William Wilson survived the First World War. By August 1916 he had been transferred to the 11th Scottish Rifles and served with that battalion in Salonika. At the end of 1918 he was seriously ill with malaria, and was transferred to the Army Reserve on 19th March 1919.

Comments: 1

Posted: 09/02/2016 by BarrieDuncan in Collections, First World War


One response to “Two pals at War”

  1. Christopher Noble says:

    Alexander Harris is my great Uncle. Any information you may hold on him is most welcome.

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