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David Blair cap badgePrivate David Blair

1/8th (Pioneer) Battalion Royal Scots (Lothian Regiment)
Service No: 53087

David Blair grave

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Click here for a frameable A4 print
Personal details

Family Information

Son of David Blair and Helen Brown Blair of 7 Old Monkland Rd, Coatbridge. From the 1901 Census - Address - 354 Dundyvan Road, Coatbridge - David Blair aged 53, Helen Blair aged 26, Margaret Orrock Blair aged 4, David Blair aged 2, Boarder Malcolm Gamble aged 31. David also had a brother William born 1909 and sisters Georgina born 1905 and Elizabeth born 1901. David's Pension was awarded to his mother Helen.

Born / Resided

Coatbridge / 7 Old Monkland Rd, Coatbridge.

Died

Killed in Action on the 11/04/1918 near Pacaut Wood at the Battle of Estaires (part of the Battles of the Lys)

Enlisted

Hamilton 03/04/1917

Employed

Labourer.

Age

19 / DOB - /02/1899

Buried / Remembered

Loos Memorial (Panel 10 to 13), Pas de Calais, France.

Cemetery / Memorial Information

The Loos Memorial commemorates over 20,000 officers and men who have no known grave, who fell in the area from the River Lys to the old southern boundary of the First Army, east and west of Grenay, from the first day of the Battle of Loos to the end of the war. On either side of the cemetery is a wall 15 feet high, to which are fixed tablets on which are carved the names of those commemorated. At the back are four small circular courts, open to the sky, in which the lines of tablets are continued, and between these courts are three semicircular walls or apses, two of which carry tablets, while on the centre apse is erected the Cross of Sacrifice.

Additional Information

The Battalion arrived at Le Havre on the 05/11/1914. David was sent to France 13 days before he died. His Pioneer Battalion were part of the 51st (Highland) Division when he was Killed in Action on the 11/04/1918 at the Battle of Estaires, 9th - 11th April 1918 : A victim of the German Spring Offensive. The Division was rushed into the area on the 9th of April 1918, to hold the line of the River Lawe. This was a phase of the Battles of the Lys, 9th April - 29th April 1918 : The third German offensive Operation Georgette takes place in Flanders with the objective of capturing key railway and supply roads and cutting off British Second Army at Ypres. After initial successes the German attack is once again held after British and French reserves are somehow found and deployed. SEE PHOTOS x 7 FOR THE BATTALION WAR DIARY APRIL 1918. According to the War Diary the Battalion casualties for period 9th - 13th April inclusive were : Officers Wounded on the 11/04/1918 x 10, Wounded on the 12/04/1918 x 6, Other Ranks - Killed in Action x 20, Wounded x 88, Wounded + Missing x 4, Died of Wounds x 1 and Missing x 67. Also see photos for the men of the British 51st (Highland) Division in a hastily dug trench in a ploughed field near Locon. One soldier sleeps beneath a patterned blanket, the others grin at the camera with their equipment scattered around them. The Division was rushed into the area on 9 April 1918, to hold the line of the River Lawe. David is listed on the Coatbridge Memorial at the bottom of the "D PANEL". He is also remembered on the Maxwell Parish Church Roll of Honour (see photos). See photos for David's Medal Index Card, his CWGC Grave Registration, his listing on the Loos Memorial Panel List, his Army Register of Soldiers Effects, his Service Medal and Award Rolls, his name on the Loos Memorial x 2, his Service Records x 10 (see Service Record 8 for mention of David's brother William and his sisters Georgina and Elizabeth), the Royal Scots Cap Badge, David's Pension Records x 2, the Battalion digging trenches, and the Battalion in camp. Finally, see photos x 2 for a Wreath placed by myself remembering the men on the Loos Memorial July 2023, myself at the Royal Scots Panels at Loos Memorial in July 2023 (David's listing on the right of the photo), PHOTOS x 17 FROM THE 51st (HIGHLAND) DIVISION BOOK 1st - 11th APRIL 1918 and the 51st (Highland) Division Order of Battle x 12.

Photos
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War Diaries

The battalion War Diary is available on the National Archives website.

Creative Commons License

We have made this information and the images available under a Creative Commons BY-NC license. This means you may reuse it for non-commercial purposes only and must attribute it to us using the following statement: © coatbridgeandthegreatwar.com

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