Lance Corporal William Dunn

Lance Corporal William Dunn

11th (Service) Battalion Highland Light Infantry (Machine Gun Section)
Service No: 19386

688

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Click here for a frameable A4 print

Personal details

Family Information

Eldest son of Robert and Elizabeth Dunn of 320 Cornish Row, Gartsherrie, Coatbridge. From the 1901 Census - Address - 270 New Row. Coatbridge - Robert Dunn aged 48, Elizabeth Dunn aged 35, William Dunn aged 7, Jemima Dunn aged 3. (New Row in Gartsherrie was also known as Cornish Row). William's Pension was awarded to his father Robert on the 12/07/1916.

Born / Resided

Coatbridge / 320 Cornish Row, Gartsherrie, Coatbridge.

Died

Killed in Action on the 26/09/1915 by an enemy bullet near Hulloch on the 2nd day of the Battle of Loos

Enlisted

Hamilton 01/09/1914

Employed

Iron Worker with William Baird and Company, Gartsherrie Iron Works.

Age

21 / DOB - 30/04/1894

Buried / Remembered

Loos Memorial (Panel 108 to 112), 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

William and the Battalion arrived at Boulogne on the 11/05/1915 and were part of the 28th Brigade, 9th (Scottish) Division. They were attached to the South African Brigade from the 06/05/1915 until the 14/05/1916 when they transferred to the 46th Brigade, 15th (Scottish) Division and amalgamated with 11th (Service) Battalion to form the 10/11th Battalion. William was Killed in Action at the Battle of Loos, 25th September - 15th October 1915 : The first genuinely large scale British offensive action but once again only in a supporting role to a larger French attack in the Third Battle of Artois. British appeals that the ground over which they were being called upon to advance was wholly unsuitable were rejected. The battle is historically noteworthy for the first British use of poison gas. The Battle from 07.05 a.m. till noon - In the centre 9th (Scottish) Division had to attack the formidable obstacle of the Hohenzollern Redoubt and Fosse 8, the high location of the main enemy observation posts looking across the whole battlefield. Preparations had included Russian saps to close the distance to be covered, and effective observed heavy shelling. The lead units of 26th Brigade suffered casualties as they cleared the gas and smoke, but advanced through well-cut wire to quickly take the front face of the Redoubt. At 11.15am the Corps commander gave an order to renew the attack at 12.15pm, and a bombardment opened up, but it was clearly too light to be effective in destroying the defences in front of Auchy. The 9/Scottish Rifles and half of the 11/HLI advanced as ordered, and were shot down with considerable loss. Most men did not even reach the German wire. At 1.30pm Brigade halted further attack, and its survivors were reorganised for defence of their original lines. Auchy area : The attack of 9th (Scottish) Division had by mid-morning succeeded in reaching and occupying the enemy trench network around the Hohenzollern Redoubt and Fosse 8, and also Pekin Trench. William was hit by an enemy bullet as he readied his machine gun during a German counter-attack at Loos in the evening of the 26/09/1915 at the Hulloch area -1.00am : A heavy attack by the German 117th Division was launched against the forward units of 7th and 9th Divisions between the Vermelles-Hulluch road and Fosse 8. It achieved complete surprise, catching wiring parties and isolated sections unawares. On the right, 20th Brigade pulled all advanced units back to the protection of Gun Trench. In the centre, the most forward units were in a shallow trench a hundred yards ahead of the Quarries. Their left had no contact with the 27th Brigade of 9th Division, which was somewhere away on their left. A reorganisation of scattered and mixed-up units was underway, under shellfire that included gas shells, when the German attack hit. The enemy entered the Quarries through the undefended gap to the North, and much confused and hand to hand fighting took place. By 1.30am the British troops had lost the Quarries. William is listed as Killed in Action on the 25/09/1915 by the CWGC, his Army Register of Soldiers Effects, his Service Medal and Award Rolls and Pension Records. Newspaper clipping and William's mention in the De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour state he fell on the 26th (see photos x 2). SEE PHOTOS x 11 FOR THE BATTALION WAR DIARY SEPTEMBER 1915. William was 1 of 99 men from the Coatbridge Memorial who fell during and from injuries from the Battle of Loos. William only went to the front on the 11/05/1915. Scottish Regiments lost a huge amount of brave men at Loos. Here is a list of Infantry Battalions who lost more than 500 men at the Battle of Loos from 25/09/1915 to 16/10/1915 - 7th Cameron Highlanders 687, of which 19 Officers, 9th Black Watch 680, of which 20 Officers, 6th King's Own Scottish Borderers 650, of which 20 Officers, 10th Highland Light Infantry 648, of which 20 Officers, 7th King's Own Scottish Borderers 631, of which 20 Officers, 8th Devons 619, of which 19 Officers, 8th Royal West Kents 580, of which 24 Officers, 8th Buffs 558, of which 24 Officers, 12th Highland Light Infantry 553, of which 23 Officers, 8th Black Watch 511, of which 19 Officers, 5th North Staffordshire 505, of which 20 Officers, 8th Seaforth Highlanders 502, of which 23 Officers. The 9th (Scottish) Division casualties between the 25th September and 16th October 1915 : 6,058 of which 190 Officers. William is also remembered on the East United Free Church, Gartsherrie Works x 2 and Maxwell Parish Churches Rolls of Honour and in the St. Augustine's Parish (book) Roll of Honour (see photos). Also see photos for William's Medal Index Card, his Newspaper clipping, his Army Register of Soldiers Effects, his Service Medal and Award Rolls, his name on the Loos Memorial, his name in the De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour, his CWGC Grave Registration, his name on the Loos Memorial Panel List, William's Pension Records x 2, the Highland Light Infantry Cap Badge, the 9th (Scottish) Division Order of Battle x 12 (the Division he was with when he died), PHOTOS x 31 FOR THE 9th (SCOTTISH) DIVISION BOOK 25th - 30th SEPTEMBER 1915, PHOTOS FOR 20 PAGES FROM THE MOST UNFAVOURABLE GROUND BOOK REGARDING THE BATTALION and DIVISION 25/09/1915 (fantastic book on the Battle of Loos kindly signed by the author Niall Cherry), Newspaper clippings x 3 (Coatbridge Express x 2 and the Coatbridge Leader x 1), photos of a wreath x 2 placed by myself at Loos Memorial in July 2023 remembering ALL the men who left from the Iron Burgh who are named there and one of myself at the Highland Light Infantry Panel at the Memorial (William listed top right). The History of the 9th (Scottish) Division book is available to read online here

Photos

War Diaries

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

Creative Commons License

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