Organisations > University of Aberdeen roll of service in the Great War, 1914-1919

AY MEM0R1AM.
was the best Sergeant I ever had, so joyous, so
fearless/' while his officers wrote, "I have
always known him to be an absolutely fearless
man, and one whom, more than anybody else,
I would have liked with me in a tight corner ".
" He had a magnificent record out here, and
was one who could be least easily spared."
•
MACDONALD, WILLIAM ERIC : Private,
4th Battalion Gordon Highlanders ;
youngest son of Alex-
ander MacDonald,
Balintore, Kirkhill;
born Kirkhill, Inver-
ness-shire, 5 April
1896; educated Inver-
ness Royal Academy ;
matriculated in Agri-
culture, October 19 14.
Shortly afterwards he
enlisted in the 4th
Battalion Gordon
Highlanders with which
he served in Aberdeen,
Bedford and Ripon, till December 191 5 when
he proceeded to France. He was reported
" missing, believed killed in action " at High
Wood, on the Somme, 23 July 191 6.
STEPHENSON, ARTHUR FREDERICK
VERE : Lieutenant, 4th Battalion Gordon
Highlanders ; son of
Emeritus Professor
William Stephenson,
M.D. ; LL.D. ; born
Aberdeen, 1 1 Novem-
ber 1882 ; educated
Aberdeen Grammar
School ; trained as an
engineer with Messrs.
Walker & Duncan,
1901-05. During ses-
sion 1902-03 he at-
tended classes in the
Agricultural Depart-
ment. After gaining some experience at Peter-
head and Leeds he returned to Aberdeen, and
in 1909 attended University Classes in Geology.
He became A.M. Inst. C.E. in 1910, and in the
following year obtained an appointment in the
Federated Malay States.
At home Stephenson was an enthusiastic
member of the 1st V.B. Gordon Highlanders,
and in the F.M.S. he joined the Malay States
Volunteer Rifles, with whom he was mobilized
on the outbreak of war, serving for a time as a
Corporal at Singapore. As early as possible he
obtained leave and returned home where, in
June 19 15, he obtained a Commission as Lieu-
tenant, 4th Gordon Highlanders, proceeding to
France in October 1915. On 23 July 191 6 he
was reported missing after an attack at High
Wood in the Battle of the Somme. Later it
was learned from a German Officer prisoner
that he died in a German trench, a few
hours after being badly wounded by a hand
grenade.
FALCONER, ROBERT: Sergeant-Major,
4th Battalion Gordon Highlanders ;
son of James G. Fal-
coner, commission
agent ; born Aberdeen,
8 December 1890 ;
was educated at the
Grammar School and
at Gordon's College.
On leaving school he
entered the firm of
Messrs. Stephen &
Smith, advocates,
Aberdeen, to whom he
was later apprenticed
as a law clerk. During
his apprenticeship he studied Law at Aberdeen
University, 19 12-15.
He joined the 4th Battalion Gordon High-
landers (T.F.) as a Private in 191 1, and took a
great interest in the Territorials. He was
mobilized as a Lance-Sergeant, and crossed to
France with the 4th Gordons in the spring of
1915 ; there he was soon promoted Company
Sergeant-Major. Early in 19 16 he was home
on leave. He rejoined the Battalion in May,
and returned to France with a draft in the be-
ginning of July to take part in the Battle of the
Somme. During this engagement he was re-
ported wounded and missing on 23 July 19 16,
and was later believed killed on that date.
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