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

IN MEMORIAM.
Watch (Royal Highlanders) ; son of William
Harper, gardener ; born Auchtergavin, Perth-
shire, 5 November
1890: educated
Urquhart Public
School and Elgin Aca-
demy ; graduated M. A.
(Hons. Maths.), 191 1,
gaining the Amott
Prize in Experimental
Physics. From his
schooldays his ability
was outstanding, and
one of his Professors
has said of him : " His
written papers showed
a faculty of lucid_ exposition which I have never
in all my experience as a Professor seen sur-
passed ". He was keenly interested in meteoro-
logical work and after graduating held an
appointment in the Royal Observatory in Edin-
burgh.
1 1 Harper joined the Territorials in 1908, re-
enlisted on 5 August 191 4, and served in France
and Flanders. After a period of training at
General Headquarters Cadet School, France, he
was gazetted 2nd Lieutenant, 8th (Service)
Battalion The Black Watch, in August 19 16,
and was promoted Lieutenant a year later. He
was killed in action at Passchendaele on 12
October 191 7. His Officer commanding wrote :
" His death was as gallant as was to be ex-
pected. . . . He gave his life in a fight which was
one of the bitterest and hardest this Battalion
has taken part in, and by his leadership helped
to maintain the high tradition which the Battal-
ion has earned."
MILNE, GEORGE SMITH MITCHELL :
Lieutenant, 10th Battalion Gordon
Highlanders; son of Charles Milne, draper;
bom Aberdeen, 8 August 1894 ; educated Aber-
deen Grammar School; graduated M.A., 1914;
was studying Economics and Law whew war broke
out.
He was a Private in "D" Company, 4th
Gordon Highlanders, and was mobilized with
the regiment, serving in the ranks until he was
commissioned in the 10th Battalion in October
19 14. Milne served in France from October
1 9 1 5 till the following August, when he returned
to England to train for the R.F.C. As the result
of a flying accident he
was unable to com-
plete his training, and
returned to the 10th
Gordons, August 191 7.
He was killed at Fam-
p o u x, 14 October
191 7, whilst leading a
daring daylight raid,
"from which many a
man of iron nerve
would have flinched ".
He had proved himself
a fine soldier and was
beloved by his men.
THOMSON, JAMES GEORGE : Gunner,
Royal Field Artillery ; son of James
Thomson, cabinet-
maker, Fochabers ;
born there, 20 Decem-
ber 1893 ; educated
Milne's Institution,
Fochabers ; m a t r i c u-
lated in Arts, 1913.
He joined " U "
Company in his first
session, was mobilized
at the outbreak of war
and saw service in
France with the 4th
Gordons, rising to the
rank of Sergeant. He was wounded in 191 5
and later transferred to the R.F.A. He fell in
action 19 October 191 7.
Thomson will be remembered by his old
companions of " U " Company for his keen
sense of the humorous. Every experience, even
in the dreary days of trench life, contributed
something to the stock of good stories which he
loved to tell.
DAWSON, REV. DAVID STEWART :
Lieutenant, Gordon Highlanders ; son of
James Dawson ; born Melbourne, 27 August
1890; graduated M.A., 1910; student in Di-
vinity, 19 10- 1 3 ; Assistant, Portobello Parish
Church.
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