Organisations > Hillhead High School war memorial volume

Biographies
were signed and ready to be sent in when, on the 18th November, 1916, he was
seen to fall at the head of his men during an attack on the German lines. He was
at first reported wounded and missing, but later evidence went to show he had been
killed. Thus pass in a halo of glory our bravest and best, but their example
remains to inspire and cheer. James Baird was a devoted son and a loving brother,
and the tenderest sympathy of the School goes out to his widowed mother and
brothers and sisters.
JOHN ROBERTSON BAIRD
Private, Canadian Mounted Rifles
Private John Robertson Baird was the second son of Mr. and Mrs. Alexander
Baird, Winnipeg, Canada. He received all his education at Hillhead High School,
and, until he left for Canada with his parents in 1905, was an ardent member of the
Cadet Corps. After a short period of training in a bank in Winnipeg he joined his
father in the commission business. When the world war began he joined the 1st
Canadian Mounted Rifles and arrived at Shomcliffe for training in June, 1915.
Soon after he proceeded to France, and spent that terrible winter in the trenches
round Ypres. There in the fierce fighting that raged in the month of June round
Sanctuary Wood and Hooge Farm the whole of the 1st Canadian Mounted Rifles
were practically wiped out, and Private Baird was amongst the fallen. Owing to
the fight raging for weeks and there being so few survivors the exact date of death
has not been ascertained. Some time after the parents of this gallant soldier
received a letter from a German soldier saying that while occupying the old trenches
of the Canadian Mounted Rifles he had found Private Baird 's Bible, and offering to
send it to them if they so wished. Needless to say, they have gratefully accepted
the offer, which goes to prove that the German nature is not altogether bad. Private
Baird dearly loved his adopted land, and was loud in its praises, but responded at
once in the hour of his native country's need. We have a specially warm place in
our heart for these heroes from afar.
GEORGE J. BALFOUR
2nd Lieutenant, 6th Battalion H.L.I.
The younger son of Mr. Andrew Balfour, F.R.I.B.A., architect, Glasgow,
and Mrs. Balfour, Rostrevor, Bridge of Weir, Lieutenant George J. Balfour was
educated at Hillhead High School and Glasgow High School. On leaving School
he entered the service of Messrs. Nobels, Limited. On the outbreak of war, though
he was only seventeen years of age, he joined the 6th H.L.I, as a private, and after
twelve months' service he was granted a commission in his own regiment — a rare
and signal honour and a high tribute to his worth. In July, 1916, he proceeded to
the Front on active service, and was attached to the Northumberland Fusiliers.
He saw much fierce fighting, and fell in action at the head of his men on the 15th
September, 1916, when the British captured Flers, Martenpuich, Courcelette, and
High Wood. The colonel of the regiment, in a letter to Lieutenant Balfour's parents,
writes, " I am very sorry that the continuous fighting in which we have been
engaged has prevented me writing you sooner to convey to you my own deepest
sympathy, and that of every officer and man in my regiment, in your great loss.
Your son fell gallantly leading his men in an attack in which they did magnificently,
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