Soldier Record
William Lawrence
Contributed by: I-C-Mac, on 2008-11-30
| Rank | |
|---|---|
| First Name | William |
| Surname | Lawrence |
| Year of Birth | 1886 |
| Year of Death | 1914 |
| Regiment | Gordon Highlanders |
| Place of Wartime Residence | Leven, Fife |
William's Story
"At Audencourt in the centre of 3rd Division's line, the order to retire never reached the rearguard of 8th Infantry Brigade......now isolated from all help, they withstood repeated attacks by the massed artillery and two regiments of 8th Infantry Division, and in doing so undoubtedly gave General Hamilton breathing-space in which to disengage the remainder of his division. At 1230 am the following morning this defiant rearguard started to retire, but just north of Bertry it was intercepted by the enemy. After a brief resistance, all but 200 men of the group were killed or captured. To all intents and purposes, 1/Gordons ceased to exist."
Killed on 27 August 1914 around Le Cateau.
A quotation from "The Mons Star - The BEF 1914" by David Ascoli.
The picture presumably was taken during his years as a Regular soldier and before his recall to the Colours in August 1914.
After the Menin Gate memorial was completed in 1927, my Grandmother and mother went to Ypres on a War Office arranged visits for families of the fallen. Unfortunately they were unaware that this memorial lists names of those killed but with no known grave from around mid-October 1914 to a date in 1917, so they were bitterly disappointed not to find my Grandfather's name there. He is, in fact, one of some 3800 killed between the outbreak of war and early October 1914, again with no known grave, who are commemorated by a memorial in La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, a town east of Paris, and completed late in 1928. I had an opportunity on our Remembrance Sunday of 1995 to pay my respects at the memorial, see my Grandfather's name, and to add my poppy to the wreathes laid there earlier in the week - France, like Belgium, observes 11th November, regardless of the day on which it falls.
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