S/5966 Pte John Tevendale, 11th Bn, A&S Highlanders

S/5966 Private John Tevendale of the 11th Battalion, Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders was killed in action on the 3rd October 1917. He was born in Aberdeen and enlisted in Glasgow on the 19th October 1914. He was then 26 years old, a plasterer by trade, just short of five feet eight inches tall with a pale complexion, blue eyes and brown hair. The medical officer examining him notes a "linear scar on the left side [of his] nose [and a] small circular scar [on his] r[ight] forearm."

John was initially posted to the 10th Battalion and sailed for France with the 10th on the 11th May 1915. He was appointed unpaid lance corporal on the 11th January 1916 and then paid acting lance corporal the following month (24th). He returned to England on the 13th April 1916 as a result of a gunshot wound to his scalp and spent three weeks at the Edinburgh War Hospital. The wound appears to have healed well, although "some degree of vertigo" is noted. He was subsequently posted to the 3rd Battalion on the 8th August that year.

On the 16th May 1917, Private Tevendale was tried by a Regimental Courts Martial for "without reasonable excuse allowing to escape a person committed to his charge." He was found guilty and was sentenced to 14 days' detention.

The following month, on the 17th June, John Tevendale was back in France and posted to the 11th Battalion. Less than four months later he was killed in action. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission notes that he was 28 years old, the son of George and Helen Campbell Tevendale of 364 Govan Street, Glasgow. He is buried in the Level Crossing Cemetery at Fampoux in France.

In February 1918, George Tevendale acknowledged receipt from the infantry office in Perth, of his late son's wallet and photos.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry (MIC, WO 363)
Soldiers Died in The Great War
Army Service Numbers
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission