S/6429 Private Leslie Buchan of the 9th Battalion Gordon Highlanders was killed in action at the Battle of Loos on the 25th September 1915, ninety-nine years ago today. Over the years I have remembered a number of men killed at Loos and it is right to remember them. Soldiers Died in The Great War notes that 9661 men died on this day in 1915 and the vast majority of these casualties were at Loos.
Leslie was born at Longside, Aberdeenshire and he enlisted at Aberdeen on 7th October 1914 aged 27 years and 180 days. He was just over six feet tall, had a fresh complexion, hazel eyes and black hair. He was given the number S/6429 and posted to the 9th Battalion on the 15th October. His medal index card (above, courtesy
Ancestry) notes that he arrived in France on the 9th July 1915. The 9th Battalion arrived at Boulogne this month and so it would appear that Leslie was an original member of the battalion and landed with the battalion when it left England.
According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website, Leslie was one of 727 Gordon Highlanders who died on the 25th September 1915. Like many, he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Loos Memorial.
His surviving service papers note that he had married Maggie Jane Andrews at Aberdeen on 13th October 1914 and that a son, Leslie, was born on 8th May 1915. That he at least saw his son before he was posted overseas must have been some small comfort to his widow in later years. Two addresses are given for his wife: 54 Erskine Street, Aberdeen (crossed out) and 34 Stafford Street, Aberdeen. His father was originally recorded as his next of kin and he was James Buchan of Woodside of Auchlee, Longside, Peterhead.
By 1919 when Maggie Buchan submitted
Army Form W.5080 which listed a dead soldier's immediate family, she was living at 8 St John's Wood Road, London N8. No children are recorded which presumes that Leslie's infant son must have died. His father and mother (Margaret Buchan), three brothers and a sister are also recorded on this sad document.
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.
Leslie's service record survives as a burnt document in WO 363. His signature, taken from his attestation paper is from the original image which is Crown Copyright, The National Archives.