8th Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders
William Kirk was born in 1889, probably in Stirlingshire. His parents were George and Janet Kirk. According to the 1901 Census George was a labourer and the couple had five daughters (Helen, Henrietta, Elizabeth, Catherine and Janet) and two sons George and William. Ages ranged from 5 to 27. At that time the family lived at Bonnyside Terrace, Falkirk.
It appears likely that prior to enlistment into the Army and possibly prior to the Great War William had married Helen Gordon but no date for the marriage has been ascertained; evidence suggests that she too was a native of Stirlingshire and was born in the same year as William.
No Army Service Record has survived for William but his Medal Index Card states that he first went to France on 9 July 1915, when serving with the 8th Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders – part of 44 Brigade, 15 Division. This was the initial overseas deployment of the battalion, which had previously been in training on Salisbury Plain.
The 8th Seaforths went into action on 25 October 1915 at the Battle of Loos. Despite initial confusion caused by the blow back of the British gas and the early loss of their CO the battalion stormed through the German defences at Glatz Redoubt and into the village of Loos itself. Together with other Scottish units they pursued the fleeing Germans until the advancing troops became mixed up in front of and on the slopes of Hill 70, where the attack was halted by fierce resistance. The battalion casualties from the action amounted to 700 but according to a report in the Gloucestershire Echo of 18 October 1915 the wound which caused Private Kirk to be repatriated to the UK occurred on 5 October. It also reported that he had enlisted ‘ten months previously’, which would have been January 1915.
Repatriation was to Winchcombe Red Cross Hospital and the Gloucestershire Echo of 9 October noted the arrival on the morning of 6 October of 41 soldiers from ‘France and the Dardanelles’; William Kirk was one of those listed. Also listed was a Private T Gordon (8th Seaforths) and it is believed that this was William’s brother-in-law, Thomas, who, having the number S/6332, probably enlisted on the same day. He survived the war.
According to the Gloucestershire Echo report William had contracted tetanus from his wound and was moved to Cheltenham General Hospital, where he died on Friday 15 October 1915, aged 26. His funeral took place on the following Monday (the 18th) at Cheltenham Cemetery. This was attended by his father-in-law, George Kirk (brother) and brother-in-law Thomas Gordon, who himself had suffered a head wound in the same action as William, plus staff from the Winchcombe Hospital. A firing party from the 3/5th Glosters were unable to attend. The burial service was conducted by the Rev J Macara Gardener of St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Cheltenham.
William Kirk now has a standard CWGC headstone marking his grave. The CWGC record, compiled in the early 1920s states that his wife was living at 8 Railway Buildings, Greenhill, Stirlingshire. The Gloucestershire Echo report gave Private Kirk’s address as Lower Green Hill, Bonny Bridge, Stirlingshire. He is commemorated on the Bonny Bridge War memorial.
Researched by Graham Adams 19 January 2016