#40832 Private William Thomas Low
1ST ROYAL SCOTS FUSILIERS
AT THE OPPOSITE END OF the battlefield, right on the northern fringes of Gough’s sector, the 1st Royal Scots Fusiliers faced Beaumont Hamel on the north side of the River Ancre. Among their number was 32-year-old William Low. Born in Dunkeld, on the banks of the River Tay north of Perth, he had gone to school at Pitlochry before moving south to Edinburgh. A coach painter by trade, in his spare time he was also second in command of the 31st Edinburgh Boy’s Brigade. William’s brother, George, had been serving in a motor ambulance at the front, but William, although a former Black Watch Territorial, was a family man and refrained from enlisting until the advent of conscription. Joining the Royal Scots, he had only been serving in his current regiment a matter of days, having transferred on 20th October.
Private William Low. (Authors’ collection)
The battalion was out of the lines, supplying carrying parties and groups for labour and returning to flooded huts at the end of the day. When the downpour stopped, the day after William’s arrival, there was a full brigade exercise and an even more elaborate divisional one the following day in biting cold weather. Then the relentless rain started again and the men were confined to their damp huts, their move back up into the trenches delayed. Instead they helped carry up supplies to the unfortunate men manning the lines. Any thoughts of attacking were being shelved until there was respite from the wet conditions.
On 25th October the Royal Scots Fusiliers could delay the relief of the battalions in the trenches no longer. William and his company waded off into the mire towards the front lines. It was a torrid exchange; thirteen men of the battalion were wounded and two vanished in a communication trench just in the act of moving along. Seven were killed, including William Low. It was not clear whether or not their deaths were as a result of enemy fire or the murderous, clinging mud that pulled at them as they struggled towards their posts. William left behind a wife, Bessie, and two daughters: Alison, 2, and Isabella, 9 months. He was laid to rest at Euston Road Cemetery, plot I.C.4.