The younger son of Mr. John Clark, Edin., was born in 1898, and attended G.W.C., 1903-14. He had just joined the staff of the Bank of Scotland when war broke out. Enlisting in the Scots Guards, he proceeded to France, and after five weeks was wounded at Cambrai and taken prisoner Nov. 27, 1917. He was subsequently reported as having died at a German dressing-station Dec. 15, 1917. He is interred in the Cemetery of Honour, Le Cateau.
A son of Mr. C. L. Clerk, Eastern District Telegraph Service, was born at Singapore in 1895. Coming to this country at an early age, he entered G.W.C. in 1905, came up the Classical side, and left in 1910 to enter the service of the National Bank of Scotland. When war broke out, he enlisted in the 4th R.S. He accompanied his Bn. to the Dardanelles, and fell in action on June 28, 1915.
The second son of Mr. J. Cochrane, Edin., was born in 1895, and attended G.W.C. 1902-12. Proceeding to Edin. Univ., he was devoting himself to history and philosophy when the war broke out. Enlisting in Sept. 1914 in the 9th R.S., he served in the ranks in France till Nov. 1915. He then obtained a commission in the 1st H.L.I., and went to Mesopotamia, where he was severely wounded in Mar. 1916. After seven months' convalescence in India, he returned to Mesopotamia, where he transferred to the 1st Gurkhas, and was killed in action on March 25, 1917.
Was born in 1893, and attended G.W.C. 1901-9. Having served his apprenticeship in the Royal Bank of Scotland, he went to the National Bank of India in London in 1912. Joining the R.G.A. in 1916, he was sent to Salonika in Jan. 1917, where he was prostrated by dysentery and malaria, and suffered with his fellows the hardships of campaigning in the Balkans. He had made a good recovery and was in hopes of getting home, when he fell a victim to influenza on Dec. 6, 1918. He is buried at Salonika.
William C. G. Cogman, Flight Lieutenant, Royal Air Force, son of Mr. G. C. Cogman, 22 Barnton Gardens, Edinburgh, left Watson's in 1931 to study at Bennet College , Sheffield, for a Civil Service examination. At school he had gained his 1st XV Colour-and subsequently played regularly for the Watsonian XV. Joining the R.A.F. prior to the war, he was soon commissioned, and his squadron was the first to operate in the leaflet-dropping raids over Germany. Running short of petrol during a storm, he was forced to land in Belgium, where he was interned. Making his escape, he reached London in December 1939 and rejoined his old squadron. After several trips over Norway, he was shot down over Germany but baled out and walked into Holland, where he was taken prisoner. Again effecting his escape, he reached Ostend, but the vessel in which he was crossing the North Sea was torpedoed by a U-boat and he was reported killed in action at the age of twenty-seven.
The son of Mr. F. R. Coles, Edin., was born in Kirkcudbrightshire in 1888, and entered G.W.C. in 1899. He early developed a taste for music, and in 1906 won an Open Scholarship at the London College of Music. There he was awarded the Bucher Scholarship for his many and varied compositions. In pursuit of his favourite study he went to Stuttgart, where several of his works were performed. His dramatic setting of Buchanan's poem 'Fra Giacomo,' performed in the Queen's Hall, London, in 1914, elicited favourable comment in The Times. A fine artistic career was just opening for him when war broke out. In Sept. 1914 he enlisted in the 9th London Regt. (Queen Victoria Rifles), and was soon promoted Sgt. and Bandmaster. On Apr. 25, 1918, he gave his life as a voluntary stretcher-bearer near Hangar Wood.
Daisy Kathleen Mary Coles was born in London in 1893, and moved to Scotland where her father worked in the Scottish Office. Daisy was enrolled at George Watson’s Ladies College, just before her tenth birthday in 1903.
In 1914 at the outbreak of war, Daisy joined the local Voluntary Aid Detachment. She trained as a nurse and volunteered to go to France. In June 1917, Daisy arrived at the 58th General (Scottish) Hospital at St Omer, a base hospital made of marquees and tents and a few wooden and corrugated iron huts. She dealt with large numbers of gas victims, all requiring round the clock nursing.
On the night of 30 September 1917, ‘During a hostile air raid, three bombs were dropped on the hospital at 10.40pm. Four nurses, including Daisy, died together with sixteen patients. There were sixty-seven wounded.’
Daisy is buried, along with the other nurses, at Longuenesse Souvenir Cemetery at St Omer. She was twenty-three years old when she died.
The only son of Mr. W. G. Coles, Chief Surveyor, Board of Agriculture, Edin., was born in 1889, and entered G.W.C. in 1899. A member of the Queen's Edin. Mounted Rifles, he joined the L. and B. H. on the disbanding of that corps. In 1910 he took a commission in the Border Regt., but resigned in 1911 to take up a post in the rubber industry in the Malay States. On the outbreak of war, he returned to a commission in the 16th R.S., and his ability soon won him his Captaincy. He led his company over the parapet on July 1, 1916, in the Somme battle near Contalmaison, and was killed on that fateful day. His body was reinterred, and now rests in the Gordon Dump Cemetery in Sausage Valley, Contalmaison.
Was born in 1884, and attended G.W.C. 1890-1901. He developed into a fine footballer and played back in the School XV. of 1900-1. Choosing the Army as a career, he entered Sandhurst in 1902, and was gazetted to the Royal Munster Fus. in 1903. He was stationed successively in Ireland, Gibraltar, and India, and saw active service with the 1st Bn. of his regiment on the N.W. Frontier in the Zakha Kell and Mohmand expeditions, for which he received the medal and clasp. On the outbreak of war he was in command of a mobile column for the defence of Rangoon, but, returning home on leave, he was ordered to join the 2nd Bn. in France, where he took over the command at Festubert May 9, 1915. He attained his majority in June, but fell in action in Sept. of the same year.
Born in 1893, received his early education at G.W.C. 1899-1906, and then passed on to Merchiston Castle School, where he distinguished himself in football and in shooting. He was an apprentice C.A. at the outbreak of war. Joining the 4th R.S. in 1912, he got a commission the next year, and being mobilised with his Bn., went to the Dardanelles. With characteristic courage he led a bombing attack on the Turkish trenches on June 28, 1915, and, though severely wounded, hung on until the objective was secured. He died of wounds at Malta July 12, 1915.
