Allan R. Barrie, Private, Federated Malay States Volunteer Force, younger son of Mr. and Mrs. John O. Barrie, 6 Patie's Road, Edinburgh, was born on 16th April 1914. Entering Watson's in 1920 he left in 1931 to study at Edinburgh University, where he graduated B.Sc. in Forestry and Agriculture in 1937. Joining the Colonial Forestry Service in 1938, he proceeded to Malaya to take up an appointment as District Forest Officer at Rawang. Just before the fall of Singapore he joined a force consisting entirely of volunteers, called "Dalforce", taking information to British troops cut off by the enemy. In 1942 he was a prisoner of war in Singapore and in April 1943 was transferred to Bang Yong, Siam; thence he was marched 180 miles to do road work. Contracting cholera, he died at Sonkrai, Siam, on 27th May 1943
The second son of the late A. O. Barrie, H.M. Inspector of Schools, and nephew of Sir J. M. Barrie, was educated at Dumfries Academy and G.W.C. (1899). After graduating M.A. (Hons.) at Edin. Univ., he engaged in publishing and teaching. A keen tennis player, he was successively secretary and captain of Braid Tennis Club. Gazetted to the R.H. (Black Watch) in Sept. 1914, a month later he was on active service in France, where he took part in the battles at Neuve Chapelle and Festubert, and was twice wounded. After a period of home service he returned to France. On Oct. 14, 1916, he was killed in action.
The younger son of Mr. T. Bartleman, Edin., was born in 1897, and attended G.W.C. 1901-14. A lad of singular public spirit, he was prominent as a piper and a marksman in the O.T.C., and in House and School football and cricket, gaining a place in the XI. of 1914. He had just joined the staff of the City Analyst when war broke out. Enlisting in the 5th R.S., he was, after a spell in the ranks, sent to a Cadet School, and gazetted to the Seaforth Hrs., Apr. 1917. Sent to France in June, he fell in an onslaught on the enemy trenches, Sept. 6, 1917.
He was born in 1894, and attended G.W.C. 1900-10. As a schoolboy he was a member of the Cadet Corps and a prominent House footballer. On leaving School he entered an insurance office. Having volunteered in Sept. 1914, he was attached to the M.G. Section, 5th R.S. With them he campaigned in Gallipoli, and was killed in June 1915.
Alexander G. Bathgate, Aircraftman, Royal Air Force, was the youngest son of Mr, and Mrs. R. G. M. Bathgate, 10 Dovemount Place, Hawick. Born on 3rd March 1918, Sandy came to Watson's in 1927 and left in 1934 to enter the R.A.F. He was killed in action during a bombing raid on 6th September 1939 at the age of twenty-one, being the first Watsonian to lose his life in the war. A comrade-in-arms wrote of him: "It is fitting to know that his life belonged to the Air. To fly in the morning dew or to return through an evening storm was his very life-blood, and to die in that unconquerable realm was, I am sure, his wish."
Irene Bathgate was the daughter of Dr William Bathgate and Lena Bathgate (nee Duncan). Her father was a doctor at the Edinburgh Medical Mission Hospital at Nazareth in Palestine.Born on 29 June 1920, Irene went to school, first in Lebanon before joining George Watson’s Ladies’ College in 1932. She was a gifted pianist and enjoyed writing poetry. After leaving school in 193, she began a degree course at the University of Edinburgh. However, in April 1941, Irene was about to make the hazardous journey back to Palestine to join her father. . She spent the night at a friend’s house. A bomb hit the house, a vicarage that night and Irene died as a result of her injuries on 11 April 1941, aged 20.
The second son of Mr. A. Baxendine, bookseller, Edin., was born in 1896, and attended G.W.C. 1903-10. On leaving School he entered his father's business, but on attaining military age at once enlisted in the 3rd R.S. After four months' training he was sent to Salonika, where he served continuously for two and a half years. The climate tried him sorely, but he stuck to his post with indomitable good cheer. Within a few days of sailing for home he succumbed to pneumonia, Dec. 11, 1918.
He was born in 1893, and attended G.W.C. 1899-1907. On leaving School he entered his father's business. A member of the E.U.O.T.C. prior to the war, he was gazetted to the Border Regt. in April 1915, and served in Gallipoli, taking part in the Suvla Bay landing. Invalided from the Peninsula, he subsequently served in Egypt and France. He was killed on July 1, 1916, during the Somme Offensive, at Beaumont Hamel, and buried in No. 2 General Cemetery, Hawthorn Ridge, a hundred yards from where he fell.
George T. W. Beattie, Second Lieutenant, Royal Engineers, son of the late Mr.' George W. Beattie, Building Contractor, London, and Mrs. M. H. Beattie, 1 St. Vincent Street, Edinburgh, was born on 17th January 1915 and was a pupil at Watson's from 1928 to 1931. Prior to enlisting in the Royal Engineers he was Junior Assistant in the City Engineer's Department, Edinburgh. He was killed on 28th March 1942 at Mersa Matruh, Egypt, when clearing a minefield.
The only son of Mr. T. Beattie, sculptor, Edin., was born at Hawick in 1886, and entered G.W.C. in 1902. He developed a taste for art, and, as a student at the Art College, gave high promise of future distinction by his equestrian statue in bronze -the Hawick 1514 Memorial. He played in the Lismore and Brunstane XVs. Enlisting in the L. and B. H., he was gazetted to the R.H.A. in Apr. 1915. Gaining his lieutenancy in the R.F.A. in July 1917, he became A/Capt. Oct. 1917 and A/Major Apr. 1918. He had meantime gone through some of the stiffest fighting in France, had been at Ypres, Loos, and the Somme, been gassed, and had won the M.C. Nov. 1917. He died of wounds at Joncourt, north of Peronne, Oct. 3, 1918.
