Hector Douglas
Hector Douglas (1885-1915) was a Scottish soldier who was killed in
France at the Battle of Ypres.
Hector was born on 4th September 1885 in Granton, Edinburgh.
At the time of the 1891 Census he was living with his parents at
Bayton Terrace, Granton Road and was aged 5 years. His father,
Alexander Douglas worked at a sawmill. By the time of the 1901
Census he had left home and was living with his elder brother,
Alexander, at 38 St Clair Street in Glasgow, Maryhill. His
occupation was given as ‘cycle apprentice’. In 1905 he emigrated to
Canada, sailing from Glasgow to Halifax, Nova Scotia. On the
passenger list provided to the Canadian authorities, his ultimate
destination was shown as Winnipeg.
On the 23rd September 1914
he joined the Canadian Armed Forces at Valcartier – a newly formed
depot for the Canadian Armed Forces situated about 30 miles north of
Quebec. His attestation papers can be seen on
www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases. He gave this mother’s name as
next-of-kin – Mrs Grace Douglas of 12 East Cottages, Lower Granton
Road. His height was 5 feet 9¾ inches, he had fair hair and blue
eyes and had a tattoo consisting of clasped hands over a heart and
flower.
By April 1915 he was in Belgium at Ypres. On 22nd
April the Germans used chlorine gas at Ypres for the first time on
the western front. This marked the start of the Second Battle of
Ypres. The gas was directed against a section of the trenches held
by French colonial troops who panicked and retreated. This left a
gap on the left flank of the Canadian Division which the Canadians
had to try to secure. Hector Douglas was killed in the resulting
fighting the next day.
He has no known grave and is one of
about 54,000 soldiers who are commemorated on Menin Gate Memorial at
Ypres. On the Granton Memorial his regiment is indicated by the
letters ‘CS’ which were meant to indicated ‘Canadian Scottish’.
According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website his
regiment was the Canadian Infantry (Manitoba Regiment).
Any contributions will be
gratefully accepted
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