War of the Rose
Seventy five members of Melrose Rugby Club enlisted for the British Army in the First World War. Thirteen died for their country. Now two current first team players, Murdo Mcandrew and
James Head, have uncovered
the stories of the men who fell ahead of the 100th anniversary of the end of one of the bloodiest
conflicts in human history.
Report by Gary Heatly.
Sunday marks 100 years since the end of the First World War and members of the current Melrose first XV squad have recently undertaken a fascintating but sometimes heartbreaking project to discover more about the club members from the Greenyards who lost their lives serving their country between 1914 and 1918.
During the Great War, 557,000 Scottish men joined up to fight and just over a quarter did not return home.
From Melrose – a town with a population of 3000 – 454 local men served.
Like many other towns in the Borders, the rugby club was at the heart of the Melrose community when war broke out in 1914.
And the pre-war records show that 75 members enlisted and that a Melrose player was present in every theatre of war during the conflict.
There are 90 names of local men who lost their lives recorded on the Melrose Parish War Memorial, 13 of whom were members of Melrose Rugby Football Club.
The rugby club is still at the heart of town and, over the last few months, scrum-half Murdo Mcandrew and second-row James Head – who have both helped Rob Chrystie’s men win numerous trophies in recent years – have been learning more about those 13 men.
“Myself and James both like history and have often chatted about World War One, so in the summer we decided, with it coming up to 100 years since the end of the war, to find out more about the Melrose members who had been involved,” Mcandrew said.
“We were both thinking about it because we thought that, if it was happening now, then it would be us and our team-mates signing up and that made quite an impression on us.
“The club records have a list of every Melrose member who died during the war and through our reading and the help of the Borders Family History Society we were able to piece together more about each individual.”
The majority of the men who signed up from Melrose and the surrounding area joined the Kings Own Scottish Borderers (KOSB).
This regiment was involved in some of the bloodiest campaigns and battles of the entire war, including the Gallipoli Peninsula, The Somme, Arras and Passchendaele.
The 13 Melrose members who died were Major William Sydeny Noel Curle, 2nd Lt. Thomas Hart, Sgt. William Davidson, Act/cpl. Robert Smith Riddell, L/cpl Ivor Fernie, Private William Darling, Private John Gibb, Private John Gill, Private James Mcvittie, Private Thomas Scott, Private Bruce Stewart, Private Thomas Marten Wilson and Private George Lawson Bunyan.
All of the men have interesting life stories which Mcandrew, Head and others at the club believe should be known by a wider audience. Noel Curle was the youngest son of James Curle, the first vice-president of Melrose, and he served in France and was awarded the Military Cross. He passed away in March, 1918, while John Gill , who was born and lived in Newstead, Melrose, was a former captain of the rugby club before moving to London. He was a key member of the Melrose team that won the 1910/1911 Borders Championship. He died in Mesopotamia in April, 1916.
“These men all deserve our thanks and respect and it really has been very interesting doing the research on them and thinking that they all loved the same sport that we love,” Mcandrew added. “It has made myself and James –and the team-mates and others at the club who we have talked to about it – realise how lucky we are and made us even prouder than we already were to represent Melrose.”