Story behind portrait of WW1 soldier
Callander man in photo
A portrait of a mystery soldier discovered in historic Callander guest house has been identified as that of a First World War hero.
The Observer told last Friday how a couple who recently purchased Coppice House had been trying to establish the identity of the soldier featured in a portrait left there.
Donna and Jason Frost relocated from Stirling to the Trossachs town in September to take over the running of the facility in Leny Road.
Mr Frost currently serves in the Army with 51 Scottish Brigade, based at Meadowforth Road in Stirling.
When the couple first went to view the property, the previous owner took them into the building’s roof space where the portrait lay. It had been found in the building’s basement, which had been boarded up.
Following publication of the story in the Observer, the couple were informed just hours before Armistice Day that the portrait was that of Corporal Donald Anderson, of Callander.
The information was provided to Mr and Mrs Frost by Callander historian Ranald MacFarlane.
It appears Cpl Anderson had emigrated to Australia where he was employed as a ‘jackaroo’ – working with sheep and cattle.
He enlisted with the Australian Imperial Force on February 9, 1915, aged 27, and served with the 19th Battalion.
Cpl Anderson fought at Gallipoli and was evacuated to England with severe dysentery. While on leave from hospital in Cardiff he met Dorothy Bailey who he would marry in 1917.
The corporal was later wounded on the Somme, in July 1916, and returned to hospital in England in February 1917 with trench foot. He was not fit to re-join his battalion until early 1918.
He was reported as missing in action and then subsequently, killed in action on April 7, 1918, at the Battle of Hangard Wood, northern France.
The battle was part of a
German offensive in the Arras-St-Quentin-La Fére sector of the Somme and was the scene of heavy fighting.
Cpl Anderson was last seen lying severely wounded in a shell hole during an attack by his company on the enemy position.
The
Australian Red Cross Society’s ‘Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau Files’ had a list of the final soldiers to see him alive.
One noted he had been shot below the knee on his right leg. Another told how Cpl Anderson had been wounded on the front line while advancing.
They said: “I passed him crawling back to lines when he received another wound, and I heard him call out: ‘They’ve got me this time’.”
Corporal Anderson’s remains were found in August 1918 by Canadian Forces and he was buried in the Hangard Wood British Cemetery as an ‘Australian Corporal of the Great War 8th August 1918, Known unto God’.
He was not named on the headstone and the date on which he fell was wrong as he had died in fighting in April, 1918.
Ranald MacFarlane said: “Donald’s father was the owner of the Kilmahog Woollen Mill.
“Donald was educated at the McLaren High School and then at Edinburgh University where he studied law. After graduating he practised as a solicitor for a short time.
“Donald had no known grave and is commemorated on the Villers-Bretonnex Memorial to the missing. “In 2015 the Callander Heritage Society received an inquiry from The Lost Diggers, an Australian charity who have set themselves the task of identifying Australian soldiers buried with the head stone inscription Unknown Australian Soldier.
“They wanted to find a relative of Donald’s to appeal to the Australian Commonwealth War Graves Commission to have Donald’s grave recognised as they had located it.
“It had to be a relative; unfortunately there are no relatives now alive in Callander.
“I do hope this brave soldier will have his name put on his headstone.
“He is commemorated on the Callander War Memorial.”