Railton connection marked

A remote highland cemetery has hosted a poignant remembrance of the Angus minister’s son who created one of the most powerful symbols of the ultimate sacrifice.

The graveyard at St Bride’s Church in North Ballachulish is the final resting place of the Rev David Railton MC, whose service as a chaplain in France during World War One spawned the idea of a memorial to all those killed in battle.

That hope became reality when a British serviceman who fell in France was buried with full military honours in Westminster Abbey in November 11 1920, in the tomb for the unknown warrior.

Church of England minister Railton was the son of George Scott Railton, whose home town was Arbroath, and who himself was the son of the minister at the town’s Ponderlaw Church.

George Railton left Angus as a youngster but his path crossed that of Salvation Army founder William Booth and Railton Snr pioneered the organisation’s mission work in the United States, as well as working in China and Japan as the spiritual son of Booth, who he is buried alongside in London’s Abbey Park cemetery.

Local members of the Royal British Legion Scotland branch now plan to stage an annual remembrance at the St Bride’s memorial to the Rev David Railton after this week’s ceremony marking the 62nd anniversary of the clergyman’s death.