Private Pyper

“Private David Cameron Pyper was born in Fettercairn on March 27 1878,” writes Patrick Anderson of Letham. “He emigrated to Canada in 1902. He was a carpenter by trade.

“On March 3 1915, he presented himself as a private in the Canadian Expeditionary Force and was posted to the 48th Battalion Canadian Infantry where he became sergeant. Later, he transferred to the 31st Battalion Canadian Infantry as a private soldier so that he could get to war sooner.

“A telegram was received by his parents at home at 60 Millgate Loan, Arbroath, saying that their eldest son had been wounded in the trenches in Belgium. He had been taken to hospital in Boulogne. Then another telegram arrived informing them that David was missing.

“It was feared that he had been drowned aboard the hospital ship HMHS Anglia, travelling from Calais to Dover on November 17 1915. The ship, carrying 390 injured officers and soldiers, struck a mine east of Folkstone Gate and sank in just 15 minutes. A nearby torpedo gunboat HMS Hazard helped to rescue survivors but sadly Pte Pyper was not one of them.

“Pte Pyper has no known grave and is listed on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission index recording his name on the Hollybrook memorial to the missing at Southampton. His name is on Arbroath’s war memorial, but I noted that he was not listed on the Scottish National War Memorial at Edinburgh Castle. I started researching.

“As well as his birth certificate etc, I found newspaper reports saying that he was missing in the English Channel. One story said that his father Robert, an Arbroath police inspector, received a letter from David just before he was wounded. He said in the letter that he had never been better. Shells were bursting all around him, he added, but he did not pay any attention to them!

“He went on to say that they had just come under terrific bombardment. In his dug-out he had a Dundonian and an Invernessian as friends – fine fellows.

“Private Pyper was 37 years old and married. He left a widow and two children in Canada. His widow Mary was sent his war medals (1914 star, British War medal and Victory medals) and she also received the Canadian Memorial Cross. His mother received a Canadian Memorial Cross, granted in 1919 to the loved ones of Canadian Armed Forces personnel who died in service.

“I was pleased to hear from Lt Colonel Binks, keeper of the Rolls at the Scottish National War Memorial, that the trustees had accepted that Pte Pyper died at sea in 1915. The records will be updated.”

The Dundee reader who sent in this photograph of fish being dried thinks that it was taken in Auchmithie, near Arbroath.

Private David Pyper. See his story above.