Lives of the First World War

Beyond the river is part of Annan town where the three young sons of Charles and Sarah Watson of Greencroft (William George Douglas, Patrick Balfour and Kenneth Clennell) were born. In 1915/16 the sons went away to war, and never came back. The three boys had all gone to Annan Academy, and for further education Patrick and Kenneth went to Warriston College at Moffat, while William, the eldest born 1881, went to the Edinburgh Academy. In 1903 William took a degree in Law at Edinburgh University, qualified as a Solicitor in 1907 and, working with his father, became joint agent of the Royal Bank of Scotland in Annan. In March 1909 he accepted a commission in the Territorial Army with the 5th King’s Own Scottish Borderers (KOSB).

Lieutenant (later Captain) William George Douglas Watson, before he and the 5th Battalion King's Own Scottish Borderers took part in the 8 month Gallipoli campaign which opened with beach/cliff assault landings at Helles in June 1915 against a Turkish enemy led by Germans

The soldiers in uniform are brothers William George Douglas Watson (standing) and Kenneth Clennell Watson (left, sitting) with their cousin, Peter (Pat) Cochran. The boy on the right, standing to attention with pace-stick, is Douglas

William received his commission in the Territorial Army, 5th Battalion, King's Own Scottish Borderers, in March 1909. The regiment was fully mobilised in August 1914 and William was promoted to Lieutenant that November. In June 1915 he and his regiment were making a beach/cliff assault landing at Gallipoli against the Turks, led by Germans, in well defended positions. The Scots, part of 52 Lowland Division, suffered heavy casualties at the beginning of what became an eight month campaign during which William was promoted to Captain. He was next fighting in Palestine in the second battle of Gaza in which he lost his life in April 1917, just a week after his brother Kenneth lost his at Arras in France

Mounted from the Greek island of Lemnos, the allied landings on the beaches of the Turkish defended Gallipoli Peninsula in June 1915 were a very expensive failure, exacerbated by the 8 month ineffective campaign that followed it (Allied deaths 46,000; Turkish deaths 65,000). Winston Churchill at the Admiralty got the blame, resigned from Parliament and went as a Lt Col in command of a regiment at the Front in France. An account of 5th KOSB and their losses on landing at Cape Helles is at: https://www.kosb.co.uk/12th-of-july-1915-gallipoli/

The badge, with its distinctive Cross of St Andrew & Edinburgh Castle, was worn by Captain William George Douglas Watson, 5th Battalion KOSB. He was commissioned into the 1/5th when it was a Territorial Unit in March 1909. He remained with it in August 1914 when it was mobilised as a regular unit and was promoted Lieutenant in that November. He landed with them at Cape Helles on the Gallipoli Peninsula in June 1915. The battalion suffered severe casualties during the following eight month campaign, during which he became a Captain. The battalion withdrew to Egypt for reinforcement and then on to Palestine when, in the second Battle of Gaza, William was missing in action on the third and final day, 19th April 1917. This was just a week after his younger brother, Kenneth Clennell Watson, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, had been missing in action at Arras in France. Their brother, Patrick Balfour Watson, 15th Battalion Canadian Infantry, had been killed in France the year before, 1916.