Applecross in the Two World Wars / A’ Chomraich anns an Dà Chogadh Mhòr

Kenneth Gillies

Born: 29 December 1876
Died: 1 May 1915
4th Battalion, Australian Imperial Force
Service number: 1125

Kenneth Gillies was born in Callakille on the 29th of December 1876, the youngest son of a large family of nine children. His parents were Finlay Gillies and Mary MacDonald.

Sadly Kenneth’s mother became a widow when Kenneth was 6 months old, as his father died in June 1877, aged 62. Mary herself was just 39, 23 years younger than her husband. She was the sister of ‘Ministear Mòr’, the Reverend MacDonald, of the Free Church in Camusterrach.

Having emigrated to Australia around 1901, Kenneth enlisted in the Australian Army in October 1914. Kenneth appears to have lied about his age as he was just two months short of the maximum age for enlisting and at this stage in the war the Australian army was rejecting a third of all volunteers.

He was killed in action at Gallipoli on 1 May 1915 and buried in ‘Wire Gully’ (a.k.a. ‘Death Trap Valley’). He was a member of D Company, which on that day was involved in a fatal mission to rescue a group of Royal Marines who had been trapped for two and a half days in an isolated trench.

Kenneth’s effects were sent back to his mother Mary in Applecross. He is commemorated in the Lone Pine Memorial (Panel 22) in Turkey.

Finlay MacDonald

Born: 25 October 1894
Died: 22 November 1915
Ross Mountain Battery
Service number: 4834

Finlay MacDonald was born in Ardheslaig on the 25th of October 1894, the son of Alexander MacDonald and Isabella (‘Bella’) MacLennan.

By the time of the 1911 Census, when Finlay was 16, he had two younger sisters, Annie and Johan aged 14 and 9, and a baby brother, John Duncan aged 2. Although their parents only spoke Gaelic, the children all spoke Gaelic and English.

Finlay enlisted in the Ross Mountain Battery as a driver on the 12th of May 1914 at Lochcarron – two months before the outbreak of war. He was part of the invasion force which landed in Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. He contracted pulmonary tuberculosis in September 1915 as a result of “exposure while on active service” and was invalided back to the UK on the hospital ship ‘Brazil’. He died in the 3rd London General Hospital on 23rd November 1915.

It seems that his body was returned to his family, as his record at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission indicates that he is buried in Annat new cemetery, at the head of Loch Torridon.

George Duncan MacDonald

Born: 1895
Died: 10 December 1919
Ross Mountain Battery
Service number: n/a

George Duncan MacDonald was born in Ardubh in 1895, the son of Thomas (Tòmas Mòr) MacDonald and Mary MacRae. He had three much older sisters, Peggie aged 17 when George was born, Kate aged 14 and Janet aged 12. Another son, also called George, had sadly died of measles in 1893 aged 8 and George Duncan was probably named after him.

George’s father Thomas was a fisherman and also acted as skipper of the Applecross estate packet boat the ‘Passing Cloud’.

George served in the Ross Mountain Battery along with many young men from Applecross. He is pictured front left in the photo of the Applecross contingent taken at Wollaton Hall.

He died back at home in Ardubh on 10th December 1919 of ‘Diabetes Mellitus’, according to his death certificate, which he presumably developed while on active service. He was aged just 24.

Kenneth John MacDonald

Born: 1884
Died: 6 November 1916
24th Battalion, Australian Imperial Force
Service number: 2470

Kenneth John MacDonald was born in Applecross in 1884, the only child of Rev Kenneth MacDonald, Free Church minister at Camusterrach, and Margaret Steven M’Ewan.

Kenneth John married Elizabeth MacGregor MacPherson in Kilmadock, Perthshire in 1907, when he was 23, and they had two daughters, born in 1909 and 1915.

Sadly Kenneth John missed the birth of his second daughter and never got to meet her. At some point in late 1914 or early 1915, he had gone out to Australia to work. On 17th March 1915, just a week after his new daughter was born back home in Scotland, he enlisted in the 24th Battalion, Australian Imperial Force, at Seymour, Victoria.

He served throughout most of the bloody Somme offensive of July-November 1916, apart from a brief interlude in August when he was wounded at Pozières, evacuated to hospital, but returned to his regiment just a week later.

On 6 November 1916, in the dying days of the Battle of the Somme, Kenneth John was killed in action. He was buried “in the vicinity of Flers” according to his army records, and is commemorated on panel 102 of the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, near Amiens.

Kenneth’s young widow Elizabeth died of rheumatic heart disease shortly afterwards, on 27 October 1917, aged just 34, leaving two young children, Margaret aged 9 and Elizabeth aged 2, both under the guardianship of an aunt.

Donald Norman MacLennan

Born: 1898
Died: 18 April 1918
2nd Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders
Service number: S/22706

Donald Norman MacLennan was born in Callakille in 1898, the youngest son of Donald MacLennan and Mary Ann Maclean.

Donald Norman grew up as the youngest child of seven – he had four older sisters and two older brothers. When he was still a child the family moved from Callakille further round the coast to Shieldaig.

Donald Norman was only 16 when the war broke out. As the official minimum age for conscription and for service overseas was 19, he had to wait until he reached his nineteenth birthday in 1917 before joining up. He joined the 2nd Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders.

In 1918, the final year of the war, his regiment was involved in opposing the German ‘Spring offensive’ – the Germans’ last major push to defeat the Allies. Donald Norman was killed in action, aged just 20, on 18 April 1918 while his Battalion was fighting as part of a defensive line along La Bassee canal just north of the town of Bethune.

Donald Norman was buried in the Chocques Military Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France. He is also commemorated on his parents’ gravestone in Clachan graveyard.

Duncan MacLennan

Born: 16 October 1891
Died: 4 August 1917
122nd Company, Machine Gun Corps
Service number: 27974

Duncan MacLennan was born in Callakille on 16th October 1891. His father Alexander was the schoolmaster of Callakille school and his mother was Catherine, maiden name Gollan, from the neighbouring hamlet of Lonbain.

Duncan grew up in Callakille and attended his father’s school, along with his 3 older sisters, 2 older brothers and a younger sister, Bella.

During the war Duncan served in 122nd Company, Machine Gun Corps. He died of wounds on Saturday the 4th of August 1917, aged 24. It is not known how or when he was wounded, but his 122 Company fought at the Battle of Passchendaele (also known as the Third Battle of Ypres), which started on 31 July 2017 so it is likely that he was a casualty of that battle.

He is buried in the Godewaersvelde British Cemetery in north east France. At the request of his mother his stone was engraved, “A secret thought, a silent tear, keeps your memory ever dear”.

Donald MacKenzie

Born: 1892
Died: 13 December 1914
Ross Mountain Battery
Service number: 4837

Donald MacKenzie (known as Donald ‘Brodie’ or Brotaidh) was born in Camusteel in 1892. His parents were Duncan MacKenzie and Mary Kennedy.

Donald had four older brothers, including: Murdo, John Snr, Archie, and John Jnr. Another brother Archibald died in 1909 aged just 21. Sadly, the boys’ mother Mary died in 1905 when Donald was just 13 years old.

Donald worked as a labourer on the Applecross Estate, but when war broke out, he enlisted in the Ross Mountain Battery.

During training at Bedford a measles epidemic broke out among the Highland Division. In all there were 529 cases and 65 deaths. One of those cases was Donald ‘Brodie’, who died in the isolation hospital at Bedford on Sunday 13th December 1914.

His body was returned home and buried in Clachan Cemetery.

Donald MacKinnon

Born: 16 August 1895
Died: 18 May 1915
4th Battalion, Cameron Highlanders
Service number: 1111

Donald MacKinnon was born in Milton on the 16th of August 1895, the son of John Mackinnon and Mary Ann MacDonald.

Both John and Mary Ann were from Camusterrach, but after they married they lived first at Milton and then at ‘Milton Gardens’ (a name sometimes used for Shore Street). Donald’s father John was away at sea for much of the time as he served in the Merchant Navy. Donald had two older sisters, Eliza and Catherine, and an older brother Alexander.

At a time when many children finished school at the age of 14, Donald went to Kingussie Higher Grade School. From there he went to Aberdeen University to study agriculture, thanks to winning a bursary.

When war broke out Donald enlisted in the Cameron Highlanders. They were shipped to France in February 1915 where, after only ten days in the trenches, Donald was wounded at the Battle of Neuve Chapelle.

He died on 18th May 1915 during the Battle of Festubert. On 10th July, almost two months later, his parents placed a notice in ‘News of missing soldiers wanted’ column of the People’s Journal.

Donald’s body was eventually identified by his disc (identity tag) and he was buried in the Guards Cemetery, Windy Corner, Cuinchy, Pas de Calais. He is also commemorated on his family’s stone in Clachan Cemetery.

Alexander MacPherson

Born: 1889
Died: 17 July 1916
5th Battalion, Cameron Highlanders
Service number: S/21589

Alexander MacPherson was born in 1889 in Arrina and was the son of Alexander MacPherson and Christina MacLennan. He was one of a family of seven, with an older sister Ann, two younger brothers Murdo and Norman, and three younger sisters, Lexy, Julia and Bella. Norman and Julia were twins. Their father was a fisherman from Applecross and their mother Christina was from Raasay.

Alexander served in the 5th Battalion, Cameron Highlanders.
He was killed in action during the Battle of the Somme on the 17th July 1916, aged 26.

Alexander is one of 72,336 war dead commemorated at the Thiepval Memorial, near Amiens in north east France.

Donald MacRae

Born: 20 February 1885
Died: 20 December 1917
3rd Battalion, Wellington Regiment, New Zealand Expeditionary Force
Service number: 54942

Donald MacRae was born on the 20th February 1885, the son of John and Kate MacRae of Cuaig. At that time Cuaig was a busy hamlet, with 10 households and 44 inhabitants. Donald had 8 siblings. Donald emigrated to New Zealand in about 1910 and married Jane Edith Birt at Gisborne. At the start of the war in 1914, he tried to enlist but was rejected as medically unfit. Three years later he tried again and was accepted on 2nd March 1917.

He landed in France on 29th October, went into action with the 3rd Battalion Wellington Regiment on 9th December and was killed in action just 11 days later, on 20th December 1917, aged 31.

He is commemorated in the Buttes New British Cemetery, east of Ypres in Belgium.

Thomas MacKenzie MacRae

Born: 11 January 1882
Died: 26 September 1916
1st Battalion, Auckland Infantry Regiment, New Zealand Expeditionary Force
Service number: 12/3411

Thomas MacKenzie MacRae was born on the 11th of January 1882. He was the son of Alexander and Bella MacRae of Camus an Eilean, near Arrina, on the north coast of Applecross. His father Alexander was a deer watcher for Lord Middleton. There was a shooting lodge at Camus an Eilean, where Middleton’s guests would be looked after during the shooting season in August.

Thomas emigrated to New Zealand sometime around 1905. He enlisted in the New Zealand army on the 23rd August 1915, where his record shows he was unmarried and his next of kin was his mother back home in Applecross.

Thomas served in the 1st Battalion Auckland Infantry Regiment and was killed in action during the long Somme offensive of 1916 at the Battle of Morval, on Tuesday the 26th September 1916.

He is commemorated at the A.I.F. Burial Ground, Flers, in the Somme region of France. His medals were sent by the New Zealand army to his eldest brother, Farquhar MacRae, back in Camus an Eilean.

William MacKinnon

Born: 1891
Died: 3 October 1916
Ross Mountain Battery
Service number: 4179

William MacKinnon was born in 1891 in Camusterrach, the son of Alexander and Mary MacKinnon. Mary’s maiden name was Kennedy and she was from Toscaig. At the time of their marriage, her husband Alexander lived in Camusterrach with his widowed mother.

William’s grandfather Donald MacKinnon had been a Master Mariner and later acted as skipper on the Applecross estate boat, the “Passing Cloud”. He was known as ‘An Sgiobair’, the skipper. The nickname was passed down to his son and grandson, so William was known as ‘Uilleam Ali Sgiobair’, William Ali Skipper.

When the war broke out, William enlisted in the Ross Mountain Battery. He died of dysentery in Salonika on 3rd October 1916, aged 24.

He was buried in the Salonika (Lembet Road) Military Cemetery, 2 km north of Thessaloniki. At the request of his mother, his gravestone was inscribed with the words ‘In hope of eternal life’. William is also commemorated on his father and grandparents’ gravestone in Clachan graveyard.

Angus Finlayson

Born: 9 November 1917
Died: 18 December 1942
Royal Navy
Service number: D/JX 172357

Angus Finlayson was born on the 9th of November 1917, the son of John and Elizabeth (or Eliza), whose maiden name was also Finlayson. They lived at 9 Shore Street. The Finlaysons were from Lonbain but had moved to Camusterrach and then The Street. Angus was known as Aonghas ‘ain Mhòir (Angus son of big John).

Angus had six older siblings – John, known as Balach Mòr; Flora; Duncan, who served as a policeman in London; Kenneth, who became a schoolteacher in Glasgow and was also a Gaelic writer and teacher; Murdo, who served in the RAF; and Barbara, who later married Donnie Ross (brother of Alistair Ross, who was also killed in the second world war).

Angus worked on the farm as a ploughman, but when the war broke out, he joined the Royal Navy. He served in Motor Torpedo Boats operating in the North Sea and English Channel.

On 18th December 1942 Angus’ boat (MTB30) was part of a flotilla travelling from Felixstowe to patrol off the Dutch coast, when she struck a mine. Angus Finlayson was on the bridge at the time and was blown clear, but was badly injured and died of wounds before he could be transferred to hospital on shore. Out of a crew of ten, four were killed.

Angus’ body was brought ashore at Felixstowe the following morning and was returned to Applecross to be buried in Clachan graveyard

Christopher MacBeath

Born: 1925
Died: 30 December 1944
Royal Air Force
Service number: 1829524

Christopher MacBeath was born in 1925, the son of Hector and Johanna MacBeath who lived in Camusteel. Hector was originally from Torgarve.

Christopher had two brothers, Roderick and Alistair, and a sister Dolina. They lived in Tigh Eachainn, ‘Hector’s House’, in Camusteel.

Christopher was only 14 when the war broke out, but when he was old enough he joined the Royal Air Force as aircraftman second class. He is believed to have worked in Air Sea Rescue, using high speed launches to rescue pilots and others who had ditched in the North Sea.

While on service, Christopher contracted tuberculosis and was transferred to the Seaforth Sanatorium, in Maryburgh near Dingwall. Christopher died on Saturday the 30th of December 1944, aged just 19.

His body was put on the train from Dingwall to Strathcarron on New Year’s Eve, en route to Applecross for burial. It is said that the snow on the Bealach was so bad that the vehicle being used to transport the body over the hill could only make it half way, so the men actually carried the coffin on their shoulders the rest of the way to Applecross

Norman MacBeath

Born: 1920
Died: 6 August 1941
Royal Navy
Service number: LT/JX 265176

Norman MacBeath was born in 1920, the son of John MacBeath of Arrina and Christina MacLennan, originally from Raasay. Norman was brought up in Arrina with his brother Ronnie who was just a year younger and they attended the Arrina school.

Norman served in the Royal Naval Patrol Service on HM Trawler Agate, a modified trawler used to carry out anti-submarine work.

In the early hours of Wednesday 6th of August 1941, during a storm, the Agate was escorting a convoy with essential supplies from the Rosyth to London.

Approaching the dangerous Haisborough sand bank off the Norfolk coast, the convoy got into trouble and the last seven ships in the line grounded and began to break up in the heavy seas. HMT Agate, on the starboard flank of the convoy had crossed to the port side in a desperate attempt to warn them, but went aground herself.

Heroic efforts were made to rescue the survivors of the grounded ships and 162 men were saved. However 37 lost their lives including 19 from the Agate out of a crew of 27. Norman MacBeath was one of those lost.

He is commemorated on the Lowestoft Naval Memorial in Suffolk.

Alistair MacDonald

Born: 21 May 1914
Died: 19 October 1941
Merchant Navy
Service number: n/a

Alistair MacDonald was born in Camusteel on 21st May 1914, the son of John MacDonald and Alexandrina (Lexy) MacBeath. John was known as Seonan or Shonan, and had served in the Ross Mountain Battery in World War I.

John and Alexandrina had other children including Catherine, born 1912, Dolina born 1920, Kenneth born 1922, Rena born 1930 and Mary who died in infancy.

During the war, Alistair served in the merchant navy. His first voyage was on the MV Inverlee, a motor tanker requisitioned by the Admiralty for war service.

At 3 am just 15 miles off the coast of Morocco the Inverlee was attacked by a German U-boat (U-204) and was hit by two torpedoes 13 minutes apart. The second torpedo had hit directly underneath a lifeboat that was being lowered after the first torpedo strike, sending the occupants hurling in all directions and killing the men lowering the boat.

Twenty two lives were lost out of a total of 43. Alistair was one of those who were lost.

Alistair is commemorated at Tower Hill Memorial in London.

Alistair Ross

Born: 1906
Died: 9 September 1943
Merchant Navy
Service number: n/a

Alistair Ross was born in 1906, the eldest son of Donald Ross and Catherine Gillanders, who lived in Shore Street, in the house called ‘Navity’. Donald Ross was the police constable for Applecross and then after his retirement was the local plumber.

Alistair joined the merchant navy when he left school at the age of 15. In 1943 he was Chief Officer on MV Larchbank on a voyage from Baltimore to Calcutta with general cargo and military stores, including 4 tanks, 2 motor torpedo boats, 8 amphibious craft and railway iron.

She was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine about 250 miles from the southern tip of India on 9th September 1943 and within two minutes had sunk. Despite the speed of the sinking, twenty-three of the crew were rescued, but forty-six men were lost. Alistair Ross was one of those lost.

On his last leave home before his death, in February 1943, Alistair had married Jessie MacKenzie, the Applecross schoolteacher.

Alistair is commemorated in Clachan graveyard and also at Tower Hill Memorial in London.

1. Donald MacKinnon
(commemorated on family stone)
2. Donald MacKenzie
(buried in Clachan)
3. Donald Norman MacLennan
(commemorated on family stone)
4. William MacKinnon
(commemorated on family stone)

5. Alistair Donald Ross
(commemorated on family stone)
6. Angus Finlayson
(buried Clachan)
7. Christopher MacBeath
(buried Clachan)