Private Ernest McClelland
1st Battalion, Cameron Highlanders
Died 24 November 1916
1st Battalion, Cameron Highlanders
Died 24 November 1916
Private S/17892 Ernest McClelland was from farming stock, the son of Andrew and Mary McClelland and one of four brothers who enlisted. Whilst still quite young, and with his brothers having emigrated, he had managed his father’s two farms (Carslae and Glenturk) during his father’s illness. He played football for Wigtown United and attended the Ewart High School where his name can still be seen on the school’s memorial plaque. Shortly after the outbreak of war he joined the Scottish Horse before transferring to the 1st Battalion, Cameron Highlanders in April 1915.
In October 1915 the Galloway Gazette reported that Ernest had been wounded:
Mr & Mrs McClelland, Dunmore, Wigtown, have received a letter from their son, Private Ernest McClelland, 1st Cameron Highlanders, in which he states that he was wounded in action in France on 26th September, and is now in hospital suffering from a shot wound in the foot and slight shrapnel wounds in the legs and neck. Shortly after the outbreak of war he joined the Scottish Horse, and transferred to the 1st Cameron Highlanders in April last.
He recovered from his wounds and returned to duty but in November 1916 news was received that he had been seriously wounded and was being treated at a Casualty Clearing Station. This time there was to be no recovery and on 24 November Ernest McClelland died of wounds received. He was 25 years of age. On 2 December 1916 the Galloway Gazette reported:
There was much regret in Wigtown and neighbourhood when the news was received on Wednesday that Private Ernest McClelland, Cameron Highlanders, son of Mr Andrew McClelland, late of Glenturk, had died on 24 November, at a Casualty Clearing Station in France, of wounds received in action some five days previously, and much sympathy was expressed for Mr & Mrs McClelland and family. It is not too much to say that Ernest McClelland (who was just 25) was one of the flower of the young men of the Machars. Bright, modest and manly he was a favourite of everybody, and his fine winsome figure will be much missed in the district. Some years ago, when a mere lad, his management of the farms at Glenturk and Carslae, during his father’s long illness evoked great admiration and was much talked about. Ernest and three brothers (two from South Africa and one from Australia), all joined the colours early in the war before compulsion was talked about. He was wounded in France in September 1915, and after recovering went back to the front. His three brothers are at present on active service, one in France, another in the Balkans, and a third in Egypt.
He is buried at Dernancourt Communal Cemetery Extension. The McClelland family headstone in Wigtown’s High Cemetery includes a memorial inscription to him.