Private William Black
6th/7th Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers
Died 16 September 1916
6th/7th Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers
Died 16 September 1916
William McHaffie Black was born on 5/10/1886 at Craigoch Park Farm near Portpatrick, the son of William Black (a ploughman) and Janet Black nee Mann. William snr’s work as a ploughman meant the family moved from farm to farm with great regularity. Census returns show them at Inch (1891) and Kirkmaiden (1901). By 1911 William McHaffie Black was living at Slochabert near Kirkinner where he lived with his wife Helen Nicholson and worked as a cattleman. The couple had been married for a year by then but had already lost one child.
William’s army papers still exist and show him signing up on 10/12/1915 when he was living at Auchleand, Wigtown. He enlisted with the Royal Scots Fusiliers and, after a period of training, arrived in France on 1 July 1916. On 10 August he was wounded with a gunshot wound to his left eye, returned to the line but was wounded again, dying on 16 September at a Casualty Clearing Station. His wife was sent a telegram stating: ” Much regret to inform you that your husband 22998 Pte W Black Royal Scots Fusiliers died on 16th September from wounds in No 1/1 Casualty Clearing Station France.” In January 1917 his personal effects were returned to Helen comprising: Disc, Letter, Postcards, photos, belt, testament, brush, gospel, badge, comb, razors. Mrs Black was awarded a pension of 10s per week from 26/3/1917.
The Galloway Gazette (7 October 1916) reported: On the 16th ult in Casualty Clearing Station, France, died of wounds received in action, Wm Black, son of Wm Black, Carslae, Wigtown and husband of Helen Black, Mill Airies, Sorbie:
No mother’s care did him attend
Nor o’er him did a father bend
No sister by to shed a tear
No brother by his words to hear.Sick, dying in a foreign land
No father to take him by the hand
No mother near to close his eyes
Far from his native land he lies.
He is buried at Dernancourt Communal Cemetery Extension and is named on Wigtown and Kirkinner War Memorials.