PRIVATE-LANCE CORPORAL W. ELLIOTT, 9TH BATTALION SEAFORTH HIGHLANDERS. Army Meritorious Service Medal, George V (S-1572 Private – Lance Corporal, 9th Seaforth Highlanders). Attractively toned, Extremely Fine.

PRIVATE-LANCE CORPORAL W. ELLIOTT, 9TH BATTALION SEAFORTH HIGHLANDERS. Army Meritorious Service Medal, George V (S-1572 Private – Lance Corporal, 9th Seaforth Highlanders). Attractively toned, Extremely Fine.

Lance Corporal Elliott’s Meritorious Service Medal, an immediate award, was announced in the London Gazette, volume 2, 1918, page 7145, “In recognition of valuable services rendered with the forces in France during the present war”, and his home town was given as Paisley. He died on 24th March 1918, whilst serving with the 9th Battalion Seaforth Highlanders. Corporal Elliott has no known grave and is commemorated on the Poziers Memorial, panel 72 and 73.

The 9th Seaforths, a Pioneer Battalion, was formed at Fort St George in October 1914. On 24th March 1918 it was the Pioneer Battalion of the 9th (Scottish) Division. Corporal Elliott would be a first day of the First Battle of the Bapaume (24th – 25th March 1918) casualty. The S prefix to his service number indicates wartime enlistment into a Scottish regiment.

On 24th March 1918 the 9th (Scottish) Division formed part of the 5th Army, on which the principal thrust of the German Spring Offensive was directed. The battalions of the 9th Division fought with great stubborness and in many cases held their ground for longer than the formations on their flanks. The regimental history records that, on 24th March vast hordes of Germans attacked in massed formation, being mown down time and again until no more headway could be made for the heaps of dead and wounded. Men of the 9th Seaforths held a position in the St. Pierre Vaast Wood area. Officers and men of the battalion accounted for large numbers of the enemy with rifle, bayonet and revolver. In particular, 2nd Lieutenant Alistair Mackenzie, the battalion’s bayonet fighting instructor, was last seen inside the wood fighting desperately with his bayoned, surrounded by seething masses of the enemy, until he and his men were completely engulfed. Driven from the wood, the battalion spent the rest of the day in a fighting retreat, withdrawing through Rancourt, Combles and Hardincourt. On 21st March 1918 the 9th Seaforths had mustered 881 officers and men. On the morning of 27th March only 163 answered roll-call.