RIFLEMAN RODERICK EMILE LEADBETTER MACKENZIE
ROYAL IRISH FUSILIERS
2ND SEPTEMBER 1917 AGE 19
BURIED: HERMIES BRITISH CEMETERY, FRANCE
My heart sank when I saw this inscription - just how many of Roderick MacKenzie brothers had been killed. It sank even further when I realised that he was one of nine boys. Yet in fact only one of them, Osmand, was also killed in the war. But the inscription definitely says 'brothers' - why not 'brother'? The 1911 census provides the answer. One of the questions on the form asks how many live births a woman has had, and how many of these have subsequently died. Mrs MacKenzie has answered, '1'. I would suggest that the child who died was a boy and that this explains why Roderick is 'With his brothers'.
Roderick served with the 14th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles, which was in the trenches at Hermies just south of Bapaume at the beginning of September 1917. The battalion war diary described the day MacKenzie was killed but gives no real clue as to what could have caused his death:
HERMIES SECTOR
Sept 2nd
"Fine fresh day - cool ... Some aeroplane activity. Our guns fired throughout the day at intervals but our covering battery is limited to a consumption of 30 shells per day so they are unable to be aggressive. The Infantry are not sorry as we don't want to stir up the Boche who is very quiet, until we have got our trenches into some sort of decent condition, and our dugouts built etc. From 7 pm until well after 8 pm a heavy bombardment could be heard on our left, a considerable distance away."
Osmand Mackenzie, who was one year older than Roderick, was killed on the Somme on 15 September 1916 when he too was 19. His body was never identified therefore he has no inscription. He is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.