CAPTAIN THOMAS BARRIE ERSKINE MC
ARGYLL AND SUTHERLAND HIGHLANDERS & GORDON HIGHLANDERS
20TH JULY 1915 AGE 25
BURIED: BRANDHOECK MILITARY CEMETERY, BELGIUM
Thomas Barrie Erskine was reading Medicine at Glasgow University when he decided to enlist on the outbreak of war. He served with the 1st Battalion Gordon Highlanders and was killed on 20 July 1915, five days after being awarded a Military Cross for "gallantry during active operations against the enemy".
Erskine's father composed his inscription, recording the award of his son's posthumous degree and his own wartime service. James Erskine lost both his sons, Ralph and Thomas, in the war, his wife had died of consumption in 1901 and a baby daughter in 1896. His only surviving child, Agnes (Nancy) also lost her husband in the war when Captain Jack Lee was killed in action on 31 July 1917. And, in the final act of the tragedy, Ralph's son, who was born within two weeks of his father's death, was killed in action in Tunisia on 23 April 1943.
It's not possible to be sure of the source of the phrase "Son o'mine" but one that fits well is a song from Maurice Baring's four-act play The Death of the Black Prince (1903).
From the bleak sand and the grey sand
(O son o' mine, good-bye),
To the shore of gold and the cornland
To conquer or to die.
The low cloud and the grey cloud
(O son o' mine, good-bye),
It hangs and lowers like a shroud
Across the blood-red sky.
The soft sound and the loved sound
(O son o' mine, good-bye),
"Mother, I have a mortal wound,"
It is my own son's cry.
The horn call and the glad call
(O son o' mine, good-bye),
"Now dig the grave and weave the pall,
For I am soon to die."
The lone bell and the sad bell
(O son o' mine, good-bye),
"Tell them, mother, before I fell,
That I fought gallantly."
The known tread and the strong tread
(O son o' mine, good-bye):
"One told me you were cold and dead.
But I heeded not the lie."
By sunshine or by moonshine
(O son o' mine, good-bye),
"Come back to me, O son o' mine,
I've waited patiently."
The loud song and the strange song
(O son o' mine, good-bye),
I've watched and waited now so long,
Come back before I die"
From the bleak sand and the grey sand
(O son o' mine, good-bye),:
To the shore of gold and the cornland,
To conquer or to die.