ALSO IN MEMORY OF
CAPT. C. H. ANDERSON
1ST H.L.I.
MISSING 19.12.14
AT GIVENCHY

SECOND LIEUTENANT ALEXANDER RONALD ANDERSON

HIGHLAND LIGHT INFANTRY

8TH OCTOBER 1915 AGE 31

BURIED: CABARET-ROUGE BRITISH CEMETERY, SOUCHEZ, FRANCE


Alexander Anderson's inscription commemorates his younger brother, Charles Hamilton Anderson, was was killed on 19 December 1914. Charles' body was never found, consequently has no grave and no inscription, which is why his mother felt impelled to commemorate him on his brother's headstone.
What Alexander Anderson's inscription does not say is that all three of his brothers died in the war: Charles at Givenchy in 1914, Edward on 16 March 1918 in a flying accident in Britain, and the oldest brother, William Herbert, two weeks later leading a counter-attack at Bois Favieres during the German Spring Offensive - an action for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross.
An account of the war service of all four brothers can be found on the site Scotland's War. And there is a handsome bronze memorial to all four brothers in Glasgow Cathedral, the city where their father was a stockbroker.