William Gow                          Age 23

Regimental No. 27907           Private          12th  Battalion Highland Light Infantry           

                                                                        46th Brigade, 15th (Scottish) Division

Killed in Action                                             22 July 1917

Commemorated                                            Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Belgium

 

Personal Background

William was the only son of Thomas and Agnes Gow, of Weirgate Cottages, St. Boswells and were next door neighbours of James Gurney, who is also honoured on the memorial.  In 1901 William's father worked as a Platelayer on the railway and he had three sisters, Isabella, Elizabeth and Margaret, followed by another, Mary, three years later.  William was employed as a painter by Mr Scott of St. Boswells and enlisted shortly after the outbreak of war into the Royal Scots Fusiliers, but later was transferred into the Highland Light Infantry.

 

It appears that the Gow family moved away from the village just after the war, as the attached anniversary newspaper clippings show them living in and around Clydebank.  The reason for this may have been that William's sister, Elizabeth, married Benjamin Sadler, on 1 January 1915.  Although Benjamin, who was an engineer, was originally from the village and his father had a business in Newtown, he had clearly moved to Glasgow where there was ample work to be had for someone with those skills.  His address at the time of their marriage was 1495 Dumbarton Road, Scotstoun, which is almost into Clydebank, and close to the shipyards and the famous Singer's factory.  Thomas Gow, with his experience, would not have struggled to find employment so it seems likely that they moved to be close to their daughter, and when his wife died in 1939 his job is listed as having been a sewing machine factory worker.  Thomas himself did not pass away until 1942.