Remembering One of the Many

 

George McCurrach was the dominie or schoolmaster at a small village school in Aberdeenshire. He had risen from humble beginnings to eventually study at Aberdeen University. Enlisting in the Gordon Highlanders, he was then commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the Highland Light Infantry. His wife Elizabeth, also a school teacher, took over his job after he left. Two weeks after he arrived in France, on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, George was killed. His body was never identified but he is remembered on the memorial at Thiepval, one of those “known unto God”.  His widow Elizabeth never remarried, dying in Aberdeen in 1950 at the age of 65.

George McCurrach, 1881-1916 Courtesy of Aberdeen University’s Roll of Honour