John A Macrae, 26 Lewis Street, Stornoway

Trooper JOHN A MACRAE
Last address in Lewis: 26 Lewis Street, Stornoway
Son of James and Catherine MacRae, of Viewfield, Lewis St., Stornoway. Born at Stornoway.
Service unit: 13th Yorkshire Regiment
Service number: 235609, formerly 4351 Scottish Horse
Date of death: 23 November 1917 at the age of 39
Died of wounds in Field Hospital
Interred: Hermies British Cemetery, grave G. 9
Mentioned on family gravestone in Sandwick Cemetery, Lewis
Local memorial: Lewis War Memorial; Nicolson WW1 memorial, right panel

Went to Gallipoli with Scottish Horse, was invalided home due to dysentery. Upon being passed for service, he went to France attached to Yorkshire Regt

John appears as a 3-year old with his parents at 14½ Scotland Street, Stornoway in the 1881 census. A decade later, the family resides at 36 Lewis Street. The children are named as Jeanie (17), Annie (15), Janet H (11) and Willie E (9) in 1891. Father James is a builder. Willie E. served as an air mechanic with the Royal Air Force in the First World War.

The Glasgow Herald, Friday, 14th December, 1917.
"Deaths on Service.
MACRAE.- Killed in action, Trooper John A. Macrae, Yeomanry (attached the Yorkshire Regiment), late of Anglo-South American Bank, Antofagasta, Chili (sic), elder and dearly beloved son of James Macrae, builder and contractor, Stornoway."

The Berwickshire News, Tuesday, 18th December, 1917.
"FALL OF A WELL KNOWN DUNS SOLDIER
We regret to intimate that Trooper John A Macrae, Yeomanry (attached to Yorkshire Regiment), elder son of Mr Jas. Macrae, builder and contractor, Stornoway, has been killed in action. This gallant soldier, who held an appointment in the Anglo-South American Bank, Antofagasta, Chili (sic), and who came over to serve his country in the early stages of the war, was a brother-in-law of Mr Robert Cameron, formerly accountant, in (the) British Linen Bank, Duns, and presently agent of their branch in Stornoway."