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Bridge of Weir
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PTE HENRY D STRANG 16TH H.L.I.

14773 Private Henry Drysdale Strang

16th Battalion, Highland Light Infantry

killed in action 6th July 1917

aged 19


Ramscapelle Road Military Cemetery
St Machar's Church Memorial, Bridge of Weir



Son of Peter Strang and Janet Scobie
1 St George's Terrace, Bridge of Weir


His Life

Henry Drysdale Strang was born on 30th September 1897 at 10 Rothesay Gardens, Partick, Glasgow, the second child born to Peter Strang, a bank clerk from Barrhead, Renfrewshire and Janet Scobie, from Glasgow who had married in Blythswood, Glasgow on 1st September, 1893.

In 1901 Peter (41), Janet (41), and two children Alice M and Henry D (3) were living in 1 St George's Terrace, Bridge of Weir. The family employed a general domestic servant, Jean Clydesdale (63) from Glasgow.

In 1911 the Strang family was still in 1 St George's Terrace in Bridge of Weir and Henry (13) was at school.

Henry Strang volunteered for service and was enlisted into the 16th (Service) Battalion (2nd Glasgow) HLI, commonly known as the Glasgow Boys Brigade Battalion which had been formed in September 1914.

Nieuport

After training in Gailes Camp, Prees Heath in Shropshire, Wensleydale and Codford, the battalion and its division was adopted by the War Office on 1st July 1915 and first joined the theatre of war in France on 23rd November 1915. Henry was 18 years and 2 months old when he landed at Boulogne. This was 10 months below the minimum age for serving abroad. He, like many other boys of the time, must have lied about his age in order to be able to join up.

The 16th H.L.I. formed part of 97th Brigade, 32nd Division which fought in the Battle of the Somme in 1916, at Albert, Bazentin and the Ancre. In 1917 16th HLI spent time in Brigade Reserve, in various billets in northern France. In April 1917 it was back in the front line and took part in a successful operation capturing many prisoners near Saint Quentin. May and June were spent marching to the coast near Dunkirk and then to Nieuport in Belgium, back to front line duties including harassment, skirmishing and raiding of enemy trenches.

Henry Strang died on 6th July 1917. The war diary reported two other ranks killed and one wounded and missing on 5th July, the day after a raid on enemy trenches, and another wounded on 6th July. Henry was probably one of those. He is buried in Ramscappelle Road Cemetery in Nieuwpoort. He was 19.


Siblings

1901 Census 1911 Census Birthplace
Name Age Name Age
Alice M5 Alice M15 Partick, Lanarkshire
Henry D3Henry D13 Partick, Lanarkshire

Sources

TO CITE THIS PAGE: MLA style: "Bridge of Weir Memorial". Date of viewing. http://www.bridgeofweirmemorial.co.uk/profile-strang.html