MacDonald, Charles Gordon (1889 - 1915)

Second Lieutenant, 6th Bn. Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)

Buried at Le Touret Memorial

Commemorated at Hillhead High School

The death in action of Lieutenant C. Gordon MacDonald, following so soon on the tragic death by drowning of his father, our late headmaster, has deeply moved the School. Lieutenant MacDonald was a brilliant pupil at School, but not on conventional lines. He was marked from early years by the original and independent bent of his mind and by his abhorrence of well-worn grooves.

At the University he showed the same independence, and shocked his professors and fellow-students by sitting for honours in English in the third year, a venture that usually spells disaster. Not so in his case, however, as he came out a brilliant first.

The Church, with its old traditions and its new opportunities, had an irresistible attraction for his mystic and spiritual temperament. After a brilliant course in the Theological Hall he was appointed in May, 1914, as assistant in Hamilton Parish. There the world upheaval found him, and he was one of the first ministers in the Church to place himself unreservedly in the hands of the military authorities.

After a lengthy training in this country, at the monotony of which he sometimes rebelled, he was sent to France, whence he wrote the cheeriest and brightest of letters. At Festubert on 15th June, 1915, while charging at the head of his men, he was mortally wounded.

The chaplain writing home said, "Our battalion was put in the forefront of the attack, and Lieutenant MacDonald was in the foremost company. He was very seriously wounded soon after they made the charge, and must have died almost immediately. The regiment has lost a valued officer, and I a valued friend and assistant. "