Brown, Charles Tolme (1898 - 1917)

Second Lieutenant, 5th Bn. Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

Buried at Highland Cemetery, Roclincourt

Commemorated at Hillhead High School

Second Lieutenant Charles T. Brown was the younger son of Mr. C. T. Brown, 23 Annfield Road, Partickhill, and 75 Buchanan Street, Glasgow, and grandson of the late Provost George Brown of Irvine. At School he was noted for his straight-forward bearing and his refined kindly nature. He was an eager cadet, and on leaving School joined the 5th Scottish Rifles as a private.

In civil life he was in the service of Arthur & Co., Limited, Queen Street, but in December of 1915, as soon as he was of age, he was given a commission in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, and proceeded to France in the following autumn. The hardships of trench warfare in winter could not break his bright and cheerful spirit, and he "carried on" without grumbling to the end.

On the 17th March, 1917, while, in the words of his colonel,"leading his men in a gallant and splendid way," he was shot down just at the enemy's wire. His company commander wrote, " Charlie was a brave young officer, a gallant leader, and beloved by his men. He had been with me since he came out to France, and was a great favourite of mine. We now mourn the loss of a dear friend and brother officer."

Second Lieutenant Brown was only nineteen years of age, but in that short space he has given an example of
devotion and self-sacrifice that will ever be cherished by his friends and old schoolfellows.