Webster, Robert William Gordon S/21974 (1899 - 1918)

Private, 4th Bn. Gordon Highlanders

Buried at Soissons Memorial

Commemorated at Hillhead High School

Private R. W. Gordon Webster, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Webster, 4 Ashgrove Terrace, was born in Glasgow in 1899, and educated at Glasgow Academy and Hillhead High School. At School he showed ability much above the average, and all his work was marked by neatness, accuracy, and thoroughness. Gordon was of a singularly lovable disposition, and was held in the highest esteem by teachers and classmates alike. Upright in character, honest, and steadfast in purpose, bright, gentle, and sympathetic in disposition, he has left behind a legacy of precious memories.

On leaving School he entered the head office of the National Bank of Scotland in Glasgow, and in 1916 passed the Associates' Examination of the Bankers' Institute of Scotland.

In August, 1917, he joined The Gordon Highlanders, and after training at Tillicoultry, Canterbury, and Colchester he left for France in March, 1918. In four months he saw a good deal of fighting round Arras, and on the 18th July he was sent with his division to aid the French in repelling the great German attack west of Rheims. The heroic part played by these British troops called out a unique tribute from the French General, Berthelot. There, in Courton Wood, the gallant Gordon fell during heavy fighting on the 23rd July.

His commanding officer writes in highly appreciative terms of his bravery as a soldier, while one of his comrades says-" Living with him for a year as intimately as the Army mates can do, and as we did by choice, I got to know him very well, and among all the people I have ever met I do not know of a finer character or a chap who could make a better friend. He was always true to his principles, and so bright and cheery."