DRIVER HECTOR MACMILLAN
ROYAL FIELD ARTILLERY
16TH JULY 1916 AGE 26
BURIED: DIVE COPSE BRITISH CEMETERY, SAILLY-LE-SEC, FRANCE
Hector Macmillan's inscription comes from the first line of a traditional Scottish song, 'Jamie Foyers'.
Far distant, far distant, lies Scotia the brave,
No tombstone memorial shall hallow his grave,
His bones they are scattered on the rude soil of Spain,
For young Jamie Foyers in the battle was slain.
Jamie Foyers was a real soldier from Campsie in Stirlingshire who died fighting in the Duke of Wellington's army at the seige of Burgos in 1812. Hector Macmillan was, as his parents said, a true highlander, a native of Campbeltown despite the fact that at the time of his death the family were living in Cambuslang, a suburb of Glasgow. He enlisted in August 1914 at the outbreak of war and died at Delville Wood during the Battle of the Somme.