THOU LORD, THEIR CAPTAIN
IN THE WELL FOUGHT FIGHT
HALLELUJAH

LIEUTENANT FREDERICK GUNDY SCOTT

CANADIAN FIELD ARTILLERY

20TH APRIL 1917 AGE 21

BURIED: CABARET-ROUGE BRITISH CEMETERY, SOUCHEZ, FRANCE


There are so many lines from this hymn that can be and have been used as inscriptions. The hymn, 'For all the saints who from their labours rest', is both rousing and consoling in its promise that Christ is with us and that at the end of our lives we shall live with him in glory. With its martial imagery and language it is particularly consoling for the relations of those who have been killed in battle. Frederick Scott's inscription comes from verse two:

Thou wast their rock, their fortress and their might:
Thou, Lord, their captain in the well-fought fight;
Thou in the darkness drear their one true light.
Alleluia!

Scott was a student at Victoria College, Toronto when war broke out. He volunteered in the summer of 1915, was appointed to the 40th Battery Canadian Field Artillery and went overseas with them in February 1916. In July 1916 they were sent to the Western Front where they served first in the Ypres Salient and then on the Somme. In April 1917 the battery took part in the battle of Vimy Ridge. Scott was killed a few days later in the village of Vimy, hit by a shell when moving his guns to a new location.