Alfred Anderson
Encyclopedia
Alfred Anderson was a Scottish
joiner
and veteran of the First World War
. He was the last known holder of the 1914 Star
(the Old Contemptibles), the last known combatant to participate in the 1914 World War I Christmas truce
, Scotland's last known World War I veteran, and Scotland's oldest man for more than a year.
In October 1914 Anderson left his home and, with the 1/5th (Angus
and Dundee
) Battalion of the Black Watch
, travelled by train from Dundee to Southampton
and took a ferry to Le Havre
. The regiment mainly recruited in Angus, so Anderson was surrounded by a group of friends with whom he had joined the Territorial Force
in 1912 (aged 16), he thought he was going on a grand adventure; they had volunteered to go and fight on the Western Front
.
On December 24, 1914 and December 25, 1914, his unit was billeted in a farmhouse away from the front line, so he did not participate in any of the famous football matches that took place. However, he vividly remembered the day and once said:
The following year the 1/5th Battalion fought at the Battles of Neuve Chapelle
and Loos
. He became batman
to his platoon commander Lieutenant Ian Bruce-Gardyne MC, and also briefly to Captain
Fergus Bowes-Lyon
, brother of the Queen Mother
. Anderson was brave and cool and he would often go out at night with Bruce-Gardyne into no-man's land to listen for enemy activity such as tunnelling or troop movements.
On one of these night-time sorties Anderson was wounded in the back of the neck and shoulder by shrapnel from shellfire in 1916—in the slang of the time a "Blighty
" (a wound serious enough to necessitate a recuperation in Britain). After recovering at a hospital in Norfolk
he became an infantry
instructor at a camp near Ripon
, rising to the rank of staff sergeant
by the end of the war.
It was during his time as an instructor that he married Susanna Iddison. After the war, he took her back to Scotland and recommenced life as a joiner in his father's business.
Anderson was placed in command of a detachment of Home Guard
in the Second World War
. After that war he was elected chairman of the local branch of the Royal British Legion.
He was awarded the Légion d'honneur
in 1998 as were all First World War veterans who fought on French soil. In 2003, when his service as batman to Fergus Bowes-Lyon
(who was killed in 1915) came out, Prince Charles
went to visit him. Charles is the great nephew of Fergus Bowes-Lyon.
His wife died in 1979 and he moved to Alyth
to be near his youngest daughter.
Six weeks before his own death he moved to Mundamalla Nursing Home, where he died in November 2005 at the age of 109. At his death, he was Scotland's oldest man. He died just a few weeks after featuring in the BBC One
documentary The Last Tommy, which interviewed some of the last surviving First World War British Army veterans (nicknamed Tommy or Tommy Atkins
).
The widower, who had five children, said he had lost count of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He was actually survived by four children, ten grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren, and two great-great grandchildren. A biography (Alfred Anderson: A Life in Three Centuries) was published in 2002, and a bust of him stands on display at the public library in Alyth.
About Christmas
Anderson said:
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
joiner
Joiner
A joiner differs from a carpenter in that joiners cut and fit joints in wood that do not use nails. Joiners usually work in a workshop since the formation of various joints generally requires non-portable machinery. A carpenter normally works on site...
and veteran of the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. He was the last known holder of the 1914 Star
1914 Star
The 1914 Star was a British Empire campaign medal for service in World War I.The 1914 Star was approved in 1917, for issue to officers and men of British forces who served in France or Belgium between 5 August and midnight 22/23 November 1914...
(the Old Contemptibles), the last known combatant to participate in the 1914 World War I Christmas truce
Christmas truce
Christmas truce was a series of widespread unofficial ceasefires that took place along the Western Front around Christmas of 1914, during the First World War...
, Scotland's last known World War I veteran, and Scotland's oldest man for more than a year.
In October 1914 Anderson left his home and, with the 1/5th (Angus
Angus
Angus is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland, a registration county and a lieutenancy area. The council area borders Aberdeenshire, Perth and Kinross and Dundee City...
and Dundee
Dundee
Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
) Battalion of the Black Watch
Black Watch
The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland is an infantry battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. The unit's traditional colours were retired in 2011 in a ceremony led by Queen Elizabeth II....
, travelled by train from Dundee to Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
and took a ferry to Le Havre
Le Havre
Le Havre is a city in the Seine-Maritime department of the Haute-Normandie region in France. It is situated in north-western France, on the right bank of the mouth of the river Seine on the English Channel. Le Havre is the most populous commune in the Haute-Normandie region, although the total...
. The regiment mainly recruited in Angus, so Anderson was surrounded by a group of friends with whom he had joined the Territorial Force
Territorial Force
The Territorial Force was the volunteer reserve component of the British Army from 1908 to 1920, when it became the Territorial Army.-Origins:...
in 1912 (aged 16), he thought he was going on a grand adventure; they had volunteered to go and fight on the Western Front
Western Front (World War I)
Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
.
On December 24, 1914 and December 25, 1914, his unit was billeted in a farmhouse away from the front line, so he did not participate in any of the famous football matches that took place. However, he vividly remembered the day and once said:
I remember the silence, the eerie sound of silence. Only the guards were on duty. We all went outside the farm buildings and just stood listening. And, of course, thinking of people back home. All I'd heard for two months in the trenches was the hissing, cracking and whining of bullets in flight, machinegun fire and distant German voices.
But there was a dead silence that morning, right across the land as far as you could see. We shouted 'Merry Christmas', even though nobody felt merry. The silence ended early in the afternoon and the killing started again. It was a short peace in a terrible war.
The following year the 1/5th Battalion fought at the Battles of Neuve Chapelle
Battle of Neuve Chapelle
The Battles of Neuve Chapelle and Artois was a battle in the First World War. It was a British offensive in the Artois region and broke through at Neuve-Chapelle but they were unable to exploit the advantage.The battle began on 10 March 1915...
and Loos
Battle of Loos
The Battle of Loos was one of the major British offensives mounted on the Western Front in 1915 during World War I. It marked the first time the British used poison gas during the war, and is also famous for the fact that it witnessed the first large-scale use of 'new' or Kitchener's Army...
. He became batman
Batman (army)
A batman is a soldier or airman assigned to a commissioned officer as a personal servant.The term is derived from the obsolete bat, "packsaddle" + man....
to his platoon commander Lieutenant Ian Bruce-Gardyne MC, and also briefly to Captain
Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)
Captain is a junior officer rank of the British Army and Royal Marines. It ranks above Lieutenant and below Major and has a NATO ranking code of OF-2. The rank is equivalent to a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy and to a Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force...
Fergus Bowes-Lyon
Fergus Bowes-Lyon
Captain Fergus Bowes-Lyon was an older brother of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.He was born at Glamis Castle in Angus and educated at Eton College, Berkshire. Just a fortnight after the start of World War I, he married Lady Christian Norah Dawson-Damer , daughter of the 5th Earl of...
, brother of the Queen Mother
Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was the queen consort of King George VI from 1936 until her husband's death in 1952, after which she was known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II...
. Anderson was brave and cool and he would often go out at night with Bruce-Gardyne into no-man's land to listen for enemy activity such as tunnelling or troop movements.
On one of these night-time sorties Anderson was wounded in the back of the neck and shoulder by shrapnel from shellfire in 1916—in the slang of the time a "Blighty
Blighty
Blighty is a British English slang term for Britain, deriving from the Hindustani word vilāyatī , from Persian vilayet and ultimately from Arabic wilayah, originally meaning something like "province"...
" (a wound serious enough to necessitate a recuperation in Britain). After recovering at a hospital in Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
he became an infantry
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
instructor at a camp near Ripon
Ripon
Ripon is a cathedral city, market town and successor parish in the Borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, located at the confluence of two streams of the River Ure in the form of the Laver and Skell. The city is noted for its main feature the Ripon Cathedral which is architecturally...
, rising to the rank of staff sergeant
Staff Sergeant
Staff sergeant is a rank of non-commissioned officer used in several countries.The origin of the name is that they were part of the staff of a British army regiment and paid at that level rather than as a member of a battalion or company.-Australia:...
by the end of the war.
It was during his time as an instructor that he married Susanna Iddison. After the war, he took her back to Scotland and recommenced life as a joiner in his father's business.
Anderson was placed in command of a detachment of Home Guard
British Home Guard
The Home Guard was a defence organisation of the British Army during the Second World War...
in the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. After that war he was elected chairman of the local branch of the Royal British Legion.
He was awarded the Légion d'honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
in 1998 as were all First World War veterans who fought on French soil. In 2003, when his service as batman to Fergus Bowes-Lyon
Fergus Bowes-Lyon
Captain Fergus Bowes-Lyon was an older brother of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.He was born at Glamis Castle in Angus and educated at Eton College, Berkshire. Just a fortnight after the start of World War I, he married Lady Christian Norah Dawson-Damer , daughter of the 5th Earl of...
(who was killed in 1915) came out, Prince Charles
Charles, Prince of Wales
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir apparent and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1958 his major title has been His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In Scotland he is additionally known as The Duke of Rothesay...
went to visit him. Charles is the great nephew of Fergus Bowes-Lyon.
His wife died in 1979 and he moved to Alyth
Alyth
Alyth is a village in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, situated under the Hill of Alyth five miles northeast of Blairgowrie. The village has a population of 2,301...
to be near his youngest daughter.
Six weeks before his own death he moved to Mundamalla Nursing Home, where he died in November 2005 at the age of 109. At his death, he was Scotland's oldest man. He died just a few weeks after featuring in the BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
documentary The Last Tommy, which interviewed some of the last surviving First World War British Army veterans (nicknamed Tommy or Tommy Atkins
Tommy Atkins
Tommy Atkins is a term for a common soldier in the British Army that was already well established in the 19th century, but is particularly associated with World War I. It can be used as a term of reference, or as a form of address. German soldiers would call out to "Tommy" across no man's land if...
).
The widower, who had five children, said he had lost count of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He was actually survived by four children, ten grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren, and two great-great grandchildren. A biography (Alfred Anderson: A Life in Three Centuries) was published in 2002, and a bust of him stands on display at the public library in Alyth.
About Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
Anderson said:
External links
- BBC obituary
- Evening Telegraph obituary
- Scotsman obituary
- Times article
- Times obituary
- A history of the Black Watch
- 5th (Angus & Dundee) Battalion, Black Watch (Royal Highlanders)
- Interview from 2003, originally published in The ScotsmanThe ScotsmanThe Scotsman is a British newspaper, published in Edinburgh.As of August 2011 it had an audited circulation of 38,423, down from about 100,000 in the 1980s....
, 25 June 2003, under the headline "Scotland's Oldest Man turns 107", by John Innes