Alan Drummond Law
| Rank | Lieutenant | |
| Medals | British War Medal, Victory Medal | |
| Regiment | Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, 4th Battalion attached 10th Battalion | |
| Military Service | According to Law’s Medal Index card he disembarked in France on 8th July 1916. He did not reach his battalion until 7th August when he and 5 other officers arrived to help make good losses suffered by the battalion the previous month at Longueval and the battle for Delville Wood. In October 1916 the battalion was in action at the Butte de Warlencourt and late on the evening of 12th October Second Lieutenant Law was ordered forward to take command of ‘D’ company which had lost all its officers in the fighting. In January 1917 he occurs twice in the war diary, on 6th January a raiding party was sent out into no-man’s land and Law was responsible for cutting an opening in the British wire to let them out. Later that month he stood in for the adjutant who was absent from the battalion. | |
| Born | 1st April 1897, Glasgow | |
| Death | 3rd May 1917 | |
| Circumstances of Death | Died of wounds. On 3rd May 1917 the battalion took part in the Third Battle of the Scarpe. Zero hour was 3.45am while it was still dark and this led to confusion amongst the attacking troops. By 9am it had been ascertained that all the officers in ‘D’ company, commanded by Law, were missing and all but one in ‘C’. It wasn’t until several days afterwards that a picture of what happened to the two companies emerged by questioning the survivors. It seems the two companies came under heavy machine gun fire and were surrounded. Law fought until he was wounded and was never seen again. He was posted as wounded and missing and, as was normal in such circumstances, enquiries were made about his fate through the Red Cross. Southey’s history of the battalion records that Law died of his wounds on the 3rd May as a German prisoner and his uniform and revolver were later returned to his relatives. | |
| Age | 20 | |
| Memorial | Arras Memorial, Bay 9. | |
| CWGC Information | Son of William Law, of 29, Montgomerie Drive, Glasgow | |
| Parents | William Law(1857-1930) & Isabella H Gray (1859-1926); married 1882 Glasgow | |
| Father's Occupation | Ship owner/broker; Law & Co ‘Shire Line’, 128 Hope Street, Glasgow | |
| Siblings | William T (1883-1933), George G (1885-1946), Marguerite L (1887-1971), Ida D (1888-1970), Mabel O (1888-1969), Alice H (1892-1962), Howard L (1899-1971) | |
| Spouse | Unmarried | |
| Education | Kelvinside Academy | |
| Occupation | Schoolboy? | |
| 1901 Census | 29 Montgomerie Drive, Partick, Glasgow | |
| 1911 Census | 29 Montgomerie Drive, Partick, Glasgow | |
| Home Address | 29 Montgomerie Drive, Partick, Glasgow | |
| Glasgow Necropolis | Compartment Primus Lair 95-96 | |
| Other Memorials | Scottish National War Memorial | |
| Acknowledgements and Sources | Much of the information on which this profile is based is drawn from various internet sources which are listed below. The Friends of Glasgow Necropolis also wish to make full acknowledgement and thanks for the permitted use of any information or images generously supplied specifically for exhibition, publication or display in connection with The Roll of Honour and accompanying profiles to Ancestry, and Find my past. Commonwealth War Graves Commission The Scottish War Memorials Project The Laws Family Register www.lawsfamilyregister.org.uk The 10th Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, 1914-1919, by H G Sotheby. 1931. War Diary of 10th Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, May 1916 – December 1917. (TNA WO 95/1768/1) | |
Gallery
Alan Drummond Law Monument - Primus
Credits
Compiled by Morag Fyfe, Historical and Genealogical Researcher for The Friends of Glasgow Necropolis.
