Robert Bruce Oliphant Moir

RankSecond Lieutenant
MedalsBritish War Medal, Victory Medal
RegimentHighland Light Infantry, 3rd Battalion, attached 2nd Battalion Durham Light Infantry
Military Service

Moir served in the OTC at school and on 1st January 1914 became the youngest Colour Sergeant the corps had ever had. Immediately on leaving school he received a commission in 3rd (Reserve) Battalion HLI in July 1915 while still only 17 years old. He arrived in France in May 1916 and it is presumably at that time that he served with 12th HLI (46th Brigade, 15th (Scottish) Division).  He was wounded at the Somme in August 1916 and when he returned to France at the beginning of February 1917 he was attached to 2nd Battalion Durham Light Infantry (18th Brigade, 6th Division). His school obituary records that he was killed on the first day of the Battle of Arras but this is misleading.  The 6th Division was north of Arras holding trenches from Loos north to the Hohenzollern Redoubt , an area which had been heavily fought over in 1915. Moir was actually killed during an unsuccessful raid on the German front line during the night of 8th/9th April.

Battle of Arras Location

Battle of Arras Location

Born

10th October 1897, Glasgow

Death9th April 1917
Circumstances of Death

Killed in action

Report on raid on the German front line during the night of 8th/9th April 1915

Age19
MemorialLoos Memorial, Panel 108 to 112.
CWGC Information

Son of Professor James Moir, LL.D., and Mrs. Moir, 9 University Gardens, Glasgow

Parents

James Moir (1841-1915) & Jean Love (c1856- ) maried 1887, Beith, Ayrshire

Father's Occupation

Writer, Professor of Conveyancing University of Glasgow

Siblings

Alexander J (1888-1899), Andrew A L (c1891-), Jessie L (c1894-), George H (c1894-1925), Andreas A Le C (c1896-1961)

Spouse

Unmarried

Education

Kelvinside Academy

1st XV in rugby; in the Debating Society; Dux (Classics) in 1915.

Occupation

Schoolboy

1901 Census

20 Ann Street, Partick

1911 Census

9 University Gardens, Partick

Home Address

Rosemount, Kincardine-on-Forth

Glasgow NecropolisCompartment Primus Lair not known
Other Memorials

Scottish National War Memorial
Tulliallan War Memorial

Other Information

Both surviving brothers were also educated at Kelvinside Academy and served in the First World War.

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 Kelvinside Academy, Ancestry, and Find my past.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Family Search

Scotlands People

The Long, Long Trail

The Scottish War Memorials Project

2nd Battalion Durham Light Infantry, War Diary August 1914 – March 1919. (TNA WO 95/1617)

Lees, W & P Williams, Kelvinside Academy and the Great War. 1998

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Credits

Compiled by Morag Fyfe, Historical and Genealogical Researcher for The Friends of Glasgow Necropolis.

 
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