CWGC thanks the Thiepval Database Project for this story. It summarises information held at the Thiepval Visitor Centre.
Second Lieutenant Robert Addie, ‘C’ Company, 2nd/5th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers.
Robert was the son of William Erskine Addie (a headmaster) and Jessie R. Addie, of Broomhill Avenue, Partick, Glasgow.
He was educated at Glasgow High School and won a diploma of Athenaeum College, a commercial college in Glasgow. From the High School he entered the office of Messrs. Holms-Kerr & Hedderwick, stockbrokers, and remained with them for fifteen years. In 1915 he was asked by Sir John Mann to be his assistant in the finance department of the Ministry of Munitions.
On 19th December 1916, he joined the Artists’ Rifles as Private 9940. He transferred as a cadet to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, in 1917, obtained his commission in September, and went to France in October.
The regimental history included the following:
…Second-Lieutenant R. L. Addie had led his platoon into Beel Avenue and established a block in the trench…Some of the enemy succeeded in attacking Addie's party in Beel Avenue from its left flank, killing the officer and killing or capturing the remainder with the exception of two men who escaped…
Robert Addie died on 20th November 1917, aged 32, during an attack on the Knoll.
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