Great War Honours to the Canadian Scottish

Canadian Orchards, Festubert, France. Captured by the 16th Battalion CEF, 20 May 1915. Image by Lieutenant Colonel William Rae DSO a veteran of the battle. (Canadian Scottish Museum)

Canadian Orchards near La Quinque Rue, Festubert, France. Captured by the 16th Battalion CEF, 20 May 1915.
Image by Lieutenant Colonel William Rae DSO a veteran of the battle.
(Canadian Scottish Museum)

1915 and the 16th Canadian Infantry Battalion

Distinguished Service Order

Major Gilbert Godson-Godson DSO
London Gazette: 22 June 1915
Awarded on the occasion of His Majesty’s Birthday. No citation.

Occupation: City of Vancouver. Department Head.

Prior service: Second Boer War (Corps of Guides and South African Constabulary. Awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal and Mentioned in Despatches). Natal Rebellion 1906 (Royston’s Horse,), Canadian Militia: 72nd Regiment (Seaforth Highlanders of Canada).

Wounded: 24 April 1915. Gun shot wound face and neck.

Awarded the French Officier Ordre du Mérite Agricole (7-10-1919) and brought to notice of the Secretary of State for War for valuable services rendered in connection with the war (7 August 1917). Later Lieutenant Colonel (23 January 1916). Died (7 June 1954).

Major Gilbert Godson-Godson DSO.
(Imperial War Museum image, London)

Captain Frank Morison DSO
London Gazette: 25 August 1915
For conspicuous gallantry and ability May 20th 1915 when he commanded the leading Company in the attack on the Orchard at La Quinque Rue. He captured the enemy’s position which was of primary importance under heavy shrapnel, rifle and machine gun fire.

Occupation: Barrister at Law.

Prior Service: 91st Regiment (Canadian Highlanders “Argyles”).

Mentioned in Despatches (1 January 1916). Awarded the French Médaille d’Honneur avec glaives en Vermeil (5-11-1920). Later Major (3 November 1915) and Lieutenant Colonel (Date Unknown).

Distinguished Conduct Medal

29519 Sergeant Bernard Charles Lunn DCM
26 June 1915
For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty near St. Julien on the morning of 23rd April 19115, following a night attack, in twice going out under fire and dressing a man who was badly wounded in the arm and covering him with a blanket.

Occupation: House Decorator (Painter).

Prior Service: British Army: Hants Territorials and possibly Royal Garrison Artillery. Canadian Militia.

Wounded: Shrapnel wound left foot and knee (4 September 1916).

Died: Vancouver, B.C. (27 August 1976).

28874 Company Sergeant Major John Dougall DCM
22 June 1915
For conspicuous gallantry at St. Julien on night of 22nd-23rd April 1915 during an attack on a wood – this Non-Commissioned Officer placed himself at the head of a party of men belonging to another Battalion who had no Officer or leader with them, and cleared a farm beyond the wood of greatly superior numbers of the enemy.

Occupation: Moulder.

Prior Service: British Army (1st King’s Own Scottish Borderers).

Wounded: Ypres. Shrapnel wounds (Rifle Grenade) right shoulder and neck. (19 April 1916).

Missing presumed killed 8/9 October 1916.
Medals and decorations, memorial plaque and scroll, memorial cross forwarded to wife. Mrs. Margaret Dougall, 24 Stewart Road, Falkirk, Scotland.
Commemorated on the Vimy Memorial, France.

Kitcheners’ Wood 22 April 1915 Memorial to the 10th and 16th Battalions CEF.
Created in 1997 by the Vrjie Basisscheool, St. Juliaan, Belgium.
(P. Ferguson image, September 2013)

Mentioned in Despatches [No Citations]

Lieutenant Colonel Robert Gilmour Edwards Leckie
London Gazette: 22 June 1915

Occupation: Consulting Engineer.

Prior Service: Royal Military College, Second Boer War (2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles), 75th Regiment (Lunenburg Regiment), 8th Hussars (Princess Louise New Brunswick Regiment of Cavalry), 72nd Regiment (Seaforth Highlanders of Canada).

Wounded: Gun shot wound both thighs (17 May 1916).

Created a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (15-June-1916) and awarded the Volunteer Officer’s Decoration (1918). Later Brigadier General (12 August 1915), Major General. Commanded Military District 11, Victoria, B.C. Died Vancouver, B.C. (22 June 1923).

Lieutenant Colonel Robert Gilmour Edward Leckie holding a German pickelhaube.
(Image courtesy Canadian Scottish Museum).

Captain Cecil Mack Merritt
London Gazette: 22 June 1915

Occupation: Broker.

Prior Service: 10th Regiment (Royal Grenadiers), 72nd Regiment (Seaforth Highlanders of Canada).

Killed in Action 24 April 1915
Commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium.
Medals and decorations, memorial plaque and scroll, memorial cross forwarded to wife Mrs. Sophie Almon Merritt, 2050 Barclay Street, Vancouver B.C. Second memorial cross forwarded to mother Mrs. Mary B. Merritt, 8 Summer Place, London, S.W., England.

Father of Cecil Ingersoll Merritt VC.

Captain Cecil Mack Merritt.
(Canadian Virtual War Memorial)

29524 Corporal Gerald Coussmaker Heath
London Gazette: 22 June 1915

Occupation: Bank Clerk.

Prior Service: Canadian Militia (Unit not known).

Education: Wellington College, Berkshire, England.

Killed in Action 22 April 1915
Commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium.
Son of Susan Wilhelmina Heath and the later Colonel Lewis Forbes Heath (Indian Army), “Failand”, Paignton, Devon, England.
Medals and decorations, memorial plaque and scroll, memorial cross forwarded to mother Mrs. Susan Wilhemina Heath.
Brother of Sir Lewis Macclesfield Heath KBE, CB, CIE, DSO, MC (British Indian Army).

29047 Lance Corporal Alfred William Minchin
London Gazette: 22 June 1915

Occupation: Deliveryman.

Prior Service: Nil.

Wounded: Gun shot wound thigh and leg (21 May 1915).

Awarded Military Medal (11 October 1916). Died Vancouver, B.C. (13 May 1974).

29418 Private John William Bizley
London Gazette: 22 June 1915

Occupation: Electrical Contractor.

Prior Service: British Army: 5th Battalion East Surrey Regiment. Canadian Militia: 91st Regiment (Canadian Highlanders “Argyles”).

Wounded: Hill 60 severe shrapnel wound left buttock. Severed sciatic nerve (4 August 1916).

Later Lieutenant (24 July 1916)

Foreign Awards

Order of St. Anne (4th Class), Russia

Lieutenant Victor Alexander MacLean
25 August 1915

Occupation: Broker.

Prior Service: Six weeks civil aide force, Nanaimo, B.C. coal miners’ strike.

Wounded and Missing: Ypres right buttock (26 April 1915). Later Reported Prisoner of War at Crefeld, Strohen Kreis Sulingen, Holzminden, arrived Holland for internment, repatriated and arrived Ripon , Yorkshire 18 November 1918.

Awarded the Military Cross announced in Supplement to the London Gazette 30 January 1920, page 1219.
In recognition of gallant conduct and determination displayed in escaping or attempting to escape from captivity which services have been brought to notice in accordance with the terms of Army Order 193 of 1919. To be dated 5 May 1919. Later Captain.

Great War Canadian officers interned in Holland.

“Interned in Holland.”
Photo taken at Schevenigen of Canadian officers taken prisoner of war at the Second Battle of Ypres. Captain B.L. Johnston (3rd Battalion CEF), Major R.Y. Cory (15th Battalion CEF “48th Highlanders”), Lieutenant V.A. MacLean (16th Battalion CEF “Canadian Scottish”), Lieutenant F.W. MacDonald (15th Battalion CEF “48th Highlanders”).
From Canada Magazine, an Illustrated Weekly Journal.

Tags: 16th Battalion CEF (Canadian Scottish), 1915, Alfred William Minchin, Bernard Charles Lunn, Cecil Mack Merritt, Frank Morison, Gerald Coussmaker Heath, Gilbert Godson-Godson, Honours and Awards, John Dougall, John William Bizley, La Quinque Rue Orchard, Robert Gilmour Edwards Leckie, St. Julien (Belgium), Victor Alexander MacLean

This entry was posted by pferguson on Sunday, February 27th, 2022 at 9:52 pm and is filed under Remember Them Well, Snapshots of the Great War. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

About The Author

pferguson

Paul has worked with the Paradigm Motion Picture Company since 2009 as producer, historian and research specialist. Paul first met Casey and Ian WIlliams of Paradigm in April 2007 at Ieper (Ypres), Belgium when ceremonies were being held for the re-dedication of the Vimy Memorial, France. Paul's sensitivity to film was developed at an early age seeing his first films at RCAF Zweibrucken, Germany and Sardinia. Paul returned to Canada in 1967 and was captivated by David Lean's "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Bridge on the River Kwai". Over time Paul became increasingly interested in storytelling, content development, character, direction, cinematography, narration and soundtracks. At the University of Victoria, Paul studied and compared Japanese and Australian film and became interested in Australian film maker Peter Weir and his film "Gallipoli" (1981). Paul was inspired when he learned Weir visited the beaches, ridges and ravines of the peninsula. "Gallipoli", the film, led Paul on many journeys to sites of conflict in England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Malta, Hawaii, Gallipoli, North Macedonia and Salonika. When Paul first watched documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, "The Civil War", Paul understood how his own experience and insight could be effective and perhaps influential in film-making. Combining his knowledge of Museums and Archives, exhibitions and idea strategies with his film interests was a natural progression. Paul thinks like a film-maker. His passion for history and storytelling brings to Paradigm an eye (and ear) to the keen and sensitive interests of; content development, the understanding of successful and relational use of collections, imagery and voice. Like Paul's favorite actor, Peter O'Toole, Paul believes in the adage “To deepen not broaden.” While on this path Paul always remembers his grandmother whose father did not return from the Great War and how his loss shaped her life and how her experience continues to guide him.

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