Corporal Archibald Brown Troup

4th Battalion The Black Watch

A member of Lodge Broughty Castle No.486, Broughty Ferry

Photo with grateful thanks from his family

Killed 9th May 1915.

Corporal, 4th Battalion Black Watch Killed on the 9th May 1915. Aged 43.
He has no known grave and is remembered on the Le Touret Memorial’, Pas de Calais, France.
Possibly killed during the Aubers Ridge attack.

He was initiated on the 6th October 1910, and is described in the petition book as a Coal Merchant living at ‘Oakbank’ Church Street, Broughty Ferry.

PEOPLE’S JOURNAL Saturday June 12th 1915 (Page 10, 3rd Column)

“FALLEN COMRADES”
“Pathetic Last Tribute to 4th B W Heroes”
“Carried His Son’s Cross”

Probably no more moving document has been published in connection with the great war than that given below, which tells of a sad expedition of five members to pay a last tribute of respect to 25 fallen comrades of the 4th (City of Dundee) Black Watch. (Known as DUNDEE's OWN)
It is from the pen of Company-Quartermaster Sergeant D Beedie, and few will read it without being able to conjure up in their mind’s eye the pathetic occasion. The fact that Company-Sergeant-Major Donald Pyott, who lost a son in the action commemorated, and Private John Troup, whose father was also among the fallen, took part in the ceremony renders it almost unique in the annals of the Black Watch as a regiment. The picture is an eerie, yet a thrilling one – that of five intrepid men creeping, in the dusk of a May evening, to within 125 yards of the German trenches, risking their lives at every step, to express tangibly their sense of loss by the deaths of their heroic comrades. The following is Sergeant Beedie’s pen-picture of the incident: -

“A lovely morning again. I am pleased to say l am still very fit. I am jolly glad to be alive to say so, as I had another exciting, if somewhat sad, experience last night. A small party of A Company set out to mark the last resting-place of our fallen chums. Pipe-Major Low, Broughty Ferry – who, by the way, is a handy man here, being a painter – had crosses nicely lettered and ready to be stuck in the ground. So off we set to the trenches, a distance of six miles. The party consisted of Corporal Gammie, Lance-Corporal Forbes, Private Troup (whose father was among the killed), Company-Sergeant-Major Pyott (who lost a son on the same occasion), and my-self. Surely, even in these times, in a party of five, it is unique to find a father carrying a son’s cross (for young Donald Pyott) and a son carrying a father’s (for Lance-Sergeant Troup)."

Names of the Fallen

"We got to the place all right but had to wait for an hour until it was dark, or rather dusk, as we were in full view of the German trenches, about 125 yards away, and we know to our cost that the Huns pay no respect to the dead. Private Blues, of A Company, was shot through the heart at the same place while looking through the graves. Corporal Gammie was a capital guide and found the places all right.
We put up a big cross for": -

We put up another cross for: -

“Then Colour-Sergeant-Major Pyott put up a pretty little white cross for his boy. When we left, his “Good-bye laddie.” brought tears to more than one pair of eyes. I was standing by the graves of some of my best pals, particularly that of Sergeant W D Brown, who had been my shooting pal at all the rifle meetings for the last four years. I taught him most of his shooting. Aye, and I taught him how to beat myself, for he was top scorer at class firing, being 10 points ahead of any other body in the regiment, and one of the few who earned “Cross-rifles”, the badge for marksmen, at the first time of asking. It is at times like that, when one is wondering and wishing that a feeling of hatred for the foe comes over you, but I suppose it is all part of the game and of the price we have to pay.

Call to Young Men

“Would to God that the young men of our country would think of their responsibilities to the country and come out and help! Every young man who is fit should be here, and then it would soon be over. But I honestly think the married men with home responsibilities should confine their service to home defence. This is no place for the married men so long as we have young men who should be here. “Our next duty was to get over the front of the trench to where Sergeant Troup was laid. It was now dark, and in turn we jumped over the parapet, and being now without cover of any kind, crawled over to the place. We had some difficulty in getting to it, as, when the star shells went up, we had to lie flat. As very little movement would be `spotted`, you may understand we lay very flat indeed. There are many brave fellows lying out there just as they fell, but we had no time to pay any attention to them. We got to Troup’s grave, and set the cross edgeways on to the trenches. It bears the simple inscription: -

“456 Sergeant Troup, H Company 4th Black Watch, killed in action – 1915.”

“On the stand of the cross there is the simple word `Archie` by which he was known to all the regiment. Young Troup stuck it well and said very little. We eventually got back safe, and it was a very silent walk home. None of us had much to say, but we (at least I did) felt that we had done the only thing we could in paying our last respects to our fallen comrades.”