Description
A Good Officer Casualty Killed in Action 1st July 1916 – 3rd (attached 2nd) battalion Gordon Highlanders.
British War and Victory Medals, 2. Lieut . J. White; Memorial Plaque, John White (With card box and issued slip)
John White was born in 1894, the son of John and Lily White of Claremont Street, Edinburgh
John White is confirmed on his MIC as landing in France on the 27th May 1916, serving in the 5th Reserve Cavalry Regiment(As a Corporal, service no 9787), then The Gordon Highlanders as 2nd Lieutenant. It also confirms his entitlement to a pair giving his address as Leith Walk, Edinburgh
He studied at Edinburgh Institution (Stewart Melville Collage) and was Captain of the Rugby Team, 1910 to 1911.
With a copied photograph of six graves to six second Lieutenants of the Gordon Highlanders, all Killed in Action of the 1st July 1916 at Mametz, The Somme, including John White.
He was Killed in Action on the 1st July 1916 (First Day of the Somme) whilst serving in the 3rd battalion Gordon Highlanders, but attached to the Second battalion. He is buried in the Gordon Cemetery, Mametz.
A copied Newspaper cutting states that “prior to the war John White had been a sheep farmer in Australia when war broke out, he immediately sailed home, as an experienced horseman he joined the ScotsGreys, as a private in January 1915. and was soon made a Corporal, he then applied for a commission in the Gordon Highlnders.
He specialised in bombing and only six weeks before his death left for the front, going straight to the trenches. In a letter home his Colonel said he was with our bombing sectioned was attached by a party of the enemy , and though he drove them off he was wounded in the leg. He was unable to walk, but was being assisted back when he was shot through the head. He died instantly . A brave plucky and fearless boy he died the death of a soldier.”
Condition – GVF
In mid-May 1916, the 2nd Battalion, Gordon Highlanders—serving within the 20th Infantry Brigade of the 7th Division—entered into preparation for the Allied Somme offensive. Withdrawing from front-line trench rotations to rear areas around Morbecque and Bray-sur-Somme, the battalion conducted large-scale tactical rehearsals, practising infantry-artillery cooperation and assault wave formations over mock German positions.
Moving closer to the front lines along the Carnoy and Bécordel-Fricourt sectors throughout June, the battalion engaged in exhaustive preparation duties. Men constructed deep dugouts, widened assembly trenches, laid signal communications, and stockpiled thousands of artillery shells, trench mortar rounds, and small-arms ammunition in forward dumps.
When the British preliminary artillery bombardment opened on June 24, the Gordons rotated through forward positions under retaliatory German counter-battery shelling. In the final four days of June alone, German fire inflicted nearly 60 casualties on the unit. On the night of June 30, under cover of darkness, the 2nd Gordons moved into their designated assembly trenches south of Mametz. Exhausted by days of continuous heavy labor, shelling, and lack of sleep, the battalion readied their equipment for the morning assault.
Movements on 1st July 1916
07:28–07:30 Hours: Following the detonation of British mines and the final artillery barrage lifting, the 2nd Gordons stepped off from assembly trenches opposite Mametz at 07:30 Hours (Zero Hour), attacking alongside the 9th Devons on their left and 1st South Staffords on their right.
07:30–09:00 Hours: Advancing across No Man’s Land toward the German front lines, the battalion came under intense crossfire from machine guns stationed at the Mametz shrine and cemetery. Despite heavy casualties in the initial assault waves, surviving companies pushed forward, breached enemy wire, and secured the German front-line trench system.
09:00–12:00 Hours: The battalion fought its way inland to the secondary position at Cemetery Trench. Teaming up with the reserve 8th Devons, the Gordons cleared heavily fortified dugouts and established strongpoints southwest of Mametz village.
12:00–16:00 Hours: As British artillery launched a renewed bombardment at 15:30, the 2nd Gordons advanced toward the village fringes, linking up with the 91st Brigade attacking from the east to encircle the remaining defenders.
16:00–20:00 Hours: By 16:30 Hours, Mametz was completely captured. The battalion established defensive outposts in Queen’s Nullah, consolidating the line through the night. By day’s end, the battalion had suffered over 460 casualties.
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