Remembering the Fallen: on this day in 1914, Second Lieutenant Alister McAndrew, 1st Battalion, Black Watch (Royal Highlanders), was killed in action on the Western Front.

He was educated at Fodderdy Public School and Dingwall Academy, joining the Black Watch in 1894. He served in the ranks for seven years, spending most of that time in India. He also saw action in the South Africa War, for which he was awarded the Queen's and the King's medals with clasps, as well as the Good Conduct medal.

He had achieved the rank of Company Quartermaster Serjeant by the outbreak of the Great War, and saw action at the Retreat from Mons, and the Battles of the Aisne and the Marne. Due to what was termed his “enthusiasm and aptitude for military duties” he was given a commission in his own regiment in November of 1914.

While leading his men in a charge at Givenchy, he was shot through the heart by a German sniper. Second Lieutenant McAndrew was remembered as being much-liked by his fellow officers, and “exceedingly popular” with those with whom he served. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Le Touret Memorial at Pas de Calais in France.

Alister, from Fodderdy, Dingwall, in Ross-shire, was 39 years old.