Duncan Hemeline Davidson
Seaforth Highlanders
Died 9 May 1915 aged 38
Capt. D.H. Davidson – Seaforth Hrs.
Duncan Hemeline Davidson was born at Craigmyle House on 28 March 1877. He was the second child, and first son, of Duncan Davidson DL, JP, of Inchmarlo and Flora Frances Davidson daughter of Sir Francis Burdett of Foremark, Derbyshire. They had married at Richmond, Surrey in 1874 – a marriage which produced two sons and two daughters. The family lived first at Craigmyle, later at Inchmarlo. On 6 January1884, when young Duncan had not quite reached his seventh birthday, his mother Flora (said to have “endeared herself to all by her kind and charitable disposition”) died of diphtheria at the age of 32. His father remarried in 1887.
After attending school at Harrow, Duncan Davidson’s coming of age in 1898 was a big event in the county, attracting detailed coverage in the local press. The culmination of jollifications at Inchmarlo which included a large family dinner, picnics and a bicycling party, was a grand dinner at which the Farquhar and Pickeringfamilies were well-represented, along with 170 tenants who enjoyed a “sumptuous repast”. There were numerous toasts and replies. It was announced that the young man had adopted farming as his profession. After dinner, all adjourned to the drawing room where there was “a choice programme of music” followed by bonfires at the house and on Sluiehill, and a firework display in front of the house.
Unfortunately, the War Office file on this officer appears to have been destroyed, but other sources show that his plans to settle to a life of farming took a different turn. Having served with the Gordon Militia, he obtained a commission in the Seaforth Highlanders at the outbreak of the Boer War in 1900. He was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant in 1902, and Captain in 1911, serving initially with the Seaforths in Egypt and India. Between 1909 and 1913 he was Adjutant to the 4th Seaforths at Dingwall. When war broke out in August 1914, Duncan Davidson was in Agra, and in October 1914 he was transferred with his regiment to France.
On 17 December 1914 he was badly wounded and returned home for a time, re-joining the battalion on 28 March 1915. Rev J. McNeil, Chaplain to the Seaforths, left an account of this episode: “I remember the first time he was wounded, when he came into the ambulance from Le Touret, from the trenches at Festubert. There was one of our men beside him, who he thought needed more care than he did, and when his own time came, he would not let himself be touched till the others had been dressed – it was the spirit in which he acted”.
On 20 February 1915 the Aberdeen Journal reported that he had been awarded the DSO “in recognition of the conspicuous gallantry and ability he displayed on 11 November 1914 on the Ypres-Menin Road when, after his senior officer had been killed, he commanded his company with great success”, commenting that he had been already twice mentioned in dispatches.
At the time of his death, on 9 May 1915 at the age of 38, Davidson was serving with the 1st Battalion Seaforth Highlanders in an attempt to breach the German front line by an assault on Aubers Ridge in the Battle of Neuve-Chapelle. The Battalion War Diary of the day describes repeated unsuccessful attempts to make an assault on the enemy trenches, under heavy Maxim and rifle fire, following a largely ineffectual bombardment (with some shells falling on the friendly side of the German lines). This culminated in an order to withdraw, “seeing that the task was not feasible and the men had lost most of their officers”. During this action, between 5am and 2pm, the battalion suffered 138 fatalities, including Capt. Davidson, and 356 men were wounded.
In a letter to the bereaved parents, Capt. Davidson’s Colonel wrote: “He was twice wounded in the advance, but still went on until he finally fell still leading his company. He was a good officer and a great favourite, and was much loved by officers and men. We miss him very much. He was a gallant fellow…..It was he who led us in everything, no matter what; and Ritchie told me it was Hamlyn who reached the German trenches, in the fore front as usual. The 1st Bttn. have lost their bravest and most gallant officer, and his brother officers their dearest pal…..I and others of the two battns. who knew and loved your son so well, grieve with you in your great loss. A brother officer tells me that the moment he crossed the parapet they came under heavy machine gun fire. He was hit, got up again, hit again; and again up at the head of what remained of his company. Then he was hit again and fell near the German trenches, and he could not or would not retire”.
Capt. Davidson is commemorated at the Le Touret Memorial, on the Banchory War Memorial, and by a memorial stone within the grounds of Inchmarlo. His younger brother Major Leslie Evan Outram Davidson served in the Royal Field Artillery. He was awarded the DSO for gallant conduct in September 1914, and survived the war.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Censuses 1881 and 1891
Register of births – Hemline on his birth certificate but later sometimes Hamlyn
Free BND index at http://www.findmypast.com
National Archives – War Diary of the 1st Bn Seaforth Highlanders WO95/3941/1
De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour
Harrow Memorials of the Great War &
Harrow School Roll of Honour at http://www.harrowschool-ww1.org.uk
Anne Park: Banchory War Memorial (Aberdeen & North-East Family History Society 2003)
Margie Trewin & Edgar Trewin: The Inchmarlo Story (1998)
Many local newspaper reports on Davidson family including but not limited to:
Aberdeen Journal 1 April 1898 – very full and detailed report of the coming of age “Rejoicings on the estate – Dinner to the tenantry”;
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 6 April 1898 – shorter report of the coming of age party:
Aberdeen Journal 20 February 1915 – reporting on DSO
Aberdeen Evening Express 17 May 1915
Scotsman 17 May 1915
Newcastle Journal 20 May 1915
Aberdeen Weekly Journal 21 May 1915 – photo
Aberdeen Evening Express 24 December 1915 – left personal estate of £4,629 of which £50 in Scotland
Aberdeen Journal 15 March 1919 – father’s obituary.
