Hendry Noble
1st/5th (Buchan & Formartin) Battalion, Gordon Highlanders
Died 19th March 1917 age 20
Private H. Noble – Gordon Hrs.
This is Hendry (with a ‘d’) Noble, born at *Drumlausie, Kincardine O’Neil, on 19 March 1895. His parents were David Noble, master millwright and engineer and a native of Midmar, and Elizabeth Hendry, born at Rayne. They married at Daviot in 1887 when both were living at Monymusk, and David was a journeyman millwright and Elizabeth a domestic servant. In 1901, at Drumlaussie, Hendry aged 6 had four brothers, two sisters, and a half-brother George Castle aged 8, who was a son of Elizabeth and stepson of David. In 1911 Hendry’s mother and siblings were registered at Drumlaussie, and it seems reasonably likely that he was the sixteen-year-old Henry (spelt without a “d”) employed as a cattleman on the farm next door at Smith’s Croft.
Hendry Noble resided in Aberdeen at the time of enlistment, in the last months of the war on 24 May 1918, in what became an amalgamated battalion of the 6th and 7th Gordon Highlanders (No. S/24067). In October 1918 the 6th/7th Gordons became part of the 152nd brigade of the 51st Highland Division. That month they were deployed in operations on the Western Front in the advance towards Valenciennes. The battalion War Diary gives considerable detail as to their movements.
Private Noble was killed in action on 25 October 1918 but the precise circumstances are unclear. The Aberdeen Evening Express, on the day of the Armistice 11 November 1918, added a little detail: “Killed in action by the concussion of a shell, on 30 October 1918 [actually 25 October], Private Hendry Noble…fourth son of Mr and Mrs Noble, Drumlassie, Torphins”. He is buried at Valenciennes (Saint-Roch) Communal Cemetery.
* The spelling of this place name seems almost infinitely variable, and in this note the various spellings in the particular documentary sources are adhered to.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commssion
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Register of births
Census 1901 and 1911
National Archives– War Diary of the 6th/7th Gordon Highlanders WO95/2868/2
Aberdeen Evening Express 11 November 1918
Aberdeen City Roll of Honour gives and address of 28 Maberly Street, Aberdeen
http://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/umits/254/gordon-highlanders
