Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders Memorial

The large and imposing memorial is to the 8th Battalion Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, and is in the form of a massive Celtic Cross. The site for the memorial  is located very near to where the Battalion HQ was in 1916. The French landowner gave the land on nominal terms and on Sunday the 4th of March 1923, the memorial was unveiled by the Duke of Argyll. An officer and 20 other ranks from the battalion, plus French representatives including the Mayor of Beaumont Hamel, attended the ceremony, at which pipers played.

The memorial  stands 27 feet high, with eight panels around the base, four larger ones on each cardinal face plus a smaller one at each corner. The front panel has an inscription in Gaelic, shown in the right hand photo above.

 

On the 13th of November 1916, the 8th Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders were part of the 51st (Highland) Division, and they attacked from a position slightly ahead of that of the 1st of July. The second mine in the Hawthorn Crater was blown, this time just before Zero Hour. The leading troops here met with strong German resistance, but took the village.