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Pte. Magnus Mackay
British Army 11th Btn. Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
from:Scullomie, by Tongue, Sutherland
(d.19th March 1916)
My great uncle Magnus Mackay was the second youngest son of Alexander and Isabella Mackay who had a croft in Scullomie in Sutherland. Two sisters had died in childhood but he had eight brothers, six of whom served in the forces during WW1.
Aged 16 and lying about his age, Magnus enlisted in November 1914. His friend Peter Burr from Tongue signed as his witness. He initially joined the 13th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders but was sent to France late in 1915 and transferred to the 11th Battalion.
In March 1916 the 11th was in reserve trenches near Loos village, probably feeling relatively safe. Magnus and four others who were guarding a bomb store were killed when enemy shellfire hit the store. Magnus was buried in Loos British Cemetery with his comrades. His grave is P9, Row G, Gr20.
Sadly two other brothers died later in the war - Donald in Egypt in February 1917 and Angus in Darmstadt Hospital, Germany in May 1917 from wounds received at Arras. As his parents Alexander and Isabella had lost three sons in the war they were asked, along with Mrs Robert Mackay and Mrs Burr (who had each lost two sons) to unveil the war memorial in Tongue in 1921. (This information is from Never More by Alasdair Sutherland.)
