Of all the First World War names on the Bearsden War Memorial, Harold Stewart McDonald was the youngest on the day war was declared, being just a few months past his 15th birthday.
He was born on 10th May 1899 at a villa called Glencoe on Thorn Road, possibly number 31.
His father, William, had married Marion Alexander Stewart in 1892. William was a grain merchant and Harold had an older sister and brother, Minnie and William.
At some point in the early 1900s, the family moved to West Chapelton Avenue and took the villa name with them
So young was Harold when he died, that all the Milngavie and Bearsden Herald could find was a list of the places he had been educated or trained (4th October):
In September 1918 Harold was a Second-Lieutenant in the 6th Battalion, Scottish Rifles (the Cameronians) but at the time attached to the 1st Battalion.
The division was due to attack from the area around Etricourt towards Villers-Guislain:
On 21st September the attack started at 05.40 with Harold’s battalion one of two leading their brigade. They were met with “intense machine gun fire and were held up by uncut wire”. The reserve company was sent in but could not help. A major took reserves forward but was wounded. The remnants of the battalion were collected under two remaining officers, a lieutenant and a second lieutenant and withdrawn. Harold is listed as one of those killed.
He is buried at Targelle Ravine British Cemetery, Villers-Guilain.
His mother chose the single word “Darling” for his headstone.
His older brother, William, was also an army officer on the Western Front:
