William Fleming Peebles was born on the 9th December 1885 in Chennai, India (then known as Madras). He was the son of John Haughton Peebles and his wife, Katherine (Kate), born in Glasgow and in Gourock respectively, but married in India in 1879.
He had three brothers, Robert (possibly known as Eric, his middle name, b.1883), Archibald (b.1888), John (b ?).
He was educated at Clifton College, Bristol (1898 to 1903) and at Balliol College, Oxford (1904 to 1905). Photo credit to Alan Earnshaw via Ancestry.co.uk family tree:
Before the war he was employed by Arbuthnot & Co., a name that means little to us today. It was a major British bank in the city of Chennai but made bad investments and collapsed in 1906 (link to Wikipedia page). The establishment of Indian banks in response would lay another foundation for the eventual independence of India. William can hardly have been employed by the time this happened, and it is not clear whether he continued to work for a small ‘rump’ of the company or whether he moved on to other jobs.
When war broke out he enlisted in the Glasgow Yeomanry in September 1914 (Milngavie and Bearsden Herald 9th October 1914):
As a second lieutenant (the most junior officer rank), he joined the 10th Battalion, the Border Regiment in January 1915. Photo credit to Alan Earnshaw via Ancestry.co.uk family tree:
He served at Gallipoli, in Egypt, and in Mesopotamia, where he was wounded (Oxford Chronicle 21st April 1916):
He was put in charge of a camp for training officers in Yorkshire, but in 1917 – either at his wish or The Army’s – he was assigned to the 5th Battalion, the Wiltshire Regiment. Maybe this did not please him because he was then assigned to the 113th Company of the Machine Gun Corps, the specialist troops using Lewis guns who would have been allocated to frontline battalions for specific tasks such as supporting an attack. Photo credit Balliol College War Memorial Book, via rflory of The Great War Forum:
I can find out very little about the circumstances of his death on 30th April 1917. From the company war diary we know the 113th was in the Lancashire Farm Sector, just north of Ypres:
The red circle at the top of the photo shows the approximate position of Lancashire Farm, with Ypres at the bottom of the photo.
However, the company’s war diary for that day itself says:
“Intermittent shelling on both sides during the day. Intense bombardment opened by our artillery and TRENCH MORTARS on C14a and C14b. Raid by 15th Battalion WELSH REGIMENT. Artllery on both sides died down by 1.35am.” So it seems likely that he was fatally injured or killed outright either by a shell explosion or possibly rifle fire.
He is buried at Essex Farm Cemetery which was established next a casualty clearing station (shown on map above).
His parents did not propose any words to include on his headstone.
This is the cemetery where John McRae wrote the poem “In Flanders Field”.
It’s not clear when William was in Bearsden. As we have seen he had completed university by 1905 and it was not until after that time that his parents moved there. They are not listed in the 1905 Valuation Roll, but they lived in Roman Road in the 1911 Census:
Their house, Enmore, did not change its name before 1940 so can confidently be identified as number 28:
Enmore on Google Street View, the right hand one of the two houses. Note the small whate building which was a ‘motor garage’ in the 1911 Census.
In the 1915 Valuation Roll William’s parents had moved to Chapelton Terrace on Drymen Road, and in the 1920 Valuation Roll they had left, seemingly for Cheltenham.
I acknowledge the help of The Great War Forum in preparing this profile, especially the person with the username rflory (link).