Stewart J S 2nd Lt 5th Argyll And Sutherland Highlanders
STEWART, JOHN STEWART, 2nd Lieut. and Signalling Officer, 1/5th Battn. Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (T.F.), only s. of William Stewart, of Benview, Gourock, M.B., C.M., D.P.H., M.O.H., by his wife, Margaret, dau. of the late John Kirkland, of Rutherglen; b. Gourock, co. Renfrew, 20 Oct. 1894; educ. Greenock Academy, and Glasgow University (where he was in the O.T.C.), and was studying medicine when war broke out in Aug. 1914. He was given a commission in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders as a 2nd Lieut., 6 Nov. 1914; went to the Dardanelles, 1 June, 1915, and died on H.M. Hospital Ship Rewa, 15 July following, from wounds received in action after the charge at Achi Baba on the 13th; unm.
Major Clapperton-Stewart, 1/5th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, wrote: “We had a very bad time on 12 July, and all the officers and men did well, but none better than John. He had a lot of dangerous and important work, getting the telephones across, and he did it well and fearlessly, coming through the attack unhurt. He was wounded on the head next morning by a sniper at 6 a.m. He is a boy with great backbone and lots of character and I do hope has been spared, but if not, your boy at least played the man”; and a friend: “You have a great sorrow in losing your son, but you have a great deal to help you to bear it, for everyone that speaks of your dear boy has some act of kindness to tell you he had done for them.” A tribute from the Ashton U.F. Church, Gourock, by the Rev. George Rae, M.A., states: “Lieut. Stewart, who has given his life in the service of his country in the cause of Justice and Righteousness, was known to most of us from his youth up, and by all who knew him highly esteemed. He was a singularly pure-minded and clean living young man; one who wore the white flower of a blameless life. He was also of a singularly lovable nature, a son of whom any parents might be proud. Having resolved to enter the medical profession he was quietly pursuing his studies when war broke out, preparing to save men’s lives and not destroy them, but a sense of duty compelled him to give up what promised to be a successful medical career to serve his country, as a soldier in her hour of need. To his military training he gave himself in the same whole-hearted manner that he had done whatever he undertook. He had a brief bright life. He died from wounds received in battle at the Dardanelles. His warfare is accomplished yet over such a death there rests, with mystic brightness, the graciousness of the sacrifice.”
Source : De Ruvigny’s Roll Of Honour Vol 1