Could someone help with this chap please col.t.w.macdonald border regiment

I have googled this chap but can't find anything on him if anyone could assist please so i can put more details on my thread please

 

He was Capt and Adjt of the 5th (Cumberland) Bn from 17 Nov 13 according to:

5th Battalion, Border Regiment Army List 1914 - Border Regiment Wiki

He is decrribed as 'late of the Borders' at the funeral at St Bees of Chaplain Harold Watson RACD attached 7th Border Regt in November 1941; he is not on CWGC.

Roxy

PS Oops. Too slow!

 

Hello Diane yes that is all i could find also have tried everything that i no how to but there seems nothing on him at all and if i am correct i no it is bad to reads but at the end of his name is that not DSO ? at the end or am i just imagining it bit thans for looking and Roxy also looking for me theres one thing i have noticed on this forum you have to be bloody fast cheers

 

thats ok then thought i was barking up the wrong tree again so if he was awarded a DSO you would think there should be something on him at least

 

thanks Diane for doing this much appreciated

 

various monthly Army List mentions...

Army List July 1911 - lieutenant (15 March 1907) 1st or 2nd Bn - (Bn adjutant 2nd Dec '08)
Army List August 1914 - Lieutenant (15th March 1907) 1st or 2nd Borders (5th Bn adjutant (attachd) 17 Nov 1913)
Army List January 1915 - Captain (3rd Nov 1914) 1st or 2nd Bn Borders
Army List June 1915 - Captain (3rd Nov 1914) 1st or 2nd Bn Borders
Army List Oct 1916 - Captain (3rd Nov 1914) 1st or 2nd Border Regt - attchd 7th ELR
Army List Dec 1917 - Captain (3rd Nov 1914) 1st or 2nd Bn Borders
Army List dec 1918 - Captain - DSO - 1st or 2nd battalion

DSO gazetted 3rd June 1918

 

...and here he is in the April-June 1940 Quarterly Army list (2nd part...he's also regimentally listed in the first part, but I don't have that one!) as part of the Cumberland territorial association...

Dave

 

he was also mentioned in despatches twice... gazetted on 1st January 1916 and 4th January 1917.

Dave

 

Hello dave thanks for the reply

 

See Whitehaven News June 24th 1915 for report of him being wounded in the thigh in June 1915. Mentioned in despatches 1 Jan 1916, 4 Jan 1917 and 20 May 1918, DSO. To France 25.10.14 with 5 Border as Adjt. Leave France 8.6.15 to 15.6.15 and to England 20.6.15. He was from Cockermouth. Love to know where his medals are??!!

 

Hello jawan thanks for that do i just google the WHITEHAVEN NEWS for the dates or do you no a better way thanks again

 

I have read with interest all the comments regarding my grandfather Colonel T W MacDonald, DSO DL, and can add a little family history to fill in the gaps.
Thomas Wilson MacDonald was born in 1884, son of a distiller and merchant in Glasgow. He attended Sedbergh School in Lupton House from 1898-1903, and joined The Border Regiment as Second Lieutenant of the 3rd Cumberland Battalion (militia) on 3rd December 1904. He served in the 2nd Bn in Burma 1904-05 and in South Africa 1905-1907. He became First Lieutenant 15th March 1907, serving in the UK 1907-1914. He was adjutant to the 2nd Bn from 1908-11, and adjutant (now Captain) to the 5th Bn (Territorial Bn) in 1913 – a post he held when they were mobilised at Workington, Cumbria on August 14th 1914.
The 5th Bn arrived at Le Havre in October 1914, part of the troops under General Stopford. Captain MacDonald appears in various mentions during 1915: a gas attack which repulsed the enemy but led to severe loss, and in June, at Hooge, he is mentioned as the 149th were told to improve the situation with the Germans occupying a salient.
During his distinguished war service in France, he was successively Staff Captain, 1916; Brigade Major, 1917-18; gassed, 1915; wounded in the thigh at Hooge, June 1915; mentioned three times in dispatches, 11/1/16, 4/1/17 and 20/5/18; and he received his DSO at Buckingham Palace in Spring 1918. The document for this is signed by Winston Churchill.
He was married to Mary (Molly) Jefferson and lived at Hundith Hill, Lorton Road, Cockermouth, Cumbria (now a hotel). She died from Spanish flu and subsequently he married Mary (May) Murray Dickson (my grandmother). He had two daughters, Miriam and Kathleen Mary, from his first marriage and two sons, Thomas William Ruthven (my father) and David Neville, from his second. After his second marriage, he lived in Sway, Hampshire and Annan, Dumfries and Galloway before returning to Cumbria where he lived successively in Bassenthwaite, Bridekirk and Cockermouth.
He retired from the regular army in 1922 and, with the rank of Major, was appointed to the reserve of officers. In 1928 he was second in command of the 5th Bn and later, commander from 1932 – 1938 and becoming Brevet Colonel in 1936. He commanded the 7th Bn in 1939 and the 9th Bn in 1940. He was based at Workington Drill Hall, forming new Companies/recruits to go to war. He retired in 1944 aged 60 and died in 1948 aged 63.
He also served his local community: as Deputy Lieutenant of Cumberland, a county and Urban District councillor and President of Rotary. He was one of four brothers: Alan, a Brigadier in the Royal Artillery; John, a Captain, killed and buried in Gallipoli whilst serving with The Highland Light Infantry; and David, a Doctor in Glasgow. He had a sister Elizabeth who moved to Melbourne, Australia.
Both his sons followed him to Sedbergh School. My father, T W R MacDonald, joined the Royal Artillery, served in India in the late 40s and later became commanding officer of the Workington TA, achieving the rank of Major. In August 1950 he was selected to carry the 5th Battalion colours when they were marched out of Workington to Carlisle Cathedral with full military honours. The colours were marched around Workington, headed by the band of the Border Regiment, and the Regiment were given special dispensation to march with ‘bands playing, bayonets fixed and colours flying’. Colonel MacDonald’s youngest son, D N MacDonald, followed him into the Border Regiment in November 1953, 1st Bn, and was posted to Suez in 1954 and later to Germany.
Colonel MacDonald’s medals and WWl dispatches are with the Border Regiment museum at Carlisle Castle. Although not on display at the moment due to limitation of space, I have been advised that when the move to the Alma project is complete, they should be featured.
I hope this helps piece together some of the facts. As a family we are extremely proud of our grandfather’s achievements and hope future generations will continue to remember him.
Andrew MacDonald

 

Colonel TW MacDonald DSO DL Miniatures

 

Welcome Andrew and great posts !

 

Hi Andrew.

Thank you for posting all that extra information and also your grandfather's picture.

Jules.

 

Quite superb photos, Andrew. Welcome to the forum.

 

Welcome to the forum, Andrew.