And then there are the men about whom so little can be discovered. Even the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website can provide little information about one such soldier buried in Radnor Street Cemetery.
Andrew died in the Isolation Hospital, Gorse Hill on September 11, 1915. The cemetery burial registers record that he was buried on September 14, 1915 in grave plot B1769, a public plot where he lies with two others. His headstone displays the regimental badge of the Royal Engineers and his regimental number, but there are no personal details – not his age nor a few words chosen by his family.*
Andrew Lowe Young was born in Longforgan, Perth and Kinross, Scotland in about 1890. The UK World War I Pensions Ledgers and Index Cards 1914-1923 reveal that he left a widow, Elizabeth Young and an illegitimate stepchild, John Binett Gillatley born April 25, 1905, but even this information is not enough to reveal more about the young soldier’s life and times.
Andrew enlisted at Dundee and served in the 205th (1st Dundee) Field Company, Royal Engineers, raised in March 1915 as part of Kitchener’s 5th New Army. The 35th Division included units known as “Bantams”; soldiers who were under the minimum regulation height of 5ft 3ins, so perhaps Andrew was of small statue.
We can see from the headstone that Andrew served as a Pioneer, but what is that exactly? The extensive network of trenches across the battlefields of France and Flanders were dug by infantry regiments’ own pioneer battalions, however, it would seem that Andrew probably never saw service overseas. In August 1915 the 35th Division moved to Salisbury Plain with headquarters in Marlborough. Further moves during that month were made to the training camp at Chiseldon, which may explain why Andrew ended up in Swindon’s Isolation Hospital after he took ill.
Andrew was about 26 years old when he died as a result of his military service.
*more information might be available on the death certificate but we do not have funds to purchase the certificates of everyone we research.
Radnor Street Cemetery 