Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

NoK Edwin L Watson, c/o Waldie, & Co, Konnagar, Calcutta, India.

His Address at time of enlisting: 8 Craig End St; Darlinghurst, Sydney, NSW.

Embarkation papers Age 32.

Died of Wounds Gallipoli aged 35.

He is one of three former pupils of Mackie Academy  in Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire who served with Australian forces and are remembered on the Honour Board there. 

Mackie Academy is a now a secondary school in Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire. The school was founded in 1893 thanks to the generosity of a local merchant, William Mackie, who bequeathed money in his will to establish a school in Stonehaven.

Today, the feeder primary schools are Arduthie, Bervie, Catterline, Dunnottar, Glenbervie, Gourdon, Johnshaven, Kinneff, Lairhillock, and Mill O'Forest.

Robert was the elder of the three sons of Charles France Watson and Florence Watson, (nee Longstaff),  late of Somerset House, and he was the nephew of Mrs. Owen, the wife of the Bishop of St. David's, and raised by her,who lived at Abergwili Palace. Robert had emigrated to Australia some years prior to the outbreak of war, and enlisted at Sydney on 17 August 1914 into the 4th Battalion, Australian Imperial Force. The battalion was part of the 1st Brigade, 1st Australian Division, and sailed for the Mediterranean on 20 October 1914. After training at Mena Camp, Cairo, the 1st Australian Division were shipped to Mudros Island, and from there took part in the landings on Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. Robert was wounded in the desperate days following the landing, and was shipped to the Hospital at Alexandria for treatment. He died of his wounds on 9 May 1915, aged 35, and is buried at Alexandria (Chatby) Military Cemetery, Egypt. Surprisingly, although there are Australian casualties honoured on the Abergwili War Memorial he is not commemorated locally. The Village of Abergwili sits just to the east of Carmarthen, on the A40 leading out of Town towards Builth Wells. On the main street sits a War Memorial in the style of a Celtic Cross, carved from granite, which remembers the men and one woman of the Village who gave their lives during both World Wars. 

His brother, Joseph Longstaff Watson, was killed with Canadian forces.

He was a  Lieutenant in the  Canadian Infantry and was born on 4 May 1891 at Banchory, Scotland, the youngest son of Charles France Watson and Florence Watson. His parents died when he was just 13, and Joseph and his brother went to live with their aunt, Mrs. Owen, the wife of the Bishop of St. Davids, at Abergwili Palace. Joseph enlisted at Victoria, British Columbia, on 9 February 1915, in the 16th Battalion (Manitoba), Canadian Infantry, part of 3 Brigade, 1st Canadian Division. Joseph would have been in France by June 1915, and probably fought at Givenchy that month. In 1916, the 1st Canadian Division fought at Mount Sorrel, south of Ypres, before being brought south to the Somme, fighting at Flers-Courcelette, Thiepval, Le Transloy and the Ancre Heights. In 1917 they played a big part in the famous capture of Vimy Ridge, and the Battles of Arleux and the Scarpe, before moving north again, to take part in the Second Battle of Passchendaele from 26 October onwards. Joseph was killed in action, aged 26, on 8 November 1917. He is buried at Tyne Cot Military Cemetery.