Old Travel Photograph Market Square Bo'ness Scotland

Old travel photograph of people standing in the Market Square in Bo'ness in West Lothian, Scotland. Henry Mareus " Harcus " Strachan, was born in Bo'ness on 7 November 1884. He was a Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for valour in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He attended the Royal High School, Edinburgh and the University of Edinburgh before emigrating to Canada in 1905. He homesteaded a farm in the Chauvin district, near Wainwright, Alberta. Strachan joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force in July 1915. He was 33 years of age, and serving in the First World War with the Canadian Cavalry Brigade as a lieutenant in The Fort Garry Horse, when he performed the action for which he was awarded the VC. It has become traditional for the Garrys to hold a Regimental dinner every year on the anniversary of Strachan's unlikely cavalry exploit. The acton occurred during the Battle of Cambrai. It occurred on 20 November 1917 at Masnières, France, after Lieutenant Strachan took command of the mounted squadron of Garrys when his commanding officer, 'B' Squadron leader Captain Campbell, was killed by machine gun fire. Strachan led his squadron through an enemy line of machine gun posts and then, with his surviving men, led a charge on the German battery, killing seven of the gunners with his sword. When all the gunners were killed and the battery silenced, he rallied his men and fought his way back at night on foot through the enemy's lines, bringing all unwounded men safely in, together with 15 prisoners. Strachan, having been promoted to captain, received his VC from King George V on January 6, 1918. After the war, he returned to his farm in the Chauvin district, Alberta. He went into banking. By 1930, he had moved to Calgary. In the 1930s he married Betsy Stirling and they had a daughter Jean. Strachan later commanded the 1st Battalion, Edmonton Fusiliers during the Second World War. After the war he retired and moved to Vancouver. Strachan eventually attained the rank of lieutenant colonel. Strachan died on 1 May 1982, at the age of 97 years and 175 days, the record longest-lived recipient of the Victoria Cross. His ashes were scattered near the Rose Garden Columbarium at Boal Chapel Memorial Gardens in North Vancouver, British Columbia on 5 May. In September 2013 a lake in Manitoba was named "Harcus Strachan Lake" to commemorate his award of the Victoria Cross



All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

View the most recent Tour Scotland photographs.