More about Adam Todd

This man was residing in Dundee when he enlisted in the Army.

Some fowk Dinnae huv ony luck

9604 Pte Adam Todd Royal Scots

Adam was born in Canongate Edinburgh to parents William Todd and Agnes Todd nee Blyth  and he had been a Special Reserve soldier with the Royal Scots from 1908,  Thereafter he remained on the special reserve,  attending Annual Training until he was mobilised from the Reserve on 8 Aug 1914.

Adam’s connection to Dundee goes back to around 1900 or so when he moves from Edinburgh to find work in Dundee.  Initially employed as a Labourer Adam enlists in the “Special Reserve” of his home Regiment,  The Royal Scots,  and is attested to that Bn on 9 August 1908.   Some might wonder why this might be the case when locally to Dundee we had the 3^rd Volunteer Bn Royal Highlanders which in 1908 became the 4^th (City of Dundee), Bn Black Watch, Territorial Force.   We can speculate on why Adam chose to go to the Royal Scots and the fact that it was the Regiment local to his place of birth  might be an important influencer.   Another influencing feature might be that the Special Reserve had a lesser time commitment that did the Territorial Force and as such Adam will have had to undergo basic training in the first year,  be a specialist reservist ready to augment the Regular Battalions in time of conflict and also to present annually for a period of training in exchange for all this which he was paid a daily rate of pay for time spent in basic and annual training and additional bounty of £2 per annum.   Whereas the Territorial Force required that level of time commitment plus attendance at drill sessions so the time commitment was greater.  Moreover,   when initially conceived,  the Territorial Force was almost exclusively designed for Home Service with only those willing volunteers committing to service overseas should the need arise and such volunteers wore a  “For Imperial Service”  above the Right Breast pocket of the uniform tunic

His connection to Dundee is reinforced when he marries Elizabeth Donnelly the daughter of a local Jute Batcher in 1904.   Between then and 1908 they go on to have 3 Children,  Adam born in January 1906,  Agnes Born in Feb 1907 and Elizabeth born in May 1908.   Throughout this time and up to commencement of the Great War they reside in North Tay Street variously at numbers 23 and 27.  Also during this period Adam continues with his commitment to the Special Reserve Bn of the Royal Scots and his service record shows he presents annually for his training commitments.   He does however change his employment and becomes a licensed pedlar,  presumably to derive a better income to support his growing family

Such then is that period of family stability before what can best be described as period of sustained misfortune for Adam. Even before his war begins his misfortune starts.   His youngest child, Elizabeth at the tender age of just 4 years and 7 months dies in Hospital at Dundee Royal Infirmary from Meningitis.  This will have been a significant blow to both him and his wife and this was compounded just a few days later as his wife Elizabeth dies in Dundee Royal Infirmary in January 1913 from Puerperal Peritonitis ,  which in lay terms means a serious womb infection linked to pregnancy or following miscarriage.  This double whammy of misfortune for Adam occurs  at a time when antibiotics had not yet been discovered and where such serious infections carried a very high mortality and indeed both  Elizabeth’s succumbed.

Being a reservist he is called to mobilise as soon as War is declared and having made arrangements for his children’s care  he is at Glencorse Bks in Edinburgh on 5^th August 1914 and undergoes refresher training to equip him for war service.

Now having completed his refresher training and being a special reservist Adam sets out for the BEF and is posted to the Regular Army 2^nd Bn Royal Scots in October 1914 and shortly after arriving he is present with his Bn at the First Battle of La Bassee in October / November 1914 where,  in November 1914,   he is wounded,  recorded in some documentation as a Gunshot Wound to his Right hand but is later described accurately as a bayonet wound to the hand.   He is treated initially at 8 Fd Amb then 13 Stat Hospital and finally evacuated to UK where after his wound had healed he was posted back to his Depot Bn,  3^rd Reserve Bn R Scots on 28 January 1915 to continue his convalescence.

Convalescence complete Adam again departs for the BEF on 16 March 1915 rejoining his Bn and is now in A Coy of the 2^nd  Bn R Scots where when serving with his Bn in the Ypres Salient he is again wounded,  this time with a Gunshot Wound to his Left foot  on 16 June 1915.   Again he is initially treated in the  BEF before being evacuated on 19 June 1915 to UK for further treatment.

 On completion of his treatment he is again posted to 3^rd Reserve Bn to continue his Convalescence and be given some home leave.   This is where Adam falls foul of Military Discipline in that despite an unblemished,   if perhaps unlucky,   military career so far he absents himself without leave from 25 Sept to 2^nd Oct 1915,  following his approved home leave period

Interestingly,  it is during this period of Absence without Leave that Adam re-marries,  Elizabeth Keith,   in Bromley Kent on 29 Sept 1915.   The minutiae of this is somewhat mysterious,  Had they met and been known to each other previously ??  Could they have met during one of Adam’s periods of hospitalisations after being evacuated from the BEF ??   Might they have met after Adam’s first period in hospital when 3^rd Bn were temporarily based in Weymouth down the South Coast from Kent  ??

Speculation aside,  Adam and Elizabeth marry and Elizabeth is subsequently noted living in  Church Street Dundee and it appears the 2 surviving children,  (Adam and Agnes),  live with her

Returning to Adam and his war service,  after completing his 5 days confined to barracks and forfeiture of 7 days pay in respect of his AWOL period he is again posted to the BEF arriving with 12^th Reinforcement Bn on 23 October 1915 where after a very brief period of just a few weeks he is hospitalised again,  this time with Lumbago and is again evacuated to UK on HMHS Cambria from Boulogne on 27 Nov 1915

Having successfully recovered from his period of Lumbago Adam is yet again posted back to the BEF disembarking in France on 3 April 1916 at No 3 Infantry Base Depot where he develops Influenza and is again hospitalised in 30 Gen Hospital Rouen, for a few days in mid April 1916  before being discharged to duty on 21 April.  However,  Adam,  for some reason decides to enjoy some free time in Rouen and does not re-join 3 Infantry Base Depot until 27 May 1916.   Yet again he forfeits pay for 7 days and again falls foul of the military disciplinary sanctions.

Seeing out his time in 3 IBD Adam is again posted to his Bn in the field,  joining the 2^nd Bn Royal Scots on 8 June 1916 and just 6 weeks later he is killed in action on the Somme Near Longueval on 22 July 1916

Adam is among the very many who have no Known resting place and he is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme and on the Online Somme Roll of Honour