On 20th August 1915, The Courier reported on the death of a young Dundee Kitchener volunteer.
15865 Pte. Alexander Whyte Cumming, 12th Royal Scots was born in Denny, Stirlingshire, but lived with his parents at 20 Annfield Street. He was shot by a sniper on 26th July, and died three days later. He was 19 years old.
Pte. Cumming is buried in Lillers Communal Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France.YOUTHFUL DUNDEE SOLDIER FALLS VICTIM TO A GERMAN SNIPER. A Dundee member of Kitchener’s Army has fallen a victim to a German sniper. He is Private Alexander Cumming, attached to the 12th Battalion Royal Sots, and his mother, who resides at 22 Annfield Road, Dundee, has received official intimation of his death on 29th July.
Private Cumming’s platoon commander, in a letter to Mrs Cumming, writes:
“Your son was in my platoon, and a very fine specimen of asoldier he was. While he was doing duty in the first-line trench he had the most unsatisfactory experience in this war of being sniped. He died three days after admission to hospital, never having regained consciousness.”
Pte. Cumming was shot in the head. He enlisted in the 12th Royal Scots (Kitchener’s Army) at the outbreak of war. He was only 19 years of age, and was previously employed as a butcher. The Courier, Friday, 20 August 1915, 6.