Joseph Paton

Military Information

  • Date of enlistment:
  • Place of enlistment: Barry Camp, Monifieth
  • Service no: 9799
  • Rank: Private
  • Service Occupation:
  • Awards:
  • Regiment/Service: Highland Light Infantry
  • Unit/Ship: 2nd Battalion
  • Place of Death: Belgium
  • Age at Death:
  • Date of Death: 06.11.1914
  • Burial Country: Belgium
  • Cemetery: Oosttaverne Wood Cemetery
  • Grave/Mem Ref no: I.H.31.

Personal Information

  • Date of Birth:
  • Place of Birth: Dundee
  • Address: 111 Hawkhill, Dundee
  • Occupation:
  • Mother:
  • Father:
  • Siblings:
  • Spouse:

    Elizabeth Paton, Hawkhill, Dundee

  • Children:

    John, 26.01.1914 – 26.04.1918

More about Joseph Paton

Joseph Paton   9799   Highland Light Infantry

FOR KING AND COUNTRY

DUNDEE SOLDIER KILLED AT THE FRONT.

The intimation of Private Paton’s death came in a most pathetic way.  The ladies’ work party of Tay Square U.F. Church, of which he was a zealous member, had sent him a parcel of comforts, and he wrote a grateful letter of thanks to the minister, Mr Mansie.  “I am sure,” he said, “they could not have come at a better time, as the winter is now setting in, and we can feel the cold at nights sitting in the trenches.  I trust it won’t be long until I am home again, and then I shall thank the work party personally.  When I do come home I shall have a lot to tell.”

On the back of this letter was scrawled a few words over the signature of an officer :―”I regret to inform you that since writing the above Private Paton has been killed.

About the same time his friends also received a cheerful letter, but it bore the same tragic postscript.  Private Paton was only married a year ago, and he leaves a widow with one child.  He was a reservist, and was called out soon after the outbreak of war.  As already indicated, he was a member of Tay Square U.F. Church, and was an earnest and conscientious worker.

Dundee People’s Journal 21st November 1914

Additional information and image kindly supplied by Michael Caldwell, grave marker image courtesy of International War Graves Project.

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