Family :

Service Life:

Campaigns:

• The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.

Actions in Spring 1916 covers a number of non specific actions on the Western Front in the period February to the end of June 1916. Much of this period concerned the build up to the Battle of the Somme, particularly the acclimatisation of the Service Battalions (Kitchener Volunteers) to trench routine. As the Battle of the Somme occupied the plans for 1916 no significant efforts were made in other sectors. Many of the casualties could be considered 'routine'. During the period December to June 1916 5845 British soldiers died in 'minor trench operations'.

Detail :

Captain Fitzherbert Price BUCHANAN was killed in Sanctuary Wood to the South of Hooge and the Menin Road as part of the continuing operations in the Mount Sorrel sector. Sanctuary Wood was by this time a wood in name only. Such trees as stood were riven and leafless, while their fallen branches added to the maze of wire and trenches beneath. The air was heavy with a sickening odour of decay, so that the whole battered district, even by day, was a place of grisly horror and evil omen. At night weird shadows and strange sounds the hoot of an owl, or the cough of a hidden sentry intensified this aspect a hundred fold. War, however, is full of such fanciful things. Men who can face shell fire, gas and all the horrors of a modern engagement are supposedly immune from what the inexperienced term childish fears, yet more than one officer whose gallantry in action is un questioned has admitted that when alone at night in Sanctuary Wood his heart would beat uncomfortably fast and that human companionship was more than ordinarily welcome. The first two days of the Battalion s tour in this area were comparatively uneventful, but at 4 a.m. on June 27th the enemy loosed one of those heavy and concentrated shoots for which this part of the line was famous. Guns of all calibres and heavy trench mortars were used and caused great damage to the Highlanders front line and support. In addition the enemy laid down a shrapnel barrage on all roads and paths by which reinforcements might reach the front line, paying special attention to the Observatory Ridge Road under which, in a support trench, Capt. F. P. Buchanan had his dugout. Capt. Buchanan, one of the original officers of the 13th, had remained in England in command of the Base Company when the Battalion proceeded to France. Later he rejoined the main section and served at the front during the latter part of 1915. Illness then compelled him to return to England, but, on recovering his health, he had come back to the Battalion once more and at the time of the bombardment now being described was serving as O.C. of No. 4 Coy. Leaving his dugout to ascertain what effect the bombardment was having and whether, or not, the enemy was using it to screen an attack, Capt. Buchanan was struck on the head by a shrapnel shell and instantly killed. During that same hour Major C. J. Smith, another original officer, was killed when a heavy trench mortar shell scored a direct hit on the steel-lined dugout in which he had established his Company Headquarters. The War diary mentions that Captain Buchanan was buried on 29th June, with two brother officers, and that he was killed in his first tour of duty as a Company Commander. It also states that he was an original member of the battalion which suggests that he may have enlisted and been promoted through the ranks. His attestation papers show he was a Civil Engineer and that he qualified at McGill University. The 1921 Masonic Roll of Honour lists him as a Major but all other sources state Captain. Sources; 13th Battalion CEF War Diary The 13th BattalionRoyal Highlanders of Canada 1914-1919 Published 1925

Masonic :

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• The (UK) National Archives
• Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
• ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry

Additional Source:

• Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
• Researcher : Bruce Littley