Urquhart, Rev. William
Rank: Lieutenant
Regiment: 1st Battalion Black Watch
Biography: Son of William Urquhart, marine engineer ; born Aberdeen, 20 Nov. 1883 ; entered Gordon's College, 1894 ; matriculated, 1902 ; graduated M.A. with Second Class Honours in Philosophy in 1906, winning the Gladstone Memorial Prize. Under the auspices of the Aberdeen University Missionary Association he superintended with universal acceptance and much success the "Spital Mission" during the winter session of 1906 and the summer vacation of 1907. During the summer of 1908 he worked on a Rancher Mission in Alberta and graduated B.D. in 1909, being Brown Scholar of that year. He was assistant minister in Inveresk Parish Church, 1909-10, and subsequently assistant minister in New Greyfriars, Edinburgh, 1910-12, when he was elected to the parish of Kinloch - Rannoch, in the Presbytery of Weem. While a student in Arts, Urquhart joined the Scottish Horse in the year of the foundation of the University troop and, feeling he owed to his country a debt for the military training he had received during his arts career, he enlisted about September 1914 as a Private in the Royal Scots (McRae's Battalion). A fearless thinker and a beloved pastor, he was now to show himself a gallant soldier. In 1916 he received a commission in the 1st Battalion, Black Watch, where he was a general favourite among his fellow - officers. While leading his men to battle in Mametz Wood on 16 August 1916, he was instantaneously killed.
Date of Death: 16 August 1916
Burial Details: Name recorded on the Thiepval Memorial, Pier and Face 15 B and 15 C.
Publication: Roll of Service, edited by Mabel Desborough Allardyce. Published 1921.
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