Roll of Honour

Roll of Honour

MacQueen, John Ellison

Rank: Lieutenant-Colonel

Regiment: 6th Battalion Gordon Highlanders

Biography: Eldest Son of John Otto Macqueen, S.S.C., Aberdeen. Born Aberdeen, 3 June 1875. He was an alumnus of the University (1891- 1895) and became a member of the Society of Advocates in Aberdeen in 1900 and was in partnership with his father and afterwards with Mr. H. J. Findlater, W.S. In 1896 he was commissioned to the 1st V.B. Gordon Highlanders and retired as Major in 1910. On 25 September 1914 he was gazetted Lieut.-Colonel to command the 2/4th Battalion Gordon Highlanders (T.F.) which was then being raised, and for some months he was engaged in recruiting in Aberdeen and training at various Home stations that unit which he brought to a high standard of efficiency. His ambition was to lead the Battalion in action, but the general military situation prevented this, and in the summer of 1915 he was appointed to command the 6th Battalion Gordon Highlanders in the field, in succession to Lieut.-Colonel McLean who had fallen at Neuve Chapelle. This was a high honour for a Territorial officer who had not been overseas, and a notable tribute to his military capacity. He went to a unit which had already won a great reputation in France and was to enhance this in many subsequent actions. In the battle of Loos on 25 September 1915, he was killed while leading the assault on Hulluch in which the Battalion suffered very heavy casualties. He was mentioned in Field-Marshal French's dispatch of 1 January 1916.

Date of Death: 25 September 1915

Burial Details: Name recorded on the Loos Memorial, Panel 115, Column 1.

Publication: Roll of Service, edited by Mabel Desborough Allardyce. Published 1921.


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