Hugh Barr krijgt grafsteen met zijn naam

A rededication service for Second Lieutenant Hugh Barr - Zandvoorde - 26/03/2025

Please find below some photos of the Rededication Service for Second Lieutenant Hugh Barr, Machine Gun Corps, who was killed in action on 30 September 1918. This service took place at Zantvoorde British Cemetery, Belgium on Wednesday 26 March 2025.

Second Lieutenant Hugh Barr was born 14 May 1890 in East Kilbride, Lanarkshire. He was the younger of two children born to William Barr, a cotton merchant, and his wife Mary. He served an apprenticeship with the Guardian Assurance Society, an insurance company, and had worked for them in Glasgow, Bristol and Aberdeen before the war.

On 5 September 1914, shortly after the outbreak of the First World War, Hugh enlisted into the Scottish Horse and posted to 1/2^ndSquadron. In January 1915, The Scottish Horse was attached to 63^rd (2^nd Northumberland) Division for work on coastal defences. The Scottish Horse was dismounted and on 17 August 1915, sailed from Devonport on board HMT Transylvania to the Dardanelles. On 2 September 1915, The Scottish Horse landed at Suvla Bay at Gallipoli. As was typical for many of those who served on the peninsula, Hugh suffered with ill health and disease during his time there. On 10 November 1915 he was promoted to the rank of lance corporal.

On 19 December 1915, The Scottish Horse was evacuated from Gallipoli and arrived in Alexandria in Egypt on 28 December 1915. They were then tasked with assisting in the defence of the Suez Canal. On 1 October 1916, The Scottish Horse was subsumed by the Black Watch and became 13^th (Scottish Horse) Battalion of that regiment. On 21 October 1916, they moved again to Salonika.

Hugh returned to the United Kingdom on 30 March 1917 to be Commissioned. On 16 November 1917, he was Commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in 6^th Battalion The Rifle Brigade. He arrived at the Base Depot in Camiers, France, on 27 July 1918. On 10 August 1918, he was posted to 35^th Battalion Machine Gun Corps and joined in the field in Belgium the following day.

The War Diaries of 35^th Battalion Machine Gun Corps show that on 30 September 1918, the day of Second Lieutenant Barr's death, they supported an attack on Wervik. The 106^th and 105^th Infantry Brigades attacked the city but were held up by a line of trenches and pillboxes north of the railway and suffered heavy casualties. Second Lieutenant Barr was killed whilst going forward under heavy machine gun fire in order to find a position in front of them and to bring up his guns to provide direct fire in suport of 17^th Battalion The Royal Scots. He was buried on the outskirts of the town. Second Lieutenant Barr was 28 years old.

One of his Officers wrote about him: 'He was a man's man - one of the most popular officers'. He went on to state that 'Second Lieutenant Barr went out on a daring reconnaissance during an attack, and his men state that his bravery and daring astounded everyone, and there is no doubt his action was the means of saving many lives and of helping to restore the situation atr a critical period'.

After the war the remains of Second Lieutenant Hugh Barr were recovered and buried in Zantvoorde British Cemetery as an unknown second lieutenant of the Machine Gun Corps. As he was missing, Second Lieutenant Barr was commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial. However, new research has shown that this is in fact his grave and the headstone over the grave was replaced and rededicated.