108029: Simon Campbell

Simon, born in 1897, was the son of Neil Campbell and Margaret Walker of North Lochboisdale.

As a young man Simon moved to Chelsea, where he was in service as first footman to Walter Clifford Mellor. At the outbreak of the Great War he signed up for the 1st/14th Battalion of the territorial London Regiment, known as the London Scottish. He served as a piper, writing home regularly to his family, who treasured his letters. 

Simon was killed at Arras, France on 13^th May 1917, two weeks before what would have been his 20^th birthday, when a shell exploded as he and a colleague were waiting in a dug-out in order to carry the wounded.

Simon’s company captain thought highly of him, writing:

Personally I shall miss him greatly. I often had him pipe to us; he was a bonnie piper, and his playing and his fine Highland voice were ever a great source of joy to me.

His former employer, Walter Mellor, paid for a memorial plaque to be erected at Daliburgh church.  Simon’s family loaned the plaque for display at Kildonan Museum during the 2015 commemoration of the Great War.