George Findlater
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George Findlater VC (born 16 February 1872, Mill of Turriff, Aberdeenshire; died 4 March 1942, Turriff, Aberdeenshire) was a Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
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[edit] Details
He was 25 years old, and a Piper in the 1st Battalion, The Gordon Highlanders, British Army during the Tirah Campaign which took place in the North-West Frontier Province of British India.
On 20 October 1897 during the attack on the Dargai Heights, Tirah, Piper Findlater, after being shot through both feet and unable to stand, propped himself against a boulder and went on playing the regimental march under heavy fire, to encourage the advance.
Whilst it is officially recorded that he played the regimental march - Cock o'the North - during the advance, this is often disputed. Findlater himself later commented that he was not sure what to play, and chose a strathspey, Haughs of Cromdale, as more fitting to the pace of the advance - a charge, not a march.
In the Encyclopaedia Britannica and the official campaign battle history, his deed find more mention than the Battle of Saragarhi, which is remembered only in the Indian army and does not even merit a mention in the whole campaign.
[edit] Further information
He later achieved the rank of Pipe-Major.
[edit] The medal
His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Gordon Highlanders Museum (Aberdeen, Scotland).
[edit] References
- Piper George Findlater, V.C., The Hero of Dargai (Craig Cross, 2007)
- Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
- The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)
- Scotland's Forgotten Valour (Graham Ross, 1995)
[edit] See also
The General Danced at Dawn (George Macdonald Fraser, 1970)
[edit] External links
- Location of grave and VC medal (Grampian)
- [1]
