Donald Burnie - Welsh Regiment, 6th (Glamorgan) Battalion, Territorial Force

Second Lieutenant Donald Burnie - Welsh Regiment, 6^th (Glamorgan) Battalion, Territorial Force

Birth and Family Background

Donald Burnie

Donald Burnie was born in 1884 in Swansea. He was the son of Robert John Dickson Burnie and Georgianna Elliott.

1891 Census

At the time of the 1891 Census, the family were residing at 71 Walter Road, Swansea. Devon-born Robert John Dickson Burnie (48) was the Managing Director of Swansea Wagon Works Limited, a prominent local industrial concern, while his wife Georgianna (45) also hailed from Devon. Their children were Dickson (20), a draughtsman; Robert Dixon (16), a bank clerk; Donald (7); Ellen Elizabeth (5); and Beynan (2). Two servants, Eleanor Keziah Walters (30) and Alice May Lee (25), were also employed in the household.

1901 Census

By the 1901 Census, the family had moved to Bryncoed, Sketty Road, Swansea. Robert, now 58, remained Managing Director of Swansea Wagon Works Limited, and Georgianna was 55. The only child still at home was Donald (17), who was employed as a clerk in a shipping office. Also present were a visitor, Elizabeth Burnie (73), and a servant, Agnes Saunders (59).

1911 Census

In 1910, Donald married Alice Mabel Harvey at the Congregational Chapel. At the time of the 1911 Census, Donald and his wife were residing at 2 Glenview, Sketty Road, Swansea. Donald, aged 28, was described as an Iron and Steel Merchant, and Alice Mabel was 27. They employed a servant, Annie May Wooley (18), and had two visitors staying with them, Edith Maude Grant (38) and Joyce Eunice Grant (6).

Military Service and Death

Donald enlisted in 1914 following the outbreak of the First World War. In April 1915, he obtained a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Welsh Regiment, 6^th (Glamorgan) Battalion, Territorial Force. He proceeded to France in July 1915, joining the battalion during the early stages of its service on the Western Front.

On 2^nd October 1915, during the later stages of the Battle of Loos, the 6th (Glamorgan) Battalion was engaged in heavy fighting in the Loos sector. After the initial assault of 25 September had failed to secure a decisive breakthrough, British forces continued attempts to advance and consolidate positions under intense German artillery and machine-gun fire. The terrain, marked by industrial slag heaps and strongly fortified trench systems, gave the defenders commanding fields of fire. Territorial units such as the 6th Welsh suffered heavily while reinforcing front-line positions and taking part in renewed attacks against well-defended strongpoints. It was during this sustained and costly fighting that Donald was killed in action.

Commemoration

Donald Burnie
Loos Memorial, Pas-de-Calais, France
credit - findagrave

Donald Burnie
Loos Memorial, Pas-de-Calais, France
credit - findagrave

Second Lieutenant Donald Burnie is commemorated on the Loos Memorial, Pas-de-Calais, France, which bears the names of officers and men who have no known grave.