BUCHANAN-DUNLOP, Colin Napier (Major)

Colin Napier BUCHANAN-DUNLOP
© Imperial War Museum

Colin Napier BUCHANAN-DUNLOP D.S.O, M.I.D

Major. b. 1877, Aldershot d. Thursday 14th October 1915 (aged 38).

A man with his own private memorial in St. John’s Church, Clayton, Colin is not mentioned on any other memorial including the collective Victoria Park memorial. Having originally been born into a military family in Aldershot, Colin was the son of Lieutenant Colonel Henry Buchanan-Dunlop and his wife Sabina who lived at Whitley Rise, Reading.

He gained a commission in the army at the end of the 1890’s as a Lieutenant and saw active service throughout the 1899 – 1902 Boer War in South Africa. It was here that he earned his keep and had quickly risen to the rank of Brevet Major by the end of the 1902 campaigns. He was promoted Captain on 27th February 1902 while suffering from Enteric fever and then promoted again the following day ‘in recognition of his services’, which was reported in the London Gazette in May 1902.

His memorial in Clayton states that he received the following battle honours on his medals (battle honours meaning the battles in which he fought):

Diamond Hill
Johannesburg
Paardeberg
Modder River
Belmont

At the end of this conflict he remained in the forces as a Brevet (or Acting) Major in the Royal Horse Artillery and he was still there at the start of the Great War. By this time he was married, and this was his connection to Clayton.

As was the case with the higher classes of society in Victorian times, Colin married into a family of similar standing to his own, in this case to the Benns of Clayton. Harrison Benn (the man who owned many of the mills in Clayton as well as the patron behind Chrisharben Park) and his wife had a daughter called Hilda, and it was Hilda whom Colin married. Their wedding present was a place of residence in Chrisharben Park on their wedding day of 30th June 1914.
Just a few weeks later, Colin left Chrisharben Park for the last time and joined the amassing British troops on the south coast of England to set sail for France and Belgium. He arrived there and fought many of the major engagements of the first year of the war.
Again, his memorial details them:

Ypres
Neuve Chapelle
Festubert
Givenchy
Loos

You can see his billet in this photograph of the Major eating his breakfast outside his dugout at Festubert.

Major Colin Napier Buchanan-Dunlop of the 12th Battery, Royal Field Artillery eating his breakfast outside his dugout at Festubert, May 1915. Copyright IWM

However, after a year of heavy fighting he was killed in action during the Battle of Vermelles and laid to rest in a local cemetery.

This was not actually a part of the battle, but from a shell bursting whilst he was in his billet, according to a letter sent to his wife. Lieut. Colonel H. H. Tudor, Commanding 14th Brigade, R.H.A wrote;

“It is with deepest sorrow that I have to tell you that your husband Major C,N Buchanan Dunlop, was today killed by splinters of a shell. His death was instantaneous. His loss is the greatest blow to me and to his battery and to his brigade. I have known him in and since the South African War, and have known what a splendid cool, brave soldier he has always been. I was in Egypt with his before this war, and feel I have lost one of the friends and comrades whom I would least soon have lost of any I have. He was quite an exceptionally able and brave officer, and cannot be replaced.”

It was shortly before this battle that he had received his DSO (Distinguished Service Order) for acts of gallantry on the battlefield, and his family was probably still celebrating this award back in Clayton.

It is not known why he has been omitted from the rest of the village memorials when so many of his fallen comrades have been included. Perhaps his private memorial was deemed to be enough by the local populace, and it will probably never be revealed as to why this is so, but it is only fair that he be included along with every other serving soldier.

The Major is buried at Vermelles British Cemetry, his headstone is inscribed “With Christ which is far better, Phil’s 1.23”.