Company Sergeant Major John Innes RITCHIE (3/6784)
8th (Service) Battalion Gordon Highlanders

Date of birth: 18th February 1880
Date of death: 25th September 1915

Killed in action aged 35
Commemorated on the Loos Memorial Panels 115 to 119
He was born in Cottertown, Botriphnie on the 18th of February 1880 the second son of George and Jane Ritchie later of McLeans Buildings, High Street Archiestown.

He was educated at Knockando Public School after which he enlisted at Perth in 1898 as a regular soldier in the 2nd Battalion Gordon Highlamders seeing service in Africa and India before leaving the army for the reserve and becoming a labourer.

On the outbreak of war he was living in Edinburgh and was mobilised on the 4th of August 1914. On the 4th of September he reported to the Gordon Highlanders depot at Perth and was posted to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion of his regiment. At his medical it was recorded that he was 6 feet 4 inches tall with brown hair and light brown eyes.

He was promoted to Acting Corporal on the 10th of September and to Sergeant on the 17th of September. He was promoted to Company Sergeant Major on the 29th of December 1914.

He landed in France at Boulogne with the 8th Battalion of his regiment on the 10th of May 1915 and was promoted to Warrant Officer Class II on the 5th of June 1915.
On the 16th of June he was reduced to the rank of Corporal following a field court martial for "drunkenness on active service".

On the morning of the 25th of September the British High Command began what would be their last major offensive of 1915 at Loos. To increase the impact of the attack they decided to use gas for the first time, a weapon which had been used against them the previous April at Ypres. The 8th Battalion Gordon Highlanders were detailed to attack in support of the 7th Seaforths who would be in the vanguard of the attack with the 5th Cameron Highlanders.
In front of the Brigade was the notorious Hohenzollern Redoubt, which protected the enormous slag heap known as Fosse 8 containing a network of defensive positions.

When the attack opened the 7th Seaforths did very well, sweeping over the Hohenzollern and taking Fosse 8 beyond. The Camerons passed through their own gas cloud and took the German front line trench.
The 8th Gordons sent bombing parties down the first line trench and then moved off in pursuit of the Seaforths capturing about fifty German prisoners who had been left behind in the Seaforths rapid advance.

The Gordons then passed round Fosse 8 at 7.40am and advanced a further thousand yards under enfilade fire by machine guns and artillery, passing through the barbed wire and taking what was the German last line of defence before the village of Haisnes. Although there seemed to be very few Germans in the village the Gordons were almost unsupported on their flanks and decided to hold their position in the hope of support. By 11.30 the Germans had rallied and began a series of counterattacks against the Scottish line. Three times C Company threw back the German assaults but a shortage of grenades, which were inferior to the German ones, meant that they were forced to fall back. The retirement was carried out in good order as far as Fosse Alley where a stand was made but they were forced to withdraw further back to Dump Trench there they remained for the rest of the day.

John Ritche was killed during the fighting and his body was never recovered.

His father received his medals on the 26th of October 1920.
Archiestown

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