Sapper Bernard Bethune HORSBRUGH (2393442)
D Company, 9th Field Company, Canadian Engineers

Date of birth: 22nd July 1887
Date of death: 1st October 1918

Killed in action aged 31
Buried at Bourlon Wood Cemetery Plot I Grave E Row 12
He was born at East Horsley in Surrey on the 22nd of July 1887 the only son of Bethune Horsbrugh, barrister at law, and Constance Gertrude (nee Wilson) later of 511, 6th Street Brooklyn in New York. He was christened at St Martin's Church, East Horsley on the 21st of August 1887.

He was educated at Ripley Court School, Ripley and at the King's School Canterbury from January 1902 to July 1906 where he was granted a Junior Scholarship in July 1903.

In 1906 he passed the Institute of Civil Engineers studentship examinations and from 1906 to 1909 he was a pupil with an engineering firm in London. In 1909 he went to the United States and from 1910 he worked for the Engineering Department of the Long Island Railroad Company.

He enlisted in the 48th (Highlanders) Battalion Canadian Infantry at Toronto on the 7th of July 1917. At a medical examination, which was held on the same day, it was recorded that he was five feet five and a quarter inches tall and that he had a medium complexion, blue eyes and brown hair; it was also noted that he weighed 142lbs. He transferred to the Canadian Engineers on the 7th of July 1917 and joined them in training at St John's in Quebec. He embarked for England on board the SS "Missanarie" on the 1st of February 1918 and disembarked on the 16th of February. He arrived at the Canadian Engineers Training Depot at Seaford on the 19th of February. He transferred to the 2nd Canadian Engineers Reserve Battalion on the 21st of May 1918 and went to France on the 10th of June, landing there later the same day. He was posted to the 9th Field Company on the 6th of August 1918 and joined them in the field the following day.

On the 1st of October 1918 he was in billets at Divisional headquarters near Bourlon Wood when the building he was in received a direct hit from a bomb dropped by a German aircraft during the night, killing him and four others.

According to the Cantuarian:-

"His fellow sappers speak of him in the highest terms-of his unfailing courage, his cheerfulness and of the respect in which he was held. His death was certainly a glorious one in that he helped thereby in the taking of one of the toughest positions."

He is commemorated on the war memorial at Ripley Court School.
 

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