THE STRATHEARN HERALD: 21.07.1917 A CRIEFF OFFICER’S DEATH BODY OF LIEUTENTNT W.F.R. DOBIE FOUND AFTER LYING TWO-AND-A-HALF YEARS IN “NO MAN’S LAND” Dr Robertson Dobie, Crieff, has now received definite information from an officer in the Royal Irish Rifles, who, while wandering about ‘No Man’s Land’, came upon the remains of some Gordon Highlanders, among which were two officers, one of whom he was able to identify from his personal belongings as Lieut. W.F. Robertson Dobie, who has been posted as “Missing, believed killed”, since Dec. 14th, 1914. After reporting this he saw the bodies of these officers buried and crosses erected over their graves. Our readers will doubtless remember that Lieutenant Dobie was posted as missing after leading his men in a gallant charge against the German lines on 14th December, 1914, and although his family have made many inquiries made through various agencies, no trace could be found of the gallant officer, whose fate has now been placed beyond doubt. Lieutenant W. Findlay Robertson Dobie, who was the elder son of Dr D. Robertson Dobie, Crieff, was born at Coldstream in 1887. He received his education at Kelso High School, George Watson’s College, Edinburgh and Morrison’s Academy, Crieff. Choosing the Army as a profession, he enlisted in 1905, at the age of 17, in the Black Watch, with the 2nd battalion of which regiment he served in India for three years, attaining to the rank of corporal. He passed the necessary examination and received a commission in 1911, being posted to the 2nd battalion of the Gordon Highlanders, with whom he served at Cawnpore and Cairo. Invalided from Egypt, while at home he was seconded to the Royal Flying Corps, and joined the school at Farnborough in 1914, where he received his pilot’s certificate. Rejoining his regiment, he was stationed at the depot at Aberdeen when war broke out, and proceeded with a draft of the regiment to France by the end of November, 1914. The part played by the ‘Gay Gordons’ on the fateful 14th of December, 1914, when Lieutenant Dobie met a soldier’s death, is recounted in Sir John French’s fifth despatch. The British objection was the re-entrant south of Ypres, where the recent advance took place – the Petit Bois and the Maedelsteed Spur, lying respectively to the west and south-west of Wytechaete. To the Gordon Highlanders was assigned the attack on the latter, but the operation failed, as the 32nd French Division on the left found progress impossible. Sir John French tells us:- “The Gordon Highlanders with great gallantry advanced up the Maedelsteed Spur, forcing the enemy to evacuate his front trench. They were, however, losing heavily, and found themselves unable to get any further. At nightfall they were obliged to fall back to their original positions. Captain C. Boddam Whettam and Lieutenant W.F.R. Dobie showed splendid dash, and with a few men entered the enemy’s leading trench; but they were either killed or captured”. Dr Dobie received the following letter on Tuesday:- ‘14th July, 1917’. “Dear Sir, - I am writing to let you know that after the action at Wytechaete, on the 7th June, an officer of my battalion reported to me that he had found the remains of a number of Gordon Highlanders lying close to what had been the German front line trenches. Subsequently I sent a party to bring them to the cemetery for burial. In all, two officers and thirty other ranks were brought in and buried. Very few identifications could be made, as the action in which these gallant men lost their lives must have taken place two years ago or more. But the identification disc on one of the officers showed him to be your son, W.F. Robertson Dobie. Having ascertained from the War Office that you were his next-of-kin, I thought that you would like to know that your son has had Christian burial, and lies at rest in a soldier’s grave with his unknown brother officer, and next to thirty of his own men. I have had two crosses erected over the graves, your son’s name being one of them, and that of a sergeant of the battalion, whose identity was ascertained, on the other. The exact position of the cemetery will be notified to you by the proper authorities. As a fellow-Scotsman and near neighbour, of yours, I am glad that this sad office fell to the lot of my battalion. – Believe me, yours very truly. P. Blair Oliphant, Lt.-Col”. * Poignantly the letter was written by Philip Laurence Kington Blair Oliphant who later died of wounds on the 8th April, 1918, and is commemorated on the Blairgowrie & Rattray War Memorial, Perthshire.