Granton War Memorial
Burnett Sandison
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) website shows that Burnett Sandison was the son of Lewis Grant Sandison and Isabella Burnett Sandison of 18 Balmoral Place, Edinburgh. The 1901 Census shows him aged 3 years living with his parents at 1 Rintoul Place, Edinburgh. Both of these addresses are in the Stockbridge ‘Colonies’. His father was a compositor.
He served in the 1st/9th Royal Scots and died of wounds on 15/04/1917. He is buried in Etaples Military Cemetery in France. Burnett Sandison is also commemorated on the War Memorial at Broughton High School.
The Edinburgh Evening Dispatch reported his death on 23rd April 1917 but there was no indication of any connection with Granton. The report did, however, include the additional information that:-
- He was the third son of Mr & Mrs L G Sandison (no address given)
- Before enlisting he had been an apprentice with Messrs Baildon, Chemists, Edinburgh (this firm had premises on Princes Street)
- An elder brother had returned from the United States to join the Royal Scots and had also died of wounds.
The Granton War Memorial does not include the name of the elder brother (probably he had never lived in Granton) but he can be identified as John Sandison who served in the 10th Battalion Royal Scots and who died of wounds on 23rd June 1915. He is one of a minority of soldiers whose service record survives. This shows that when he enlisted in January 1915, he gave his address as West Granton Road and named his mother, at that address, as his next-of-kin. It would have been unusual for a soldier to name his mother as next-of-kin if his father was still alive. John Sandison was aged 32 years 94 days when he enlisted on 1st January 1915. He went to France on 6th March 1915 and qualified for the 1915 Star. His attestation papers show that he had earlier served in a Volunteer unit of the Royal Scots – these units were replaced by the Battalions of the Territorial Force in 1908.