Wick dux winner who gave his life in the WWI trenches
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WICK Heritage Museum has taken delivery of a school medal with a tragic link to the trenches of World War I.
The prize was awarded to Lawrence "Lal" Sutherland at Wick North School at the end of the 1907/08 academic session.
Nine years after receiving it he was killed on the Western Front – one of three Wick lads who were victims of a single German shell. He was 19.
The medal was received at the museum in Bank Row last week having been sent by a family member from British Columbia, Canada. An accompanying note contained brief facts about Pte Sutherland’s life but the Wick Society, the voluntary group that runs the museum, was able to establish some more details.
After leaving school he worked as an apprentice cabinetmaker but enlisted at the age of 16, in October 1914, two months after the outbreak of war. He joined the local Territorials and after training was sent to France with the 5th Seaforth Highlanders.
On the night of December 8, 1917, Pte Sutherland was occupying a shelter on the front line along with two fellow Wickers from the 5th Seaforths – Pte George Henderson and Pte David Anderson – when it took a direct hit from an enemy shell. All three were killed in the blast.
They were buried in a cemetery a few miles behind the British lines.
Ian Leith, chairman of the Wick Society, said: “Everything in Wick Heritage Museum has been donated and we are very lucky in that respect. Quite a number of things, increasingly so, come from abroad from descendants of people that once had connections with Wick and Caithness.
“In this instance it was a dux medal from the North school from the 1907/08 session.
“We were able to do a bit of further research and discovered that the lad in question had given his life in World War I serving in the Seaforth Highlanders after enlisting when he was only 16.
“Some information about him is included in Ally Budge’s 1996 book Voices in the Wind and also in the Wick High School book They Never Returned, published last year.”
Mr Leith added: “There is always a story behind each artefact that comes to the museum. It’s nice when we can tell that story and let family members know that their ancestors’ materials are still being looked after and are part of our history.”
Pte Sutherland, from Willowbank, was one of four brothers serving their country. One, David, had been killed in action over a year earlier.
Pte Henderson worked for a fishcuring business. He had played for Academy’s junior XI and was a member of the Territorials’ gymnastics team.
He was one of six brothers serving in either the Army or Navy. Pte Henderson had been wounded in 1915 and again in 1916.
Pte Anderson was a baker who had served his apprenticeship with Alexander and Keith, merchants.
