First World War 1914-15 Star – Sergeant Hugh MacLean, Cameron Highlanders
1914-15 Star – 8713. SJT. H. MACLEAN, CAM'N HIGHRS.
Hugh MacLean was born at Kilmallie, Inverness-shire, and was the eldest son of Duncan MacLean and Christina McDonald MacLean, of 45 High Street, Fort William. He was a native Lochaber man and prior to military service was employed as a tailor in Fort William, a skilled trade that placed him firmly within the local working community. Contemporary reporting confirms that he had approximately seven years’ military service prior to the outbreak of the Great War.
MacLean enlisted in the Regular Army at Fort William on 17 September 1909, aged 20, initially serving with the 4th Battalion, Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders. Upon completion of his training and regular service commitments, he was posted to the 2nd Battalion, Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders, receiving regimental number 8713. At the outbreak of war in August 1914, the 2nd Camerons were stationed overseas and were rapidly mobilised for active service.
The battalion embarked for France in December 1914, landing at Le Havre on 20 December 1914, and soon became heavily engaged on the Western Front. In April and May 1915, the 2nd Camerons were committed to the fighting during the Second Battle of Ypres, one of the most brutal phases of the early war, marked by the first large-scale use of poison gas by German forces and intense artillery bombardments. Casualties during this period were exceptionally heavy, particularly among experienced regular soldiers.
Private Hugh MacLean was wounded during the fighting at Ypres and evacuated to No. 11 General Hospital, Boulogne, where he subsequently died of his wounds on 18 May 1915, aged 27. Newspaper reports from Fort William confirmed his death and noted his previous military experience and civilian occupation as a tailor before joining the Army.
He is buried at Boulogne Eastern Cemetery, France, Grave VIII.D.17, where his Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone records his service with the 2nd Battalion, Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders, and bears the epitaph “DIED FOR KING & COUNTRY”. In addition to his burial overseas, his name is commemorated on the Fort William War Memorial, ensuring his sacrifice is permanently remembered within his home community.
Hugh MacLean’s service places him among the experienced regular soldiers of the Camerons who bore the brunt of the fighting in the first year of the war. His death during the Second Battle of Ypres reflects the severe losses suffered by Highland regiments during the early gas attacks and trench fighting of 1915.
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