First World War 1914 “Mons” Star – Private Donald Cumming, 1st Bn. Cameron Highlanders
1914 “Mons” Star – 6933 PTE D. CUMMING. CAM'N: HIGHRS
Slight bend to the bottom left part of the star
Donald Cumming was born in 1883 at Portree, Inverness-shire, Isle of Skye, and was a native Gaelic-speaking Highlander from the crofting community of Garlepin (Garalapin), Portree. He was the son of Mrs Jessie Cumming, of Garlepin, Portree, Isle of Skye, and came from a district that would contribute heavily to the ranks of the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders at the outbreak of the First World War.
Cumming enlisted at Inverness, joining the 1st Battalion, Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders, and was issued regimental number 6933. As a regular battalion of the British Army, the 1st Camerons were amongst the very first Highland units mobilised for overseas service in August 1914. Donald Cumming embarked for France on 14 August 1914, landing with the British Expeditionary Force during the opening weeks of the war, a period characterised by rapid movement, limited entrenchment and severe fighting against a numerically superior German army.
The 1st Battalion Cameron Highlanders were heavily engaged almost immediately following their arrival in France, taking part in the Retreat from Mons, a fighting withdrawal marked by exhausting marches, repeated rearguard actions and significant casualties. The battalion subsequently became involved in the early battles along the River Marne and the River Aisne, where the BEF attempted to halt the German advance and establish a defensive line. These early engagements were fought before the widespread construction of trenches, exposing infantrymen to intense rifle, artillery and machine-gun fire in open or partially covered terrain.
Private Donald Cumming was killed in action on 14 September 1914, exactly one month after landing in France. He was 31 years of age. His death occurred during the opening phase of positional fighting that followed the Battle of the Marne, as the opposing armies attempted to outflank one another in what would later become known as the “Race to the Sea”. Losses during this period were particularly heavy, and many men killed in the mobile fighting of September 1914 have no known grave.
Donald Cumming has no known burial and is commemorated on the La Ferté-sous-Jouarre Memorial, France, which bears the names of over 3,800 officers and men of the British Army who fell during the fighting on the Marne in 1914 and whose graves are unknown. Commonwealth War Graves Commission records confirm his service with the 1st Battalion, Cameron Highlanders, and name him as the son of Mrs Jessie Cumming, of Garlepin, Portree, Isle of Skye.
His death places him among the earliest Cameron Highlander casualties of the First World War, and as a man killed just weeks after landing in France, his service represents the extreme risks faced by the original BEF battalions in the opening month of the conflict.
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AJMS Medals