First World War Victory Medal – Lance Corporal William McBain, Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders
Victory Medal – 7069 PTE. W. MC BAIN. CAM'N HIGHRS.
William McBain was born at Archlach, near Nairn, Nairnshire, and was later resident at Kingussie, Inverness-shire. He was the son of John and Mary McBain, who in later years emigrated to Irma, Alberta, Canada. McBain appears in the 1911 Census as a 21-year-old serving soldier, already holding the rank of Lance Corporal, indicating a lengthy period of prior military service before the outbreak of the Great War.
McBain enlisted at Inverness on 9 November 1904, aged just 14, joining the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders as a boy soldier. By the time war broke out in August 1914, he was an experienced professional soldier and had risen to the rank of Lance Corporal, receiving regimental number 7069.
At the outbreak of hostilities, McBain was serving with the 2nd Battalion, Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders, a regular battalion which was rapidly mobilised for active service. The battalion embarked for France on 19 December 1914, landing at Le Havre, and entered the Western Front during the early trench-warfare phase of the conflict. Over the following months the battalion was engaged in heavy fighting in Flanders, culminating in its involvement during the Second Battle of Ypres in the spring of 1915.
On 11 May 1915, during the intense fighting associated with the Second Battle of Ypres — a period marked by relentless artillery bombardment and the first widespread use of poison gas — Lance Corporal William McBain was killed in action, aged 25. His death came during one of the bloodiest phases of the early war, in which experienced regular battalions such as the Camerons suffered severe casualties.
McBain is buried at Bedford House Cemetery, near Ypres, Belgium, Enclosure No. 4, Grave XIV.G.16. His headstone records his rank as Lance Corporal, his service with the 2nd Battalion, Cameron Highlanders, and commemorates him as the son of John and Mary McBain of Irma, Alberta, Canada, reflecting the family’s later emigration. The cemetery itself is one of the most significant burial grounds associated with the fighting around Ypres and contains the graves of many men who fell during the early gas battles of 1915.
An exceptionally early-enlisted Cameron Highlander, William McBain represents the professional backbone of the British Army at the outbreak of war — a long-serving soldier who entered service as a boy, rose to non-commissioned rank, and was killed in action during the regiment’s heaviest early-war losses.
PLEASE NOTE: All research will be sent to the buyer via email. I am unable to provide printed copies, as I do not have access to a printer.
AJMS Medals