First World War British War Medal – Sergeant Donald Campbell Small, 6th Bn. Black Watch (Royal Highlanders), later 1st Bn. Gordon Highlanders – K.I.A. 26 September 1917
British War Medal – 265012 SJT. D. C. SMALL. R. HIGHRS.
Donald Campbell Small was born on 15 May 1882 at Hillyland, Tibbermore, Perthshire, the son of Peter Small, a dyer, and Christina Small (née Campbell). At the time of the 1901 Census he was residing at Hillyland Village, Perthshire, aged eighteen, and employed as a silk dyer, reflecting his father’s trade.
He later settled in Perth and married Sarah Elizabeth Haven, a dressmaker of 6 Rosario Terrace, Jeanfield, Perth, at St Ninian’s Cathedral, Perth, on 14 January 1915. A contemporary newspaper report described the occasion as a “Perth Military Wedding,” noting that Sergeant Small’s wife’s father was serving with the 1st Scottish Horse at the time. The ceremony was conducted by the Very Rev. Provost Patrick Murray Smythe, and members of the Scottish Horse formed a guard of honour for the couple following the reception.
His Commonwealth War Graves Commission entry records the Volunteer Long Service Medal; however, given his age this is unlikely to be correct. Contemporary records instead indicate that he was awarded the Territorial Force Efficiency Medal in 1914 for service with the 6th Battalion, Black Watch (Royal Highlanders), reflecting substantial pre-war service in the Territorial Force.
During the Great War he served with the 6th Bn. Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) before transferring to the 1st Battalion, Gordon Highlanders. He attained the rank of Serjeant, service number 238039.
By 1917 he was serving on the Western Front with the 1st Gordons. On 26 September 1917, during operations at Zonnebeke, Belgium, in the Third Battle of Ypres, Serjeant Donald Campbell Small was killed in action, aged 34.
A local casualty report recorded that his wife resided at 6 Rosario Terrace, Jeanfield, Perth, and that his parents were living at Hillyland, Perth. His death was later commemorated in a family memorial notice describing him as killed in action at Zonnebeke on 26 September 1917, the dearly loved husband of Bessie Haven Small of Rosario Terrace, Perth.
He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium (Panels 135–136). He is also recorded on the Roll of Honour of the Parish of Tibbermore, which lists him as “Sergt., Gordon Hdrs., Beaton’s Buildings, Hillyland, at Zonnebeke, 26th September, 1917.”
Donald Campbell Small’s life reflects that of a Perthshire tradesman-soldier: a skilled worker in the local dyeing trade, long associated with the Volunteer movement, married at the height of the war, and killed in the fighting around Zonnebeke during the grim autumn battles of 1917.
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