Online honour for Victoria Cross holder
former north-east soldier added to dictionary of national biography
Published:
A NORTH-EAST war hero who won the Victoria Cross for piping his regiment to victory despite severe injuries will be honoured today.
The experiences of Turriff-born George Findlater, who was given the valour award for action on the north-west frontier of India in the 1890s, have been added to the online edition of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
He is among several military additions to the dictionary to mark the 90th anniversary of the end of World War I.
Mr Findlater, who served with the Gordon Highlanders and was piper in his battalion, took part in the 1897 battle at the Heights of Dargai in India.
He was shot three times, including in both ankles, during an assault on a hill and fell on an exposed strip of land.
The dictionary records: “He propped himself up on a rock and, though vulnerable to enemy fire, continued piping.
“As the Gordons successfully scaled the heights and scattered the enemy, their achievement and Findlater’s role earned considerable praise.”
Mr Findlater was awarded the Victoria Cross in 1898 and became a national celebrity after discharge from his regiment by staging pipe music concerts.
Questions were raised in parliament about the propriety of a VC holder involved in showbusiness, but he earned £100 on the stage as opposed to £10-a-year as a VC pensioner. He used his earnings to buy a farm at Forglen, near Turriff, and turned his back on stage life.
At the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Mr Findlater enlisted with the 9th battalion, Gordon Highlanders and rose to the rank of sergeant piper. He was invalided out of the service in December 1915.
He died at home in 1942 at the age of 70 after suffering a heart attack.
