Featuring rare source material published for the first time, this biography tells the story of five young men from Helmsdale and Kildonan who fought with the Seaforths on the Western Front in World War I.
The Mackintosh brothers, John-Hugh and Adam, and the Cameron boys Tom, Hugh and John, were all from a crofting community in Sutherland in the Highlands. The young soldiers’ cultural identity as Highlanders uniquely informed their experiences and perspective of the Great war.
The story unfolds through a mixture of personal memories, journals, letters from the front and detailed background research. Their progress from raw recruits, training in Bedford to fighting in the battlefields of France is tracked in the Regimental Diary of the 1st Battalion of the 5th Seaforths and the History of the 51st Highland Division.
One of the book’s authors, Shona MacLeod, is the great-granddaughter of Adam Mackintosh. She was born
and received her initial education in Bath, but completed her education in Glasgow where, as a history student, she was inspired by her family’s sacrifice in WWI and based her Honours Dissertation on The Highlands and the Great War on it. She was awarded the Fraser Mackintosh Prize by the Gaelic Society of Inverness.
The book will be launched at Timespan Museum and Arts Centre in Helmsdale on Saturday, November 12 at 2pm. Admission is free of charge and all are welcome to attend.
Published by Capercaillie Books
