Andrew Baillie was one of many men killed in the Gretna Rail Disaster of 22 May 1915, when a troop train carrying soldiers of the Leith-based 7th Battalion of the Royal Scots ran into a local train at Quintinshill near Gretna in Dumfriesshire. The troops killed and injured in the accident were just setting out on their journey to fight in the Gallipoli campaign. Andrew’s brother John travelled from Edinburgh to help the police try to identify Andrew’s body. He then visited the crash site. Objects were kept by the family and by one of Baillie’s officers to preserve the memory of Andrew Baillie and his death in the Gretna Rail Disaster. This story is part of the Next of Kin touring project, revealing family stories of the First World War across Scotland (www.nms.ac.uk/connections/our-national-work/next-of-kin/).
Telegram advising the Baillie family that Andrew was unaccounted for following the crash; Royal Scots regimental cap badge found by John Baillie at the crash site; Roll book of Andrew Baillie’s company of the Royal Scots, preserved by Haws as a record of the disaster; Photograph of Andrew Baillie’s platoon, taken in March 1915 and kept by Haws.