Extract from Wauchope’s History of the Black Watch in the Great War:

OCTOBER AND NOVEMBER 1916, The Battle of Beaumont Hamel. “Zero hour was 5.45 a.m. on November 13th, and was notified by the explosion of a mine in front of the 152nd Brigade … The Battalion moved off without delay, but the ground was covered by a thick fog so that little could be seen a few yards off … as soon as our men showed up in through the fog in front of the German lines, they were met by heavy machine gun fire … In the absence of further reports, and as nothing whatever could be seen from the original Battalion front line, the adjutant, Captain Ellis, was sent out to make a reconnaissance, during which he was severely wounded and did not return.

Beaumont Hamel had cost the Battalion dearly. Captain Ferguson and Lieutenants Cairns, Macleod and Begg had been killed, and Captain Ellis and Lieutenants Strathairn and Keay died of their wounds later. Five other officers had been wounded; 71 men were killed, 141 wounded and two were returned as missing, making a total of 12 officers and 214 other ranks."

The following sentence taken from the History of the 51st Division gives a true picture of the ground over which the troops attacked.

"Let two teams dressed in battle order play football in the dark on a ploughed field in a clay soil after three weeks’ steady rain, and the difficulties of the attacking troops might then in some measure be appreciated."

Perthshire Advertiser , 2nd December 1916 “PERTH OFFICER’S DEATH “Lieutenant R. N. Keay dies of wounds. “The sympathy and condolence of the community will go out to our respected City Chamberlain, Mr Robert Keay and Mrs Keay, Ashleigh, Isla Road, Perth, on the loss they have sustained by the death, from wounds received in the heavy fighting of a fortnight ago, of Lieutenant Robert Naismith Keay, 6th Black Watch.

Lieutenant Keay, who was an only child, was a native of the city, and received his education at Perth Academy and at Clifton Bank School, St. Andrews. Previous to the outbreak of war, Lieutenant Keay had received an appointment to the office of Messrs J. and R. Morrison, chartered accountants , Blackfriars Street, in whose service he had been for about two years before volunteering for the army and very soon thereafter obtaining a commission in the Territorial Regiment.

The young officer was a keen golfer and cricketer, and played in several representative matches for Perthshire Cricket Club, proving a very capable batsman. Of a modest disposition he was a general favourite in local sporting circles, and had fair follow in the footsteps of his father, a prominent player of another Perth generation of cricket and golf’s outstanding men.

The sad information of their son’s death on Thursday reached Mr and Mrs Keay yesterday. There was hope for a time that the young officer would survive the wounds which were, however, severe in a thigh and arm. Lieutenant Keay died in hospital in France. Mr and Mrs Keay visited their son immediately following his reception in hospital, and remained about a week."

Robert Keay was 20 years of age. Robert Keay is also commemorated on the St. John’s East Parish Church War Memorial.