John Wishart was born on 8 November 1889 in Old Machar, Aberdeenshire. He was the seventh of nine children of David Wishart, a linen cloth lapper from Dunfermline, and his wife, Janet Gibson. John’s father died of tuberculosis when John was eight. He was educated at Rosemount School and then at Robert Gordon’s Technical College.

In his pre-war life, John worked as a dental mechanic for Dr Elphinstone; however, in March 1909, he also joined the 4th Gordon Highlanders, a Territorial Force Battalion formed the previous year headquartered in Aberdeen. As a ‘Terrier’ John mobilised for duty shortly after war broke out and went into training with his unit, eventually finding himself stationed near Bedford in early 1915.

Before the war, John had attained the rank of Sergeant; however, by the time the 4th Gordons embarked for France on 20 February 1915, he had been promoted to Company Sergeant-Major. Also on the Archimedes, in the same battalion, was Alexander Machray Wishart, not a relation of John’s, but maybe the young Aberdonians' paths crossed in the months before leaving for France.

After arrival in Le Havre, the Gordons made their way to the Ypres Salient, where John would get his first experience in the trenches when his unit entered the line at La Clytte in early March.

John’s first (and last) combat experience was on 16 June during the Battle of Bellewaarde, an action designed to stop the Germans from reinforcing their lines some 50km south at Givenchy, and gain possession of the Bellewaarde Ridge. During the attack, John was pierced through the lung by shrapnel and evacuated back to England, where he subsequently died of his wounds in a Woolwich hospital on 15 August.

John is buried in Greenwich Cemetery, London and named in the Roll of Honour for Aberdeen.