In 1891, the Brough family were living at 54 Watergate, Perth. Father, David (Gardener), b. c1842, Kilspindie, Perthshire; Mother, Isabella, b. c1845, Auchterarder, Perthshire; Daughter, Maggie Ann (Warehouse Clerk), b. c1870, Perth; Son, William (Gardener), b. c1873, Perth; Son, David (Printer/Compositor), b. c1875, Perth; Son, James (Printer/Machine Room), b. c1877, Perth; Daughter, Annie, b. c1879, Perth; Son, Thomas, b. c1881, Perth; Daughter, Isabella, b. c1884, Perth; and Son, John, b. c1890, Perth. Also living at this address were: Margaret Fraser, aged 83; and her granddaughter, Mary Fraser (Power Loom Weaver), aged 14.

In 1901, the family were living at Upper Springland, and Thomas was employed as a Piano Tuner and Organist.

The 8th Battalion, Black Watch, was raised at Perth on 21st of August 1914 as part of Kitchener’s First New Army and they joined the 26th Brigade, 9th (Scottish) Division. Following initial training in the Perth area they moved to Aldershot. In January 1915 they moved to Alton and in March to Bordon.

They proceeded to France on 10th March 1915, landing in Boulogne and went into action in the Battle of Loos in September. In 1916, they were in action in the Battle of the Somme, including the capture of Longueval, in which the fierce fighting reduced the 8th Black Watch to just 171 men, the Battle of Delville Wood and the Battle of Le Transloy. In 1917 they fought in the First and Second Battles of the Scarpe during the Arras Offensive, the First Battle of Passchendaele and The Action of Welsh Ridge. In 1918 they fought on the Somme, in Courtrai and the action of Ooteghem.

The Second Battle of the Somme, 21st March 1918: This was the first major German offensive to begin on the Western Front in more than a year. After five hours of bombardment, from more than 9,000 pieces of German artillery, the British 5th Army was forced into retreat in France’s Somme River region. For a week, the Germans pushed towards Paris, shelling the city from a distance of some 80 miles with their “Big Bertha” canons.

However, the poorly supplied German troops soon became exhausted, and the Allies halted their advance as French artillery knocked out the German guns besieging Paris. On April 2nd, U.S. General Pershing sent American troops down into the trenches to help repulse the German offensive. This was the first major deployment of U.S. troops in World War One.

By the time the Somme offensive effectively ended, on April 4th, the Germans had advanced almost 40 miles, inflicted some 200,000 casualties, and captured 70,000 prisoners.

Thomas Brough would have died of wounds sustained in this action. He was 37 years of age.

Thomas Brough is also commemorated on the Methven Parish War Memorial; the St. Leonard’s United Free Church War Memorial, Perth; and Lodge Scoon and Perth No. 3 War Memorial, Perth.