Charles Gordon Macdonald

 From De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour, a book profiling men killed in the 1914-1918 War:

It's quite difficult to add very much to this.

He was born at 19 Ann Street, Hillhead and had a second, younger brother, called Ronald, in addition to Edward referenced above.

His father was headmaster of Hillhead High School (1889-1912).  The family lived close to Bearsden railway station but according to this website "Unlike his neighbours he did not use the railway station to travel to work, he chose to walk to the High School a distance of over 3 miles."  He drowned while swimming in the sea when he was caught by a strong current.

The family lived in Collylinn Road in Bearsden, at a house called Heath Villa.  The neighbouring property, Fernlea, is number 6 Collylinn Road, so Heath Villa was either number 4 or number 8. 

We are fortunate to have two photos of him, the first is a clearer version of the one used in the De Ruvigny piece (the last is at the end of this post):

The attack by his battalion on the day he died was a particularly bloody one: the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website shows 96 other 1st/6th men died that day.

Little information is available about his mother but there is a photo of her in what seems to be nursing uniform:

After Gordon's death, she appears to have been involved in running The Scottish Churches Hut, a church-run relaxation area close to the GCHQ (Command HQ) of the British Army in France, see here for more details.

While Gordon is commemorated on his father's grave in Old Catchcart Cemetery in Glasgow, his body was not recovered and CWGC records show he is commemorated on a memorial (i.e. has no known grave).

To finish, here is the memory of him from the website of Glasgow University:

Lieutenant Charles Gordon Macdonald was a graduate of the University of Glasgow (MA 1910 and BD 1913), as well as a member of the University Officers Training Corps. He served with the 6th Battalion Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) along with other University of Glasgow men 2nd Lieutenant Gilbert Kennedy and 2nd Lieutenant John Wilson. All three died on the 15th June 1915.

The following biography is reproduced from the Hillhead High School War Memorial Volume:

Born on 7th March 1889, he was marked from early years by the original and independent bent of his mind and by his abhorrence of well-worn grooves. At the University he showed the same independence, and shocked his professors and fellow-students by sitting for honours in English in the third year, a venture that usually spells disaster. Not so in his case, however, as he came out a brilliant first.

The Church, with its old traditions and new opportunities had an irresistible attraction for his mystic and spiritual temperament.

After a brilliant course in the Theological Hall he was appointed in May 1914, as assistant in Hamilton Parish. He was one of the first ministers in the Church to place himself unreservedly in the hands of the military authorities. After a lengthy training in this country, at the monotony of which he sometimes rebelled, he was sent to France. At Festubert on 15th June 1915, while charging at the head of his men, he was mortally wounded. The chaplain writing home said;

"Our battalion was put in the forefront of the attack, and Lieutenant Macdonald was in the foremost company. He was very seriously wounded soon after they made the charge, and must have died almost immediately. The regiment has lost a valued officer, and I a valued friend and assistant."