British Army Veterinary Corps
Hugh McColl JOHNSTON
Captain
Died 4 April 1918 · Aged 30
Record note: Wounding-date note: the reproduced war diary records Captain Johnston wounded during shelling on 4 April 1918. The Yorkshire Post clipping, labelled 18 April 1918 in this collection, gives 5 April as the date his wounds were received. This entry retains the death date of 4 April 1918 recorded by CWGC.
Reproduced war diary · Reproduced Yorkshire Post clipping
His story
Captain Hugh McColl Johnston MRCVS was born in Polnoon Street, Eaglesham, in 1887, the second son of Robert and Elizabeth Johnston of Newton Mearns. Hugh and his father both worked as joiners; Hugh was thirteen. The family moved to Newton Mearns and lived at Parklea, Barrhead Road. He later attended Glasgow Veterinary College and qualified as a veterinary surgeon on 18 May 1911 after passing the exams of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS).
When the war broke out, Hugh was living at Elmdene, Norton on Derwent, North Yorkshire, working as a veterinary surgeon. He applied for a commission on 15 August 1914, and the 1915 Register of the RCVS shows him as a Lieutenant in the Army Veterinary Corps (Special Reserve). His Medal Card shows that he went to France in October 1914 with the BEF and so was eligible for the 1914 Star. The 1917 register lists him as a captain.
Hugh died of his wounds in France on 4 April 1918, aged 30. The reproduced war diary records Johnston wounded during German shelling on 4 April. He is buried in Picquigny Cemetery, Somme, France.
Captain Johnston’s death notice appeared in The Veterinary Record on both 4 and 11 May 1918.
Photographs and documents
Before the war
- Nationality
- British
- Date of Birth
- 1887
- Place of Birth
- Eaglesham, East Renfrewshire, Scotland
- Veterinary College and Date of Graduation
- Glasgow - May 1911
Military service
- Last Rank
- Captain
- Regiment/Service
- British Army Veterinary Corps
- Secondary Regiment
- 1st Royal Dragoons
- First Theatre of War
- France October 1914
Medals and commemoration
- Name on RCVS Honour Board
- Yes
- Name In Officers who died in Great War
- Yes
- Medals and Awards
- 1914 Star; British War Medal 1914-1918; Victory Medal
Death and burial
- Date of Death
- 4 April 1918
- Age at Death
- 30
- Place of Death
- The Somme, France
- Cause of Death
- Wounds in action caused by shell fire
- Cemetery
- Picquigny Cemetery
- Location
- Picquigny, France
- Grave Reference
- C.1
- Commonwealth War Grave
- Yes - CWGC Headstone
- Emblem or Badge on Headstone
- British Army Veterinary Corps
Sources and further reading
- CWGC casualty and commemoration record
- Find a Grave memorial
- The Veterinary Record, 4 and 11 May 1918 — cited in the earlier biography
- Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, Register of Veterinary Surgeons, 1915, entry for Hugh McColl Johnston — cited in the earlier biography
- Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, Register of Veterinary Surgeons, 1917, entry for Hugh McColl Johnston — cited in the earlier biography
- Medal index card for Hugh McColl Johnston (archive reference not retained)
- War diary — reproduced document
- Yorkshire Post April 18 1918 — reproduced document
Cite this biography
Graham Hodgkins and Pete Matthews, “Hugh McColl Johnston”, Veterinary Virtual War Memorial, https://vetsremembered.org/people/hugh_mccoll_johnston/.
Contribute information
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