In memory of David McLellan
David McLellan was born in Bridgend to David and Elizabeth McLellan. By 1911, he and his four grown-up siblings were all living with their widowed mother at 10 Court Road.
After his education at Bridgend County School, David became a plumber, working for JC Hitt & Sons of Queen Street. He was a popular Bridgend rugby player, playing at half-back.
He joined the army in October 1914. After training, he went to the Western Front in France in summer 1915 as a Private in the 11th Battalion of the Highland Light Infantry.
His Battalion took part in the Battle of Loos, the first large attack launched by the British in the First World War. David was killed on the first day of the battle, 25 September 1915. He was 32 years old. He has no known grave, and is one of more than 20,000 servicemen commemorated on the Loos Memorial, in France’s Pas de Calais region. He left £112 to his sister Bessie in his will.
Soon after his death, one of David’s comrades, a Private McAndrew, opened a letter which Bessie had sent to her brother. He wrote back to her to express his sympathy, adding: “He was with us in that short but deadly charge, and I am proud to say he met his end like the true soldier that he was.”
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