David Mathers (Lieutenant Colonel)

a Soldier of the Border Regiment / Remembered with Honour
Lieutenant Colonel David Mathers
Military
Rank Lieutenant Colonel[1][2]
Battalion 6th Battalion / Takes over command on 22 September, 1915[3]
Regiment Border Regiment
Former Unit Gordon Highlanders / Private
Royal Scots / 2nd Lieutenant / Commissioned on 27 July 1901
Honours Order of the British Empire in 1919[4]
Decorations Distinguished Conduct Medal

Distinguished Service Order for gallantry at Costaverne Line on 11 June 1917 / Citation:
For conspicuous gallantry in action. He handled his battalion throughout the operations with the greatest courage and initiative, gaining his objective, and capturing two machine guns, three officers, and over 100 other ranks.[5]

Bar to the DSO for action at Messines / Citation:
For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in commanding his battalion during an attack, remaining for two days at his post, although badly wounded and shaken by a shell. His example of fine leadership greatly inspired his battalion.[6]

Mention in Dispatches Four times
Personal
Full Name David Mathers
Born 24 March 1870[7] / Aberdeen
Education Glasgow High School
Parents James Mathers and Jean Low. His father was a Sergeant Major with the Gordon Highlanders
Residence(s) 29 Liberton Gardens, Edinburgh
Nationality Scottish
Remembrance
Casualty Type Survived the War
Died 20 April 1949[8] / Lieutenant Colonel with the East Yorkshire Regiment
Age 79 Years
Media
Biography
David Mathers was born on 24 March 1870, and educated at Glasgow High School. He joined the army as a Private in the Gordon Highlanders and fought with them in the Chitral Campaign of 1895 being mentioned in despatches. In the Tirah Campaign he shared in the Gordon’s glorious and memorable assault on the heights of Dargai on 20 October 1897. For this action he was mentioned in despatches and awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for gallantry…Whilst serving in South Africa during the Boer War, Mathers was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Royal Scots on 27 July 1901. He was present at the actions at Magersfontein, Poplar Grove, Driefontein, Houtnek, Vet River, Zand River, Belfast and Lydenberg. From South Africa, Mathers now found himself taking part in a number of expeditions in West Africa, including the Aro Expedition 1901-02; operations in the Ngor country, South Nigeria 1902; Kano-Sokoto Campaign in North Nigeria 1903; in South Nigeria 1903, for which he was mentioned in despatches, L.G. 28 October 1904; against the natives of the Asaba Hinterland, and in the Kwale country (medal with 6 clasps). In the Great War Mathers won further honours being mentioned in despatches four times, awarded the D.S.O. for gallantry at Costaverne Line on 11 June 1917, and a bar to his D.S.O. for the action at Messines. He was severely wounded in action in 1917 and in the latter part of the war was appointed Commandant of a Rest Camp for which he was awarded the O.B.E. in 1919.
Images
References and notes
The information in our Rolls of Honour have been compiled using two primary sources: HMSO's Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914-19, Volume 39, The Border Regiment and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission database. These have been used for consistency to ensure that any transcriptions are as accurate as possible, with the exception of discrepancies between the two sources and typos that occur from time to time. Additional sources, where used, have been referenced separately below. For soldiers that survived the war, their details do not contain the memorial scroll and are not listed in the Rolls of Honour. However, each individual has his own remembrance page to be remembered with honour.

For the Lonsdale Battalion Roll of Honour a secondary and carefully researched source, The Lonsdale War Grave Project, has been used to fill in some gaps with information not available in the aforementioned sources. Permission has been kindly granted by the owner for use here. For further information about the fields used above see Notes and definitions for soldier remembrance pages.

  1. Mathers held the rank of Lieutenant Colonel between 20 September, 1915 and 26 July, 1917. He was invalided thereafter.
  2. Border Regiment Officers. Battalion Commanding Officers of the British Armies in the First World War. Accessed 24 April, 2020.
  3. 6th Battalion War Diary, September 1915
  4. "1919 Birthday Honours (OBE)". Wikipedia: The free encyclopaedia. Accessed 24 April, 2020
  5. London Gazette. 14 November, 1916.
  6. London Gazette. 17 September, 1917.
  7. National Records of Scotland. Record of birth; he was born in barracks in Aberdeen.
  8. National Records of Scotland. Record of death.
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