The sources for uncited facts about Buchan’s life are ancestry.com and the Scotland’s People site. Otherwise, source links are included within.
November 1916
Buchan Littlejohn is up first in the book Castle Gate, in the Prologue, as he introduces us to the curse and his sister Helen.
By the way, Buchan is pronounced BUH-hin. This is a close approximation of how to spell the sound of “CH” in Scotland, which is demonstrated most commonly in the word “loch”, sort of a throaty, hard H.
Buchan was born on May 18, 1894, in a miner’s row at Springside Square, at 4AM in Dreghorn Parish, Ayrshire, Scotland. His father, William, was 45 and his mother, Jeanie, was 43. He was the last of thirteen children born into their family. In all, Buchan had six brothers and six sisters (two of these siblings died before he was born).
One who died was an older brother, also named Buchan, who was born in December 1891 and died three weeks later of “infantile convulsions” in 1892.
The other deceased sibling was a sister named Helen, who was born in 1873 and died at age 5 of scarlet fever in 1878. (Another sister, born in 1884, was also named Helen and she’s next in order of appearance in the book Castle Gate.)
Jeanie Littlejohn, Buchan’s mother, passed away after a stroke on April 25, 1899, at the age of 48, when he was just 4.
According to the 1901 census, Buchan (age 7) was listed as the son of the Head of House, with seven of his siblings still living at home. His father’s occupation was “Coal Miner – Brusher” and the family lived at 24 Warwickhill Rows, still in Dreghorn, about a half mile from Springside Square. They moved after Jeanie died, as her last address was Springside Square.
The 1911 census, when Buchan was 17, has him living in Dreghorn with his father (a “retired coalminer”), his brother Hugh and sister Lizzie. Buchan’s occupation was listed as “coalminer drawer”. They lived at 24 Springhill Six Rows, Dreghorn, Ayrshire, Scotland. This was the same place as Warwickhill Rows, but renamed.
William Littlejohn, Buchan’s father, passed away from bronchitis when Buchan was 18, on February 8, 1913, at the age of 64. A month later, March 21, 1913, Buchan stood as witness for his brother Hugh’s wedding.
In August, his sister Lizzie married John Lundie, so Buchan moved to Coalburn, Lanarkshire to live with his sister Helen and her husband, Will Garroch. Buchan was 19 at the time. Their address was 17 Railway Terrace.
On September 4, 1914 at age 20, Buchan enlisted in the military, shortly after the start of the Great War (later known as WWI). He joined the Royal Scots Fusiliers, enlisting in the town of Ayr. He was sent to France after training — his first disembarkation in France was with the 1st Battalion RSF on June 8, 1915, when he was 21 years old.
On July 31, 1915 the Kilmarnock Standard reported that he was wounded and sent home to convalescence. He returned to the front in March 1916, after eight months at home.
Buchan was killed in action in the attack on Bayonet Trench, Battle of the Somme, on October 12, 1916, in France at the age of 22.
- The 30th Division attacked on the left of XV Corps with the 2nd Royal Scots Fusiliers and the 17th Manchester of the 90th Brigade. The Royal Scots managed only to advance 150 yards (140 m) into machine-gun fire and then withdrew as some parties of the 17th Manchester got into Bayonet Trench before retiring.
He was buried in Flers-sur-Noye, Somme, France, not far from where he and so many others were killed.
His sister Helen received Buchan’s “War Gratuity”, being his next of kin, in the amount of 9 pounds. That equals about $475 in 2021 dollars. He was posthumously awarded three medals: 1914/15 Star, British War and Victory medals.
Buchan’s name is listed on the Dreghorn WWI war memorial and a WWI Memorial Plaque was commissioned in his name and sent to Helen, his next of kin.
That plaque miraculously ended up in the hands of Buchan’s great-grand niece Lisa Bonnice, the author of Castle Gate, through an amazing series of events. Read it here:
Castle Gate - The Book 