Wilfred Blake Moyes

Military Medal

Wilfred was born in Strathblane on 29th January 1888, the son of the Rev. William Begbie Moyes, a Glasgow graduate, and his wife Clara. He seems to have spent some of his early years in England. The 1901 census finds him living at Hill House School in London, an independent establishment for boys. Later he became a pupil at Uppingham, a boarding school in Rutland, from where he went up to New College Oxford before returning to Scotland. In 1910 he matriculated in the Arts Faculty at the University of Glasgow. His academic path to an M.A. was a smooth one. He achieved first time passes in Latin and French in first year, Higher Latin, Logic and English in second year, and Geography and Roman Law in third year to complete his curriculum, graduating on 22nd November 1913. On his way through university he had also collected a prize, 4th place in Ordinary English. During these years he lived away from home, at addresses in Cranworth Street and Vinicombe Street. Graduation in Arts was not the end of his study plan, however. He matriculated again 1n 1913 in the Law Faculty. He had already included Roman Law in his Arts curriculum, and in March 1914 he added passes in Forensic Medicine and Civil Law. It was his intention to practice at the bar.

And then the war came. Wilfred enlisted right away, on 5th August, 1914, at Guildford, Surrey, in the 8th Battalion of the Queenâ€™s West Surrey Regiment, and quickly earned promotion through the ranks to Sergeant. He had a brave, at times painful war and was wounded several times, twice at Loos in 1915 and at Ypres in 1917, testifying to how much he was in the thick of things. On 22nd February, 1918, he was awarded the Military Medal, bestowed on non-commissioned ranks who had shown bravery in battle. A month later, on 26th March, he succumbed to the fatal injuries he had suffered in the field. Sergeant Moyes was 30. He was buried at St. Pierre Cemetery, Amiens. Though the exact circumstances are not known, his regiment was very much involved in repelling the onslaught of the German Spring Offensive of March 1918 and losses were heavy on the Somme. Wilfredâ€™s sacrifice is honoured on the Strathblane War Memorial, and of course by his alma mater, the University of Glasgow.