YOUNG COLONSAY SOLDIER'S DEATH IN FRANCE
LANCE-CORPORAL NICOL MACNEILL
Canadian Highlanders

Mr. and Mrs. Donald MacNeill, Lower Kilchattan, have had official indication of the death on13th April, from pneumonia, of their youngest son Nicol, Lance-Corporal in the 13th Battalion, Royal Highlanders, Canadian Contingent. They had previously been notified that their son had been admitted to No. 7 Casualty Clearing Station on the 29th March, suffering from measles and pneumonia. From subsequent communications they had the comfort of knowing that he had been carefully and tenderly nursed. Kind and sympathetic letters from the sister-in-charge showed that they were all fond of Nicol, and that all along he was a good, grateful patient.

Deceased, who was 24 years of age, was an earnest young man of high principle, and sanguine hopes, for a successful career had been cherished for him by all who knew him. He was a diligent student, the education he received here being supplemented by several seasons at Skerry's College, where he acquitted himself with credit. He manifested considerable interest in his native tongue, winning some years ago the Mod prize for the best paper on Gaelic place-names.

For the last three years Lance-Corporal MacNeill had been employed in the Dominion Bank of Canada, being latterly stationed at Montreal. When the war broke out he volunteered for active service and came over with the first Canadian Contingent. Letters received from him after landing on the Continent narrate his experiences of trench life. Deceased came from an intellectual family, several of his father's brothers turning out brilliant students in their youth. Quite a gloom was cast of the whole island when the sad intelligence of his death reached the home of Lance-Corporal MacNeill, and the heartfelt sympathy of the entire community goes out to his sorrowing parents, brothers and sisters. A brother and two sisters reside in Saskatchewan, Canada.

In their bereavement the family must find solace in the thought that the son and brother whose mortal remains rest in France had a noble and honourable sense of duty, and did not hesitate to carry out his ideal of patriotism.