MacRae, Victor Charles James
Rank: Sergeant
Regiment: 4th Battalion Gordon Highlanders
Biography: Son of Donald MacRae, stationmaster ; born Inverness, 12 October 1892 ; educated Plockton Higher Grade Public School, and Aberdeen Grammar School; entered the University as 8th Bursar in 1910, graduated M.A., 1914, with First Class Honours in Classics, a remarkable performance, as by a chain of unforeseen circumstances, he had to undertake the necessary work within one year. His Professor wrote: "he was a strikingly able student". While still at the Grammar School, he had joined "D" (then the School) Company of the 4th Battalion Gordon Highlanders. With it he was mobilized in August 1914, and crossed to France in 1915. A few weeks later, on 21 April 1915, he was killed, while attempting to remove a wounded comrade from a dangerous corner. That sniper's bullet ended a career of unusual possibilities, for Victor MacRae had a brain and a personality that might have carried him to the top of almost any ladder he chose to climb. He had versatility without shallowness, and a humorous philosophy of life that would have kept him unchanged through any vicissitude.
Date of Death: 21 April 1915
Burial Details: Buried at Wytschaete Military Cemetery, Plot 2, Row F, Grave 4.
Publication: Roll of Service, edited by Mabel Desborough Allardyce. Published 1921.
If you have photographs of anyone listed in the Roll of Honour (preferably in service uniform) or have any questions about this resource, please email memoriam@abdn.ac.uk.