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George Boyd McArthur
Trooper 3545 B Squadron 1st Life Guards
Born 19 May 1895 Old Fargie, Gatehouse, Fife, Scotland.
Died 23 December 1917, France.
George Boyd Mc Arthur was the son of James and Mary (nee Boyd) McArthur and was born at Old Fargie (Farm), Arngask (Glenfarg), Perthshire, on 19 May 1895. His father was a farmer, and his parents had married on 22 December 1891 in Dollar.
The 1901 census shows the family living at Forresters Seat, Old Fargie, his father aged 35 and his mother 36, with siblings Peter aged 8, Mary aged 3 and James aged 1.
The 1911 census shows the family at Old Fargie Farmhouse, Peter working on the farm whilst George and his siblings are still at school.
George enlisted at Perth and on 19 October 1915 entered the theatre of war in France with a cavalry regiment, the Ist Life Guards.
The regiment had been heavily involved at the First Battle of Ypres (October-November 1914) and Second Ypres (April-May 1915), but George McArthur's first experience may have been the battles of Loos (September-October 1915) and Arras (April 1917). At other times, the regiment took its turn in holding various sections of the front line trenches. The exact place and circumstances of George McArthur's death are unknown, but records show that he died of wounds on 23 December 1917.
In the old Arngask Parish Churchyard in Glenfarg for many years stood a metal cross, formed over a wooden core, with beneath it a stone bearing a metal plaque:
'Original cross erected in memory of George Boyd McArthur, killed in action 21 December 1917 [sic], buried at Vadencourt British Cemetery, Maissemy, France.'
Over the years the cross has disintegrated, but the plaque remains.