(based on a flyer posted on Tower Wharf Residents’ Association’s website – thank you!)

At 6:49 on 22 May 1915 a troop-train carrying 498 members of the 1st/7th (Leith) Battalion, The Royal Scots, en route to Liverpool to embark for Gallipoli crashed into a local train parked on the wrong line, at Quintinshill, just north of Gretna. A minute later a Glasgow-bound express ploughed into the wreckage. 216 men from the Battalion died and a further 220 were injured in the crash and ensuing fire. Nearly all came from Leith, Musselburgh and Portbello. It is still by far the worst accident for casualties in the history of railways in briatin. Most of those who died were buried in a communal grave in Rosebank Cemetery, Pilrig Street, where a memorial Cross and Plaques commemorate all 216 who died.  Continue reading →