A full list of Gala Cricket Club players who served and sacrificed during World Wars I and II has been compiled for the very first time.

Thanks to help from the Heriots Cricket Archive, Gala have been able to track down 10 players who were killed during both World Wars.

And to honour their memory, the Meigle Park club will lay a poppy wreath bearing each players’ name this week, and ask its members to pay their respects at home this weekend for Remembrance Sunday.

Amongst those players who were identified was Ernest Samuel Roberts, who signed as a professional for Gala from Kent and played in 1914 before the season was curtailed by World War I. He was killed in August 1916 while serving in France.

There was also Thomas Dorward, who was capped by Scotland at rugby but sadly passed away in 1941 from wounds received in World War II while serving in the Royal Air Force. His brother Arthur also played for Gala CC and the Scotland rugby team.

Two former captains – Charles William Brown and Alexander Douglas MacLachlan – are also amongst the fallen during World War I and World War II respectively.

Kenny Paterson, Gala CC Secretary, said: “We believe this is the first time a comprehensive list of players who passed away during World Wars I and II has ever been complied on behalf of the club.

“We must thank Charlie Clark from Heriots Cricket Archive for his assistance recording all of these players.

“While Covid-19 restrictions mean we cannot hold a ceremony this year, we still wished to honour these men, majority of whom were under 30 years of age.

“Alongside the wreath bearing their names being laid, we ask our members to take part in Remembrance Sunday’s two minute silence at home.”

The full list of Gala CC players who served and sacrificed in World War I and II is as follows:

World War I

·         James Stewart Andison – Kings Own Scottish Borderers

·         Charles William Brown – Kings Own Scottish Borderers

·         William Oliver Bennett – Kings Own Scottish Borderers

·         Robert Gordon – Machine Gun Corps

·         William Paterson – Kings Own Scottish Borderers

·         Ernest Samuel Roberts – 1^st Kent Cyclist Battalion

·         Adam Smail – Kings Own Scottish Borderers

World War II

·         Alexander Douglas MacLachlan – Merchant Navy, M.V. Scottish Maiden

·         Thomas Fairgrieve Dorward – Royal Air Force

·         Joseph Watson – Scots Guards