Mackintosh, Ewart Alan

(1893-1917)

   Born in Brighton, Sussex, of Highland parents, he was educated at St. Paul's School and read classics at Christ Church College, Oxford. Commissioned into the 5th Battalion Seaforth Highlanders in December 1914, he joined the Battalion at Laventie, France, in July 1915. He played the pipes, spoke Gaelic, and was loved by his men, who affectionately called him "Tosh." Within ten months he was awarded the Military Cross at the battle of the Somme for carrying wounded Private David Sutherland through 100 yards of German trenches, although the solider died. Wounded, gassed, and sent home for recuperation, Macintosh insisted on returning to France to join the 4th Battalion Seaforth Highlanders. He was killed in the village of Fantaine Notre-Dame during the Battle of Cambrai. Along with Charles Hamilton Sorley (see entry) he was regarded as one of Scotland's finest war poets. Some of his poems: "Before the Summer," "Cha Till Maccruimein [Departure of the 4th Camerons]" (thought to herald his own death), "Farewell," "In Memoriam R.M. Stalker, Missing, September 1916," "In Memoriam, Private D. Sutherland."

   Sources: A Little Book of Scottish Verse. Chronicle Books, 1993. Clan of the Cat: Ewart Alan Mackintosh (http://a2fister2000.tripod.com/id66.htm). Never Such Innocence: A New Antholog y of Great War Verse. Martin Stephen, ed. Buchan and Enright, 1988. Poetry of the First World War: Scottish Poets. Ewart Alan Mackintosh (http://www.scuttlebuttsmallchow.com/listscot.html). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Overshadowed and Surprising (http://www.lib.byu.edu/Mackintosh, Ewart Alanenglish/WWI/over/over.html). The Oxford Book of Friendship. D.J. Enright and David Rawlinson, ed. Oxford University Press, 1991.