Ceremony To Honour Keith Soldiers

Two Keith-born soldiers who won Britain's highest honour for gallantry are to be commemorated at a ceremony at the local war memorial next month.

Inscribed paving stones bearing the names of John Ripley and George Sellar will be unveiled by the Vice Lord Lieutenant of Banffshire, Roger Goodyear, in the presence of invited guests, military representatives and members of the public.

The ceremony will take place on Saturday, May 9 - 100 years to the day since Corporal Ripley won the Victoria Cross while serving with the Black Watch in France during World War One.

His stone is one of nearly 630 commissioned by the UK government in honour of service personnel awarded the VC for valour during the 1914-18 war.

The Keith and District Heritage Group took the opportunity to commission a similar stone to commemorate Lance Cpl Sellar, who won the VC during the second Anglo-Afghan war in 1879.

The commemorative stones each bear the name of the recipient, his regiment and the date of the event for which the medal was awarded.

Ripley was born in Land Street in 1867 and worked locally in the textiles industry before moving away and becoming a railway porter in Dumbarton. He was 47 years old and a corporal in the 1st Battalion, The Black Watch when he led an assault on an enemy position before returning back to his own lines, despite having been shot in the leg and receiving a shrapnel injury to his head. He was one of the oldest men to receive the VC in the conflict.

Ripley was later promoted to sergeant and after the war returned to his home in St Andrews where he died in 1933 after falling from a ladder.

Sellar was born in Wellington Terrace in 1850 and was awarded the VC while serving in Afghanistan in December 1879. He was severely wounded while leading an attack on the enemy near Kabul but was able to continue his military career and in 1887 he was appointed a sergeant instructor with the 1st Sutherland and Caithness Highland Rifle Volunteers based at Lairg, where he died and was buried in 1889 aged 38.

Next month's dual commemoration will include a parade led by the Strathisla Pipe Band and members of the Keith branch of the Royal British Legion Scotland and will involve the closure to traffic of Union Street between Mid Street and Land Street and the section of Land Street from the Union Street junction to the A96. The road closure will apply from 10.30am to 12 noon, with the ceremony at the war memorial beginning at 11am.