The Quintinshill Rail Disaster 22 May 1915

David will examine the events surrounding the notorious multi-train rail crash at Quintinshill Junction, near Gretna, when a southbound troop train carrying territorials of the Leith based 1/7th Royal Scots slammed into a local service. With over 220 dead, and a similar number injured, it remains the worst crash in the history of the railways in Britain.

Overwhelmingly in the majority of fatalities, the dead of the Royal Scots were returned to Leith and interred in a mass grave at Rosebank cemetery amid emotional scenes. In a lesser known event, a number of unidentified victims were buried in Glasgow's Western Necropolis.

David will look at the tragic sequence of events on 22 May 1915, the response of local people in supporting the casualties, as well as the controversy surrounding the subsequent actions by the rail company and the authorities.

David Carter is a retired teacher and a volunteer researcher for the Royal Fusiliers Museum, Tower of London. He is the author of two books, including - "The Stockbrokers' Battalion in the Great War, a history of the 10th (Service) Battalion Royal Fusiliers".

He lives in Cumbria.