Lieut. Philip Hugh Ballantyne, 4th Sea.forths, killed in action on 28th October, 1918, was a son of the late Mr Ballantyne, headmaster of Zion Congregational School, Ripenden, and Mrs Ballantyne, School House, New Mill, Huddersfield. The late Lieut. Ballantyne at the outbreak of war was keenly anti-military, but when the reports of the atrocities were confirmed he enlisted at once to fight for the weak and oppressed. He joined as a private, and went to France early in November,1914, which entitled him to wear the Mons Star, and of which he was very proud. He was wounded at Neuve Chapelle in March, 1916, but recovered, and took part in the Festubert engagement in May. Subsequently he was recommended for a commission, and after training he was gazetted second-lieutenant in February, 1917, and for a second time he went to France in April of the same year. In September he had the misfortune to be wounded again, this time at Poelcapelle. Early in 1918 he was drafted to India, but was detained in Egypt till May, when he was ordered to return to England, and for a third time he went to France in May. During his military career he was through all the principal engagements with the exception of Messines Ridge and Cambrai, on both of which occasions he had been wounded, and was over in Blighty to recuperate. Just after four years of active service, invaluable to his country, he laid down his life near Valenciennes in the last great attack, which subsequently paralysed the Germans and made them sue for peace three weeks later. His body lies in an honoured grave at Famars, near Valenciennes.

Educated at Heath Grammar School, of which he was a distinguished scholar, he proceeded to Oxford, where in 1909 he obtained 15th place in the senior examination, being 5th in Greek and 8th in Latin. Leaving Oxford he was serving with the Metropolitan Asylums Board, London, when war broke out. Deceased was one of four soldiers sons. His elder brother. Captain James Ballantyne, was with the West Yorks, a younger brother, Lance-Corpl. Noel Ballantyne, was with the 5th Seaforths, and the youngest, John, was a wireless operator with the R.A.F. The late Lieut. Ballantyne was proud of his regiment and the fact that he was one of the famous 51st Division.
In his last letter to his mother, written on 26th September, 1918, Lieut. Ballantyne, who was a writer of remarkable power, gives a graphic pen picture of the days when the Germans were on the run. He writes: “I landed back to the Battalion on Tuesday night, and was fortunate enough to find them just coming out of the line. We are now in reserve just behind the line, in country out of which the Boche was cleared only a few days ago. The villages here are quite respectable, the houses whole and quite comfortable, and billets quite decent. There are also a good number of civilians just liberated from a four yearsí domination of the Boche, and as yet they donít quite seem to realise their freedom. They were cowed, timid creatures when we first came here but are improved now and get a bit of life. They’d been kept in the cellar while the Boche held the house. He took away all their bedding and all the clothes they had except what they actually wore or what they concealed by burying in their gardens and elsewhere. He even took the food the American Commission supplied them with and gave them his own diluted and artificial stuff. He confined them to their own villages and imprisoned them if they left their boundaries without a pass. The woman in my house has not seen her husband for four years, and so far has heard no word of him since July. She ís living in hopes of him turning up on leave one of these days. They lived in terror of us officers during the first few days, but now are quite normal, and are only too keen to talk to us and tell us of their experiences. Its a rare sight to see our boys helping them wheeling barrows for refugees and helping the old people across rickety bridges constructed over the ruins of those the Boche blew up. Itís pitiful, too, to see the clamouring crowds of puny, thin white-faced kiddies who cluster around the cookers at food times. They have taken properly to porridge and throng in shoals around the remnants. The folks here are now even spirited enough to jeer at their late oppressors as they pass here as prisoners. The boys, too, cheer them up, and the band is always sure of getting a rare welcome.”

In a letter to Mrs Ballantyne, the Colonel of her son’s Battalion writes: “It has been conveyed to you the extremely sad news of your son’s death. As your son’s C.O., I must write and tell you what a great loss it has been to everyone in the Battalion, and convey the heartfelt sympathy of everyone here. Quite recently I took him from all the officers in the Battalion and appointed him Intelligence Officer. It was during his duties as such that he was killed. He was one of the very best officers we ever had in the Battalion, and it is difficult indeed to replace him. Always cheerful and as brave as any man could be, he was beloved by officers and men alike.”