THE VICTORIA CROSS AND CAMPAIGN MEDALS AWARDED TO SERGEANT PIPER DANIEL LAIDLAW, 7TH BN, KING'S OWN SCOTTISH BORDERERS, HAVE BEEN DONATED TO THE NATIONAL WAR MUSEUM IN EDINBURGH CASTLE
25 September 2005


( select to enlarge )
Medal entitlement of Sergeant Piper Daniel Laidlaw,
7th Bn, King's Own Scottish Borderers

  • Victoria Cross
  • 1914-15 Star
  • British War Medal ( 1914-20 )
  • Victory Medal ( 1914-19 ) + MiD Oakleaf
  • Defence Medal ( 1939-45 )
  • King George VI Coronation Medal ( 1937 )
  • Croix de Guerre ( France )


At a low-key ceremony held at the Loos Museum, Belgium, and on the 90th Anniversary of Daniel Laidlaw's VC action, his grandson Victor Laidlaw donated his grandfather's Victoria Cross and other campaign medals to Scotland's National War Museum based in Edinburgh Castle.


Speaking ahead of the ceremony, Victor Laidlaw said "My late father, also a piper, represented my grandfather for many years at official functions, like the Centenary celebrations of the award of the Victoria Cross in 1956." Laidlaw said his father was adamant the VC should eventually go on display and not be kept in a bank vault. Unfortunately, Daniel Laidlaw's old regiment, the King's Own Scottish Borderers, could not accept and display the VC owing to insurance and security problems. Instead, an arrangement has been made to donate the VC group - one of only eleven VCs gifted to the nation - to the National War Museum in Edinburgh.


For the award of the Victoria Cross

[ London Gazette, 18 November 1915 ], Loos, France, 25 September 1915, No. 15851 Piper Daniel Laidlaw, 7th Battalion, King's Own Scottish Borderers.

"For most conspicuous bravery prior to an assault on German trenches near Loos and Hill 70 on 25 September 1915. During the worst of the bombardment, Piper Laidlaw, seeing that his company was badly shaken from the effects of gas, with absolute coolness and disregard of danger, mounted the parapet, marched up and down and played company out of the trench. The effect of his splendid example was immediate and the company dashed out to the assault. Piper Laidlaw continued playing his pipes until he was wounded."

Daniel Laidlaw was invested with his Victoria Cross by King George V at Buckingham Palace on the 3rd February 1916.


Daniel Laidlaw died peacefully in 1950, aged 74, in Shoresedean, near Norham, Northumberland, and was buried in an unmarked grave in St. Cuthbert's Churchyrd. There is a memorial plaque within the church.

A ceremony took place at St. Cuthbert's Churchyard, Norham, Northumberland, on 2nd June 2002 to place a headstone over the grave of Piper Daniel Laidlaw VC - "The Piper of Loos". The project was organised by the King's Own Scottish Borderer's Museum in Berwick-on-Tweed and by members of the Laidlaw family.

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Iain Stewart, 25 September 2005