I have been looking to see if I can find anything about Captain Ballantyne. The case is stamped with the initials GHB. I have come up with a George Harrison Ballantyne. There are quite a few George Ballantynes but I only found one G. Ballantyne with a middle name Harrison. He was born on 5th June 1885 and died on 6th March 1920 at the age of 34. This Ballantyne family owned the March Street Mills in Peebles.
He appears in the Peebles Beltane Festival where G Harrison Ballantyne is listed as being Cornet in 1913. There are a few newspaper articles in the period prior to WW1 where he features as a performer in local concerts and musical events with his wife whom he married in 1910. In most of the entries, he is referred to as G. Harrison Ballantyne. Perhaps he didn’t like his first name and preferred to be known by his second name, who knows?
He was in the London Gazette April 20 1906 page 2749 as being made a Second Lieutenant in the 6th Volunteer Battalion, The Royal Scots (Lothian Regiment) on 11th April 1906.
He next appears in the December 15 1908 edition page 9563 being appointed to the 8th Battalion from the 6th Volunteer Battalion 1st April 1908.
He next appears in the March 21 1911 page 2336 as importing some dogs on 11th March 1911.
The next London Gazette entry I can find is in the issue dated June 22 1915 page 6032. It lists Captain George Harrison Ballantyne being transferred from the 8th Battalion Royal Scots (Lothian Regiment) to 7th (Fife) Battalion, The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) to be Captain (temporary) and Adjutant 10th May 1915. I haven't found any other entries but that doesn't mean there aren't any. His Regiment left for France from Haddington on 2nd November 1914. I found a brief reference to him being invalided home but not any details. I found a newspaper advert in 1919 in which his wife was seeking to employ a nurse, to care for Captain Ballantyne or another reason, I don’t know. He died a few months later.
I think this must be our man as there cannot be many G Harrison Ballantynes about. Being a Scotsman may account for the telescope as it would be the very thing to be used in deer stalking. The McLeod model name on the telescope hints at a Scottish connection and the telescope dates from this period. Being engraved with the Captain rank, perhaps he bought it during or after WW1 or he may have had it before the war and had it engraved to show that it was his so some light fingered fellow soldier could not claim it as his own. If he was wounded, perhaps it went missing from his kit and another soldier brought it home and kept it?
All the above may be about the wrong person but it seems to fit. If anyone else wants to do some research, please do so. Some information is behind pay walls. I found his death certificate, but you can’t read it but you can buy a copy for £12. That would tell us what he died of, wounds in France or hit by a bus in Peebles?
Now, how this came to be hanging on the wall of a gun club armoury in North Yorkshire decades later is a mystery. If only it could talk.
Peter.
