George Ballantine, A & S Highlanders, died 30th January 1939 aged 62; eldest son Robert Mackenzie, killed on active service 18thDecember 1941 aged 29; wife Margaret Crocket Mackenzie died 31st May 1972 aged 91.
CWGC: Pte Robert McKenzie Ballantyne, service no. 3064111; 12th Bn. The Royal Scots; died 18 Dec. 1941; Z483
Robert McKenzie Ballantine was born in Stirling on 21 January 1912, the eldest son of George Ballantine, Colour Sergeant Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, and Margaret Crocket Mackenzie, who had married in Stirling in 1908. George Ballantine was born in Perth in 1876 and joined the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders c.1893. He served in India in the 1890s being awarded the India Medal with Punjab clasp and was recommended for a Long Service and Good Conduct Award in July 1911 which meant he had an unblemished record during 18 years service. He retired in 1914 after 21 years service only to re-join the regiment when war broke out later that year. He served as quarter master in the 13th battalion and finished the war with the honorary rank of captain.
After a spell in Perth, the family moved to Edinburgh and were living at 19 Marchmont Crescent by 1925. They moved to 16 Argyle Place in the late 1930s. George Ballantine was elected to Edinburgh Council for Broughton Ward in 1936 and was serving on the Council when he died suddenly in January 1939.
Robert was a school teacher. He married Margaret Grant Biggar McConnell, a hospital nurse, in Kingussie on 10 September 1940. He was killed while serving with the Royal Scots on Shetland when he was involved in a road accident. He suffered a fractured skull and died in Scalloway Military Hospital on 18 December 1941. His posthumous son, also named Robert McKenzie Ballantine, was born in Edinburgh seven months later.
Dundee Courier, Friday 5 December 1919 – Robert Ballantine’s father, George Ballantine, on his appointment as secretary and treasurer of Perth Burgh War Pensions Committee: