(Celtic cross). Sacred to the memory of Lt. Col. William Miller of Madras Army died 23 December 1893 aged 51; Elizabeth Miller, wife of Rev. Norman Nicolson Mackay, died 8th October 1919; Norman Nicolson Mackay 2/5 Battn. Seaforth Highlanders, died from wounds 25 November 1916, aged 30.
Base. William Henry Miller Captain 74th Punjabs, killed in action in Mesopotamia 18th April 1916 aged 28; Hugh Miller Captain Madras Native Infantry died 4th December 1920, aged 45.
CWGC: Private N N Mackay, service no. S/40032; Seaforth Highlanders Depot; d. 25 November 1916, a. 30; K 531
Norman Nicolson Mackay was born in Lochinver on 24 February 1886, the youngest son of the Rev. Norman Nicolson Mackay, Minister of Lochinver Free Church 1874-1909, and his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of the geologist Hugh Miller, who is one of the “Notables” buried in the Grange Cemetery.
Norman attended Glasgow Academy c.1901-c.1903. In the 1901 census he was living in Partick with his brother Patrick, who was 24 and apprenticed to an architect, and sister Lydia (27), two more brothers (Calum, 22, a student of arts and William, 16, a scholar), and an 11 year old cousin, Ludwig, who had been born in India.
Norman studied at Edinburgh University 1910-12 before going to the Malay States in December 1912 to work as Assistant on the Sungei Krian Rubber Estate, near Penang. He returned to Britain and joined the Seaforth Highlanders in March 1916 and served with the Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders from July. He was wounded in action on the Somme in October and died in Springburn Hospital, Glasgow, on 25 November 1916. He had been nominated for a commission in the 9th Royal Scots, and was about to be recalled for training when he was wounded. According to de Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour, he was a keen lover of open-air Highland life, being a daring mountaineer and an expert boatman.