Captain Edward Simpson Botterell was 22 year old salesman and an accomplished athlete originally from Ottawa when he attested as a Private soldier into the 15^th Battalion at Valcartier in September 1914.

He was serving in No. 3 Company at 2^nd Ypres and initially reported as MIA when that Company was gassed and overrun.  He was promoted to Corporal and following the battle of Festubert in May he was promoted again to Sergeant.  In November he was commissioned from the ranks to Lieutenant and sent to Officer Cadet school in the UK. He suffered a stricture during training and remained in hospital in the UK before rejoining the Battalion in January 1916. Lieutenant Botterell was wounded during the counterattack against Observatory ridge on June 3^rd but quickly rejoined the unit.  Having risen through the ranks, he was one of the battalion’s most popular officers, especially amongst the men in No. 3 Company.

Regrettably he was killed inaction at Hill 60 on June 24^th from a gun shot wound to the head. Lieutenant Botterell is buried at Lijssenthoek next to General Mercer and in the same row as Lieutenant Colonel William Marshall who also died at Hill 60 the month before in the same manner. He was promoted Captain posthumously.

Lieutenant Botterell’s younger brother Lieutenant Henry Botterell was a pilot in the RNAS and until his death in 2003 was the last known fighter pilot from WW1. His son Edward Botterell (named after his uncle) has been a close friend to and supporter of the 15^th Battalion Memorial Project since 2010 when he attended the dedication of the 15^th Battalion memorial on Gravenstafel ridge where his uncle fought in April 1915. He also delivered the ‘Exhortation’ at the 48^th Highlander’s Queen’s Park Cenotaph on the 100^th anniversary of the gas attack on April 24, 2015.

He was promoted Captain posthumously.

At this point in the war battalions were still commonly erecting ‘regimental’ crosses/markers made by unit carpenters over the graves of their Fallen and this was the case with Corporal Faultless.  The 15^th Battalion Memorial Project has photographs from this period of the grave markers for Cpl WE Faultless, Lieutenant Botterell, Lieutenant Colonel Marshall and Sergeant Haley. The battalion had obviously adopted a celtic style cross for its markers which in itself is not unusual as celtic type crosses were traditionally used in England and many CEF battalions used it for their Fallen. However, the 15^th Battalion’s celtic cross had a distinctive black mourning ribbon painted on the lower shaft of the cross – something that we have not found on images of other unit’s crosses. It is also interesting to note that the large battalion Vimy cross erected on 10 April near Nine Elms and which now resides in the Regimental Museum is simply a larger scale but exact copy of these earlier celtic crosses (less the mourning ribbon).

NOK: Son of Henry H. and Annie Botterell, of Woodroffe, Ontario. Native of Ottawa.