Two gallant soldiers who won Britain’s highest military honour will be commemorated in their birthplace next month.
Inscribed paving stones bearing the names of Keith-born John Ripley and George Sellar will be unveiled at the town’s war memorial by the Vice Lord Lieutenant of Banffshire, Roger Goodyear, in the presence of invited guests, military representatives and members of the public.
The ceremony will take place on Saturday, May 9 – 100 years to the day since Corporal Ripley won the Victoria Cross while serving with the Black Watch in France during World War One.
His stone is one of almost 630 commissioned by the UK government in honour of those who were awarded the VC during WWI.
The Keith and District Heritage Group took the opportunity to commission a similar stone to commemorate Lance Corporal Sellar, who won his VC during the second Anglo-Afghan war in 1879.
The monuments each bear the name of the recipient, his regiment and the date of the event for which the medal was awarded.
Ripley was born in Land Street in 1867 and worked locally in textiles before becoming a railway porter in Dumbarton. He was one of the oldest men to receive the VC at the age of 47. As a corporal in the 1st Battalion, Black Watch, he led an assault on an enemy position before returning back to his own lines, despite having been shot in the leg and receiving a shrapnel injury to his head.
Ripley was later promoted to sergeant and after the war returned to his home in St Andrews where he died in 1933 after falling from a ladder.
Sellar was born in Wellington Terrace in 1850 and was awarded the VC while serving in Afghanistan in December 1879. He was severely wounded while leading an attack near Kabul but was able to continue his military career and in 1887 he was appointed a sergeant instructor with the 1st Sutherland and Caithness Highland Rifle Volunteers based at Lairg, where he died and was buried in 1889 aged 38.
Next month’s commemoration will include a parade led by the Strathisla Pipe Band and members of the Keith branch of the Royal British Legion Scotland.
Union Street will be closed to traffic between Mid Street and Land Street, along with the section of Land Street from the Union Street junction to the A96 from 10.30am to noon.
The ceremony at the war memorial will begin at 11am.