Notes
The Bradford Grammar School website (see References) states: 'Although he was born in Bradford on 2nd September 1892, Sam Breingan came of Scottish parentage and described himself as a Scot. His father Alexander William Breingan was from Alloa in central Scotland, where he had worked in a wool mill. His route to Bradford was an obscure one. In 1889 he married Mary Wallace Conchar in Birmingham where her father John, from south-west
Scotland, was a wine merchant and latterly a horsebreeder. By 1891 Alexander Breingan lived at 32 Victor Road in Bradford, a comfortable house near Lister Park which would be the family home for over twenty years. He was a wool merchant with premises in central Bradford. Alexander and Mary had four children. Sam was their second child and elder son. He started at Bradford Grammar School in September 1901 immediately after his ninth birthday. He was a talented pupil. At the end of his first year he took the form prize, and he twice skipped forms as he rose through the school on the Modern Side. He was clearly intended for a business career. In July 1907, the end of his final year, he was sixth overall in Sixth Remove Modern, taking first place in Geography and History, second in German and sixth in French. Sam left school before his 15th birthday, and in 1911 he was working as a ‘silk manufacturer’s assistant’, perhaps in the employ of Samuel Lister whose mill towered above Victor Road. When he enlisted in 1914 he gave his occupation as ‘clerk’, and later as ‘silk salesman’; however at the time he was also studying for entrance to Durham University.
At the outbreak of war Sam was one of the early volunteers in September for the Bradford Battalion, the 1st Pals. Within weeks he submitted his first application to become an officer, with the support of his former headmaster and his commanding officer. Although lacking military experience, he showed his enthusiasm by drilling the Bradford Volunteer Force. His stated preference was for the Dorset Regiment. His first applications were turned down for reasons unknown. He may have been considered insufficiently gentlemanly as he was unable to ride and he had not attended university. The C.O. of the Bradford Pals would not take him as he had served in the ranks. Alexander Breingan even enlisted the support of the M.P. for Alloa before in June 1915 Sam was granted a commission in the 3rd Battalion York
and Lancaster Regiment.
Second Lieutenant Breingan was sent to join his regiment’s 2nd Battalion on the Western Front in June 1916. It moved to the Somme in August and took part
in two major attacks during September, which Sam survived. After attending a Lewis Gun course he returned in early October. On the 9th, while his battalion was holding a newly captured trench near Lesboeufs, Sam was hit by shell fragments in his right thigh, forearm, neck and scalp. He was sent to hospital in Rouen for a week, then moved to Manchester. He was fortunate in that two days later his battalion suffered heavy casualties from machine
guns in an attack.
Sam’s individual wounds were small and healed soundly, although he complained of shooting pains in his back and what were described as ‘foreign bodies’ remained in his neck. In March 1917 he was passed fit for General Service and returned to the front, posted to his regiment’s 9th Battalion near Ypres. He was attached to ‘D’ Company. He had been with the battalion for a month when it returned to the line near Zillebeke. At about 5.30 am on 26th May a shell hit the company HQ dugout, wounding one officer and killing two more, including Sam. His body was buried in the nearby Railway Dugouts burial ground, also known as Transport Farm. The grave was marked with a wooden cross. Sam’s mother had already died
in 1913, and the shock of Sam’s loss may have hastened his father’s death in September 1917. His brother Alexander, also an OB, was in the newly formed O.T.C. and served in the Royal Flying Corps. He survived the war and settled in Australia.'