William Davidson Bissett was born on 7 August 1893 at Bauchland, St. Martin’s near Balbeggie. He was the eldest son of John (Plumber) and Helen Bissett, 18 Strathmore Street, Bridgend, Perth.
Cadet William Davidson Bissett was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders on 19 December 1916 and later promoted to Lieutenant in C Company, of the 1/6th Battalion. On 25 October 1918, 17 days before the Armistice was signed ending World War One, the 25-year-old William Bisset led his company in action against the retreating German Army at Maing in Northern France, near the Belgium border.
Lieutenant Bissett set out before dawn; due to heavy causalities he was the only officer left to command. He decided that the assigned objective they had reached would be difficult to hold, there being no field of fire. He reconnoitred with Sergeant W. Cunningham and Sergeant A. Sinclair and led his men to an open position in front of the railway line. This was observed by an enemy aeroplane and soon afterwards a heavy ‘box’ barrage of high velocity explosives and gas shells were fired at them. The enemy held positions in the trench on Bissett’s left front and above him on the slope of a ridge.
The Germans were observed bringing up strong reserves to their front, some had got round on their right and were harassing them with machine gun fire. Lieutenant Bissett ordered the retiral back to the railway line to save them from being surrounded. The Germans continued to advance and Lieutenant Bissett with his thirty-two men, all out of ammunition, fixed bayonets and got ready to charge in a last hope of repelling the enemy’s attack. The odds were about thirty to one as they mustered on the bluff facing the village of Famars. Lieutenant Bissett bravely waved his empty pistol, determined to go forward with his men feinting being strong enough to attack. Their charge was brilliantly carried out but with heavy loss and the Germans retired on the village having lost their positions. This action gained for the Division an advance of four hundred yards and Lieutenant Bissett was awarded the Victoria Cross which was presented to him by King George V at Buckingham Palace on 10 July 1919.
The London Gazette of 3 January 1919 reported that:
“For most conspicuous bravery and leadership East of Maing on the 25th October 1918, when in command of a platoon, which he led to its objective with great dash.
Later, owing to casualties, he took command of the company and handled it with great skill after a determined enemy counterattack had turned his left flank. Realising the danger, he withdrew to the railway, thus “temporarily saving the situation. The enemy, however, continued to advance in force after his men had exhausted their ammunition. Thereupon, under heavy fire, he mounted the railway embankment, and, calling upon his men to charge with the bayonet, drove back the enemy with heavy loss, and later, again charging forward, established his line.
By his splendid example and fine leadership Lt. Bissett was the means of saving a critical situation.”
During World War Two he re-enlisted, and at the end of the war on 25 September 1945 he was gazetted as: War Subs. Capt. W. D. BISSETT, V.C. (108084), having exceeded the age limit of liability to recall, relinquishes his commn., 23rd Sept. 1945, and is granted the hon. rank of Maj. Major Bisset served with the Royal Ordnance Corps and Royal Pioneer Corps.
William Bissett died in Wrexham, Wales on 12 May 1971. After his cremation at Pentrebychan Crematorium, his ashes were interred in Aldershot Military Cemetery in Aldershot Military Town, Hampshire, England. William Bissett’s Victoria Cross and medals were donated to and are displayed at the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders Museum in Stirling Castle, Scotland. Lieutenant William Bissett was also awarded the French Croix de Guerre, in December 1919.
In 2018, a hundred years after William Bisset won the VC, there was a church service at St. Martin’s Church and a ceremony to unveil a commemorative paving stone at the WW1 Memorial in the village. The mayor and deputy mayor from the town of Famars were present and a commemorative stone was also laid in Famars to honour William Davidson Bisset.
