A SOLDIER’s 'valour in the face of the enemy’ during the Great War will be set in stone next year.

Lieutenant-Colonel Angus Douglas-Hamilton of Weirbank, Melrose was killed during the Battle of Loos in 1915 as he charged the enemy for the fourth time at the head of just 50 soldiers left from his battalion. His action helped to check the German attack.

His gallantry and leadership was recognised with the posthumous honour of the highest military medal for bravery the Victoria Cross, awarded for valour in the face of the enemy.

On the centenary of the award next year, a specially designed VC pavement slab will be laid in Melrose.

The design will also incorporate an electronic reader which people will be able to scan using smartphones or tablets to discover more information about the VC recipient.

More than 400 communities across the United Kingdom will commemorate those First World War soldiers who were awarded the Victoria Cross.

Born at Brighton in 1863, he was the son of Major General Octavius Douglas-Hamilton and Katherine Macleod, and a great-great-grandson of Lt.Gen.James Douglas-Hamilton, fourth Duke of Hamilton and first Duke of Brandon.

Douglas-Hamilton was educated at Foster’s Naval Preparatory School, and latterly at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.

Having been commissioned into the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders in 1884, he served in the Sudan, Gibraltar, Malta, South Africa, North China, and India, attaining the rank of major by 1901. He retired in 1912, whilst remaining on the army’s reserve list.

In 1914, at the outbreak of the First World War, he was 52-years-old, recalled to serve and promoted as a temporary Lieutenant-Colonel in the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders Reserve of Officers, commanding the 6th Battalion.

His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Regimental Museum of Queen’s Own Highlanders (Seaforth and Camerons), Fort George, Inverness-shire.