He first saw active service in the Zulu War of 1879-80 having been commissioned from Sandhurst the year before into the 57th Foot (later Middlesex Regiment). Having transferred to the Cameronians he served in South Africa and was severely wounded at Spion Kop; thereafter he needed to use a stick when walking but having commanded the Territorial 156th Brigade in the 52nd Lowland Division he insisted on going to Gallipoli with them> His brigade was thrown into a badly prepared attack at Helles on 28 June 1915 and when the first two waves had been destroyed he reported as such to de Lisle the divisional Commander who ordered the attack to be resumed. Scott-Moncrieff led his old regiment , with its commanding officer, into a storm of fire and fell at their head, as did virtually every other officer and man.

Brigadier General William Scott-Moncrieff of the 156th Brigade Lowland Division who lies in Twelve Tree
Copse Cemetery in Turkey. He was first commissioned in May 1878 and served in the Zulu War and Boer
War. Wounded at Spion Kop he came out of retirement in 1914 and fell on the 28th June 1915 aged 57
whilst assaulting Turkish positions in the Gallipoli campaign.

TWELVE TREE COPSE CEMETERY & MEMORIAL INSCRIPTION.

Brigadier General William Scott-Moncrieff cmdg. 156th Brigade, 52nd (Lowland) Division
- Killed 28th June 1915, aged 57.
- First commissioned into 57th Foot in May 1878, and served in Zulu War and Boer War. Severely wounded at Spion Kop, which left him lame.
- Recalled from retirement in 1914, and given command of 156th Brigade.
- Killed when his brigade assaulted the Turkish positions. The Bde lost 72 oficers and 1,281 men in this battle, including Lt-Cols H.M.Hannan & J.B.Wilson of the Cameronians, mentioned elsewhere on this page.
- Lt-Col W.C.Peebles DSO wrote:
" ... he personally led the last two companies [of 1/7th Cameronians] by a forward sap, now marked sap 30, and was killed as the sap began to emerge on to the surface level."