Exhibition from Saturday May 3 to Friday May 23 at the Thomas Graham Community Library, Strathblane (during opening hours) To mark the 80th Anniversary of VE Day (8 May 1945), Strathblane Heritage presents an exhibition telling the stories of seven local servicemen...
STRATHBLANE WW1 PROJECT: 27 JOHN DILLON, PRIVATE ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL CORPS, AGED 24. John's CWGC gravestone in France with a poignant inscription from his family Colonel Otto Elsner with "A" Section of 129th Field Ambulance "somewhere in Flanders" As Elsner names John...
STRATHBLANE WW1 PROJECT: 26 PHILIP BINNIE, SECOND LIEUTENANT SCOTTISH RIFLES, AGED 27. Park Terrace, Strathblane, where the Binnie family had their second home.It was demolished to make way for local authority housing in Park Place. “He spent a short holiday in the...
STRATHBLANE WW1 PROJECT: 25 ERIC FERNANDEZ YARROW, LIEUTENANT ARGYLL & SUTHERLAND HIGHLANDERS, AGED 20. In 1914 Eric could have avoided war service but it wasn't his style. Here, writing soon after war was declared, he begs his father to allow him to "jion (sic),...
STRATHBLANE FIRST WORLD WAR PROJECT: 24 FERGUSON THOMSON, PRIVATE, SCOTS GUARDS, AGED 22. Private Fergie Thomson The Thomson family assembled en masse, probably for the wedding of Annie (back row, second from left) in September 1906. Fergie, aged ten (front row,...
STRATHBLANE WORLD WAR 1: 23 MICHAEL STEWART, PRIVATE KING’S LIVERPOOL REGIMENT, AGED 29. The glasshouses at Dinneiddwg, the mansion in Mugdock where Michael worked as second gardener Michael joined Lowland Division Cycle Corps but was soon transferred to the Army...
STRATHBLANE WW1 PROJECT: 22 ARCHIBALD (ARCHIE) LAMONT SCOTT, PRIVATE MACHINE GUN CORPS, AGED 27. Machine Gun Corps Archie Scott The Machine Gun Corps Memorial at Hyde Park Corner.The boy David is flanked by real Vickers machine guns encased in bronze. “He was a fine...
STRATHBLANE FIRST WORLD WAR PROJECT: 21 JAMES ROBB, TROOPER, LIFE GUARDS (HOUSEHOLD BATTALION), AGED 21. Household Battalion “Having gone into this action 498 men strong, the Household Battalion suffered 348 casualties. 13 officers were also hit. The majority of these...
STRATHBLANE FIRST WORLD WAR PROJECT: 20 ROBERT RIGG, CORPORAL GORDON HIGHLANDERS, AGED 21. Robert Rigg's grave In the early 20th century, well-heeled families in the Strathblane area began swapping their horse drawn carriages for motor cars. Some of those, including...
STRATHBLANE FIRST WORLD WAR PROJECT: 19 COLIN OGILVIE RANKIN, LANCE CORPORAL HIGHLAND LIGHT INFANTRY, AGED 27. Troops going over the top in 1917 at Arras where Colin was killed on April 25. Postcard ofOld Edenkiln in Dumbrock Road, Strathblane, where Colin grew up and...
STRATHBLANE FIRST WORLD WAR PROJECT: 18 WILLIAM PATERSON, PRIVATE ARGYLL & SUTHERLAND HIGHLANDERS, AGED 27. Above: Williams attestation papers from November 22 1915, when the family was staying in Balfron Memorial to the 51st Highland Division with Gaelic...
STRATHBLANE WW1 PROJECT: 17 ROBERT ROWLEY ORR, CAPTAIN ARGYLL & SUTHERLAND HIGHLANDERS/ROYAL FLYING CORPS, AGED 30. Captain Robert Baird Rowley Orr Robert's Commonwealth War Grave at Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, Belgium Painting by Frederick Alsop of...
STRATHBLANE FIRST WORLD WAR PROJECT: 16 DONALD JOHNSON MCNEIL, SERGEANT 1ST BLACK WATCH (ROYAL HIGHLANDERS), AGED 24. The Stirling Observers lurid account of December 5 1914 describes the stirrup charge in its report of Donald's death. The entirely mythical "stirrup...
STRATHBLANE WW1 PROJECT: 15 JAMES MACINTYRE, PRIVATE SEAFORTH HIGHLANDERS, AGED 19. The atlas from his Aunt Rhoda that James took to war The pressed wild rosebud marked "Ardlui June 1916" The calendar tab for September 1916 on which James was marking off his days in...
STRATHBLANE FIRST WORLD WAR PROJECT: 14 DONALD MCINTYRE, TROOPER LOVAT SCOUTS, AGED 23. The Blairquhosh Meikle Tree and Donald's childhood home Report of Donald's death in the Southern Reporter. Floors Castle where Donald worked as a gardener. “Both as a civilian and...
STRATHBLANE WW1 PROJECT: 13 JOHN MCCULLOCH, PRIVATE ARGYLL & SUTHERLAND HIGHLANDERS, AGED 34. Left: Report of John's death in the Milngavie & Bearsden Herald. Immediately beneath there is an item about soldiers' pay being increased to 1s 6d a day after six...
STRATHBLANE FIRST WORLD WAR PROJECT: 12 WILFRID BLAKE MOYES, SERGEANT 8th ROYAL WEST SURREY REGIMENT, AGED 30. Wilfrid Moyes 1881 painting by local artist Frederick Alsop with the Manse where Wilfrid grew up in the foreground. Dumgoyne looms in the distance. Wilfrid's...
STRATHBLANE WORLD WAR ONE PROJECT: 11 DANIEL MORRISON, PRIVATE KING’S OWN SCOTTISH BORDERERS, AGED 38 Daniel Morrison Tyne Cot Memorial Daniel Morrison M&B Herald October 1917 Tyne Cot, Zonnebeke, Belgium “Of a quiet and retiring disposition, he put his heart into...
STRATHBLANE WW1 PROJECT: 10 ALEXANDER MITCHELL, PRIVATE CAMERONIANS (SCOTTISH RIFLES), AGED 36. Silk postcards sent by Sandy Mitchell to his wife at Duntreath Alexander Mitchel- family grave Strichen Parish Churchyard, Aberdeenshire Sandra Mitchell, Sandy's...
STRATHBLANE WORLD WAR 1 PROJECT: 9 ALEXANDER LOWE, SAPPER ROYAL ENGINEERS, AGED 25 Alex Lowe's grave Steam train on the Somme 1918 with men ofthe Railway Operating Division Effie Lowe (MOBE) in her QMAAC uniform The lodge at Parklea (now Blanefield House) where Alex...
STRATHBLANE WW1 Project: 8 WILLIAM KER LIEUTENANT HAWKE BATTALION ROYAL NAVAL DIVISION, AGED 24. William Ker William Ker RND 1916 Christmas Card “I crossed the blood red ribbon, that once was no man’s land, I saw a misty daybreak and a creeping minute-hand; And here...
STRATHBLANE FIRST WORLD WAR PROJECT: 7 WILLIAM GEORGE EDMONSTONE, LIEUTENANT COLDSTREAM GUARDS, AGED 19. Willie, aged 15, towers over his classmates in Eton's Officer Training Corps his much-loved cousin Enid Dudley Ward The oil painting ofWillie that hangs in...
STRATHBLANE FIRST WORLD WAR PROJECT: 6 GEORGE DON, GUNNER ROYAL GARRISON ARTILLERY, AGED 35. 82 Howitzer , 39th Siege Battery RGA,(George Don) “It was George’s wretched luck that married men under 41 were conscripted into the British Army on May 25 1916, less than...
STRATHBLANE FIRST WORLD WAR PROJECT: 5 WILLIAM DEVLYN, PRIVATE HIGHLAND LIGHT INFANTRY, AGED 22. Private William Devlyn, Highland Light Infantry, aged 22 Burnside, Station Road, Blanefield, home of William's mother, Jessie The Mons Star Diary extract from William...
STRATHBLANE FIRST WORLD WAR PROJECT: 3 JAMES COCHRANE CARTWRIGHT, PRIVATE ARMY SERVICE CORPS, AGED 35, & 4 WILLIAM JOHN CARTWRIGHT, GUNNER ROYAL FIELD ARTILLERY, AGED 34. The Derby Scheme recruiting poster James Cartwrights two gravestones in...
STRATHBLANE FIRST WORLD WAR PROJECT: 2 ROBERT BLAIR, PRIVATE HIGHLAND LIGHT INFANTRY, AGED 33. Robert Blair's grave Posters on Glasgow trams read: "Bantams for the Front -3000 wanted -Apply 46 Bath St." Around 1200 men quickly signed up, every one of them 5ft 3ins or...
STRATHBLANE WW1 PROJECT: 1 JOHN YOUNG BARR, LIEUTENANT ARGYLL & SUTHERLAND HIGHLANDERS, AGED 23. Lieut. Barr, Killed April 25, 1915, St Julien. Eric Yarrow's letter of condolence to Jack Barr's sister Morag, May 7 1915, in which he compares the shattered landscape...