When Strathblane War Memorial was unveiled in 1921, it had 25 names inscribed across three panels, with nine on each of the first two panels and seven on the third. Later two more names were added, filling up the third panel: Philip Binnie, a lieutenant in the Scottish Rifles and John Dillon, a private in the Royal Army Medical Corps. We were able to find out a lot about Philip, including a fine portrait of him, but John Dillon remained something of a mystery.
He had certainly been born in Strathblane. His father worked as a forester. Dr George Bennet, one of our volunteers, did a great job of researching his war service, including finding a direct reference to John’s death in a regimental war diary. However, There was very little information about John’s life or why he volunteered in Tarbert, Argyll.
In 2025 Marie Beer, one of John’s great nieces, contacted www.strathblaneheritage.org to tell us that the family were delighted to find John was included in our First World War project and offering information and family photographs, kept by an elderly family member living in Australia. We have now been able to incorporate these in a much fuller story of John’s life and war service. Jane Parfitt used her magic to enhance the photographs, including this rather haunting portrait. If you would like to read John’s story, you can find it here: STRATHBLANE WW1 PROJECT: 27 JOHN DILLON