John Kemp Scott, Lt Royal Scots Fusiliers, aged 24
John Kemp Scott stares resolutely from his portrait in which he wears the uniform of the Royal Scots Fusiliers. It is not hard to imagine this moustachioed, neat, determined-looking young man with a dog collar around his neck and if he had survived the First World War, he would have been destined for the ministry in the United Free Church.
He was born on December 1 1891 at 389 Crown St. in the Hutchesontown area of Glasgow. His parents Alexander, a compositor and Jane (Jeanie) Charleson Dunnett had married in Edinburgh in 1877. John had three older brothers, Thomas, Andrew and Alexander, and a sister Janet. Another sister, Isabella, was born in 1894.
In 1901 the family was still living in Hutchesontown but their father had died and Jane was living with her children, Thomas 22, a clerk, Andrew 20, an apprentice joiner and 16-year old Janet a cash girl. Alexander 13, John now aged nine and six-year old Isabella were all at school. John was a pupil at the High School of Glasgow until 1910.
At some stage between 1901 and 1911 the family moved to Strathblane to live with John’s brother Andrew, who had established a joinery business based at Robinson Cottages in Dumbrock. (They still stand on the left of the main road when entering the village from Milngavie. The business ran from these premises for many years and employed a number of local people.) Andrew was a leading light in the local Band of Hope. We find the family at Robinson Cottages in 1911 with mother Janet, aged 57, 16-year old Isabella a shorthand student and John, aged 19, now an undergraduate at Glasgow University.
He gained his Master of Arts degree in 1913 and went on to study divinity in the United Free Church Divinity Hall. It was while he was travelling in Canada that war broke out and he returned immediately, enlisting in October 1914. A hand written postcard was sent by John to the Principal at OTC Headquarters in University Avenue, informing him that he was now serving in His Majesty’s Forces. It was dated May 27 1915 by which time he was living at 3 Arundel Drive in the Battlefield area of Glasgow.
Perhaps because he was a divinity student and hoped to save lives rather than take lives, he signs himself on this postcard as a Private in the Royal Army Medical Corps. However, by the autumn of 1915 he had received a commission into the 1st Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers.
The High School of Glasgow’s Book of Service and Remembrance summarises his war record: “He took part in the great advance of 1st July 1916, and led his platoon with distinction in the taking of the German first line. A fortnight later he met his death. He fell while gallantly leading his platoon during the great attack on the German second line, between Bazentin-le-Grand and Longueval.” His death was reported in the Evening Times of July 22 and the Stirling Observer of July 29.
John is commemorated at Flatiron Copse Cemetery, Memetz, France where his rank is given as Second Lieutenant. Given his background, one would expect a religious quotation. His family chose one not from standard Bible texts but part of what is known as the Apocrypha, namely Ecclesiasticus, chapter 44 verse 13: “THEIR GLORY SHALL NOT BE BLOTTED OUT”. It happens to be the verse that precedes the quote chosen by Rudyard Kipling after the First World War to appear on war memorials throughout Britain: THEIR NAME LIVETH FOREVER MORE”.
John’s name also appears on the Glasgow University, Evening Times, High School of Glasgow and City of Glasgow Rolls of Honour. His brother Andrew, who served in the Royal Garrison Artillery and survived the war, appears on the Rolls of Honour for both Strathblane Parish Church and the United Free Church but there is no listing for John even though he appears to have lived in the community for several years.