Pentland Road - 2

Although not strictly speaking related to local history, the heavy emphasis of this blog on the First World War warrants the below tribute.  One of my American on-line contacts kindly alerted me to the fact that the last US veteran who had seen active service during the First World War, Frank Buckles , died yesterday (27 February 2011) at the age of 109. There are only one or two other veterans from the Allied side left alive today, who (I believe) live in Australia. Frank , you are now back with your old mates from the trenches. Rest in peace, you've done well.

The story behind the Lewis burials at this cemetery is similar to that of the Brown's Copse Cemetery , which is situated about 3/4 mile to the north. The three men that this post refers to were all serving with the 2nd Seaforth Highlanders, and were all killed in action on 3 May 1917, during the battle to take Roeux, which lasted until the 16th of that month. S/9220 Cpl Alex Macleod (aged 28), son of Kenneth and Mary, 56 North Tolsta, grave A. 16 3/7248 Pte Donald Smith (aged 22), son of Angus and Catherine, 23 South Bragar, grave C. 21. 514 Pte Angus Maciver (aged 27), 45 Lower Bayble, grave D. 38.

Brown's Copse Cemetery is one of four graveyards in the area of Roeux and Fampoux, 4 miles east of  Arras in northern France. According to CWGC, there was severe fighting for the village in April 1917, when the 9th Scottish Division attempted to take Roeux from the Germans. Six of the nine Lewismen buried here died on 11 April 1917, a day before the atack failed. They managed to enter the village on 22 April, clearing it of the Germans on May 14th. William Macleod, who was killed on 16 May, fell in the battle to retake the chemical works, which had been recaptured by the Germans on that day. With the exception of Archie Murray (Black Watch) and William Macleod (1st/6th Seaforths) all men were serving with the 2nd battalion Seaforth Highlanders. Here is a list of their names: 11 April 1917 S/13150 Pte Malcolm Macleod, 13 Lower Shader,  grave I. A. 10 3/7424 Cpl Duncan Anderson (aged 22), 5 Kershader, grave II. E. 33. S/16112 Pte Duncan Macdonald (aged 19), son of Murd...

Bard Cottage Cemetery lies a few miles north of Ypres [Ieper] in western Belgium, along the IJzer Canal. According to the entry on the CWGC register, the cemetery faced the German lines for much of the war time period. It was in use from 1915 onwards. We find six casualties from the isle of Lewis here, five of whom died within two weeks of each other in June 1915; a sixth was killed in 1916. They were all killed in action whilst serving in the 2nd battalion Seaforth Highlanders. The second week of June came about 6-7 weeks after a heavy assault by German forces at Ypres, in which they used poison gas for the first time. The Seaforths had been deployed after that gas attack, but were reportedly a very 'green' unit, practically untrained and not terribly effective in repelling the sustained German onslaught. The six from Lewis who lie buried in this cemetery are: 7934 L/Cpl Angus Macleod , 56 North Tolsta, son of Kenneth and Mary, lost 19 June 1915 aged 30. 7283 L/Cpl Wil...

612 of the 1282 WW1 casualties from Lewis have a known grave, of which 224 are buried in the island itself. When you look at the overseas cemeteries, the (Lewis) casualties buried there are sometimes quoted as having lost their lives around the same date. I am going to make a few postings about those cemeteries where this appears to be the case, and explain what happened around that time in the First World War.

One of the entries in Faces from the Lewis War Memorial turned out to have erroneous information linked to it. When cross-referencing entries in the Roll of Honour against the CWGC files, it is quite easy to fall into the trap, laid by the fact that there are so few different first names and surnames in Lewis. This can result in a CWGC entry being linked to two people with the same name - and a bit of research to find the correct entry for one of them. Corporal ANGUS MACLEOD Last address in Lewis: 43 Ranish, Son of Leod Macleod Date of death: 25 April 1915 at the age of 25 Service unit: 2nd Seaforth Highlanders Service number: 9258 Killed in action Interred: Seaforth Cemetery, Cheddar Villa, grave B. 1. (Headstone "A" 6). Local memorial: North Lochs, Crossbost Had served 5 years with the army in India Angus had posed problems for other researchers as well, but it was concluded that he is the most likely candidate. I was quite confident of this as well, after se...

The First World War is associated with some pretty shocking statistics, in terms of lives lost. The overall loss of life for British Imperial Forces stands at just over 1.1 million, with 111,000 civilians lost. This equates to the following percentages of the total population: Australia: 1.38% Canada 0.93% New Zealand 1.64% United Kingdom 2.19% The losses from the Isle of Lewis, just below 1,300, equate to about 4% of the total population of approximately 30,000 in 1911. I have often quoted these figures as follows: rougly every second man joined up (their number stands at around 6,200) and of those, every fifth man did not survive the war. It has now become clear to me that more than half of those (about 600) do not have a known grave. Of those, half again (300) are Royal Navy or Royal Naval Reserve personnel. And of those, more than sixty were lost in the Iolaire Disaster, their bodies never to be recovered.  There are 123 references to WW1 casualties in the graveyards...

This afternoon, I came across a new name for the list of casualties from the First World War, originating from the Isle of Lewis. This brings the total to 1,294. Murdo Morrison is listed as 'Morrion' in some files, and I have as yet been unable to trace his service record. I am currently round the Needle & Haystack, and am likely to be a while. Meanwhile, I am pleased to highlight his entry on Faces from the Lewis War Memorial . He does not feature on any of the island war memorials; I have not found any reference to him in any of the West Side graveyards and he is only remembered on the Arras Memorial in northern France. And now on my wee website. Private MURDO MORRISON   Last address in Lewis: 6 Borve Son of Angus and Mary Morrison, of 6, Borve, Barvas, Stornoway. Service unit: 6th Seaforth Highlanders Service number: 267468 Date of death: 12 May 1917 at the age of 38 Killed in action Memorial: Arras Memorial, bay 8

This map shows all the cemeteries in the world where WW1-casualties, originally from the Isle of Lewis, lie buried. The greatest concentration is between western Belgium and the Somme. It is possible to zoom in and out on the map. This is an intermediate output.

The Arandora Star was a ship carrying refugees from Germany to America in 1940. She was torpedoed by U-47, captain Günther Prien, who had sunk HMS Royal Oak in Scapa Flow in October 1939, with the loss of 800 lives. The loss of life from the Arandora Star is of the same magnitude: 800. Bodies washed ashore in Ireland and the Hebrides over the days and weeks following the incident. Three Italian nationals washed up on shores in the Western Isles; two in Barra and one in South Uist. Oreste Fisanotti was buried in the old cemetery at Borve, Barra; Baldassare Plescia is interred in Hallan Cemetery, Daliburgh, South Uist and Enrico Muzio at the St Barr's Cemetery at Eoligarry, Barra. Another ten bodies of Italian nationals are buried in marked graves on the shores of Western Scotland; the vast majority, more than 400, were never found or could not be identified. The latter are buried in unmarked graves on the Irish west coast. In September 2010, the cemetery committee at Hallan ope...

Sergeant WILLIAM JOHN MACLEOD Last address in Lewis: 3 Lower Sandwick, Son of the late William and Isabella MacLeod, of 3, Lower Sandwick, Stornoway. Service unit: 1st Seaforth Highlanders Service number: S/15208 Date of death: 26 August 1918 at the age of 31 Killed in action in Baku Memorial: Baku Memorial Local memorial: Lewis War Memorial; Nicolson Institute WW1, middle panel View tribute here That is the entry from Faces from the Lewis War Memorial , the only one featuring the war memorial at Baku. William was one of more than 90 British soldiers who were killed in a brief summer offensive in Azerbaijan. The Christian cemetery where he was interred was destroyed for the establishment of an amusement park by the Azeri's first communist leader, Sergei Kirov, in the 1920s. William's name is remembered on the memorial. According to the records from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, 47 names of Commonwealth soldiers are listed on the memorial. It has been in ex...

Image: Wikipedia In 2006, all soldiers from the First World War who had been executed for military offences were granted a universal pardon. This applied to 306 men . It is my certain knowledge that this figure lies higher, and I shall quote an example at the end of this post. It would appear that between 1914 and 1918, 3,000 applications were made for soldiers to be executed for desertion, malingering, leaving of post and casting away of arms. Only 300 of these were approved by the courts. Some appear to have been repeat offenders. However, when you read through a few of the submissions by the soldiers themselves, it would appear that many suffered what could be termed post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition referred to as shell-shock in those days. To our eyes, execution seems to be an incredibly harsh punishment to meet out to those, guilty of the offences listed above. However, when viewing history, it is important to do so (if possible) through the eyes of the time. The ...

Tributes to Mr Roderick Macleod FORTY YEARS' RECORD OF WORK Mr Roderick Macleod, ex-president of the Gaelic Society of London, with which he has been prominently identified for 40 years, and one of the most representative and prominent Highlanders in the Metropolis, was the guest of honour of one of the largest gatherings of Scots and Gaels held in London for many years. The dinner took place in the Hotel Russell on Wednesday evening; the company comprising fully 200 ladies and gentlemen, over which the Right Hon. Ian Macpherson, K.C., presided. The speeches embraced the progress of the Gaelic movement in London during the past two generations as well as the notable part Mr Macleod took in strengthening, maintaining and consolidating the Gaelic and Highland movement in the Metropolis. [ omitting the list of guests ] Mr Ian Macpherson, in proposing Our Guest, said: -It is my proud privilege to be in the chair tonight presiding over what I regard as one of the largest gathering...

Roderick Mcleod and the Gaelic Society of London (An Comunn Gaidhlig Lunnainn or CGL) I came across Roderick and the Society on account of my research into WW1 casualties from the Isle of Lewis. One of my sources mentioned an Ian R. Mcleod (logged as J. R. Mcleod on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s website) as having Lewis roots. According to the information from CGL, his father, Roderick, had lived in London from at least 1889 onwards. His son Ian lost his life on 9 April 1917, and the army death record states his place of birth as London. CGL works for the promotion and encouragement of Gaelic Education in the Highland Schools. Roderick Mcleod was a hard-working and enthusiastic fundraiser for the CGL’s Education Fund, which financed the Capitation Grants give to Gaelic teachers and Headmasters. During the 1914-1918 war, the Society’s efforts were geared more towards supporting the troops, and prisoners of war, particularly those from Gaelic speaking areas. What was lef...