Pentland Road - 2

The following information was submitted by a reader of the Lewismen in Canadian Service website, regarding Donald Smith, of 11 Aird Tong.  The Roll of Honour says he was wounded twice, but that must have been a mistake. Donald enlisted with the 94th Battalion, Fort William, Ontario (Canada) on 10 Jan 1916. Arriving in England he was transferred to the 43rd (Cameron Highlanders of Winnipeg) Battalion in France. He was decorated twice. Distinguished Conduct Medal Deed of Action 198766 Sergeant Donald Smith 43rd Battalion For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty throughout forty hour's continuous fighting on 27th and 28 August 1918 near Vis-en-Artois, involving two attacks and repeated enemy counter-attacks. He was in the thick of the fighting, accounting for five of the enemy and setting a fine aggressive example to his men. (Authority: London Gazette number 31726, dated 10 January, 1920) Bar to Distinguished Conduct Medal Deed of Action ...

On 9 June 1888, Annie Macleod, living in the village of Knock, Point (in Lewis), gave birth to another child, Donald. He was the sixth, and not the last child. Two more followed, and by the start of 1894, eight children, varying in ages from 1 to 15 years, crowded into the dwelling. It drove the father, Hector, to distraction, to such an extent that he ended his life in September that year. Three months later, Annie also passed away. The eight youngsters were taken into the care of the Quarrier Homes in Glasgow, and emigrated to Canada two years later. Donald signed up for the Canadian Expeditionary Force at Calgary in October 1914, and was injured during the Battle of the Somme. He was transferred to War Hospital at Napsbury, where he passed away on 4 August 1916, at 9.45pm. Due to an error in the paperwork, his remains were transferred to Benbecula, rather than Lewis, and the next-of-kin notified. The next of kin was thought to be Alex Macleod of Gramsdale, but when Alex came t...

Crossposted from Atlantic Lines This evening, I found a comment, made on one of my local history sites by a Danish man who had visited the Outer Hebrides. Upon crossing North Uist, he visited the cemetery of Clachan Sands, about 6 miles west of Lochmaddy on the road to Berneray. I visited that graveyard in July 2009 and photographed the gravestone of Ewen Nicholson, who was lost during the First World War. An image of the actual gravestone in the Railway Dugouts Cemetery can be viewed on this link . My Danish correspondent researched the fate of Ewen, displaying some very graphic and gruesome images of conditions on the frontline. I have looked into Ewen Nicholson's information and came out with the following: Ewen Nicholson Born: Grimsay, North Uist Date of birth: 29 May 1892 Trade / calling: Labourer Married: No Volunteered at Valcartier on 23 September 1914 Age upon enlistment: 22 years 4 months Height: 5 ft 10¼ in Complexion: fresh Eyes: light brown Hair: brown...

Associated with Fivepenny Pilot Officer DONALD MORRISON MCLENNAN Son of Donald and Jessie McLennan, of 2056 West Thirteenth Street, Vancouver.     Service: Royal Canadian Air Force Service number: J/26332 Date of death: 24 June 1943 at the age of 19 Interred: Burnaby Masonic Cemetery, Plot 12. Sec. G. Grave 1. You may think, what does a Canadian airman do in the listings for Fivepenny, Ness? Well, it was a tribute in the Stornoway Gazette for 20 August 1943 that made the connection - as the father came from Fivepenny. Relatives and friends in the Ness district will regret to learn that P.O. Donald Maclennan, son of Mr and Mrs Donald Maclennan, 2056 West Thirteenth Street, Vancouver, has been killed in a flying accident in Eastern Canada. P.O. Maclennan, 19, was born in Vancouver and attended Lord Tennyson and Kitsilano High Schools and University of British Columbia. He enlisted in the R.C.A.F. in July last year and was later attached to the R.A.F. Ferry Command. M...

On December 6th, it will be 93 years ago since the Great Explosion at Halifax. The Nova Scotia Archives , tweeting on twitter.com/NS_Archives , reminded me of this event. The strong bonds between Lewis and Canada were implicitly shown by the inclusion of this article in the Stornoway Gazette a week after the disaster. Stornoway Gazette, 14 December 1917 20,000 homeless On Thursday morning of last week, a great part of the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, was wrecked by the explosion on a munition ship in the harbour, which collided with a large steamer containing food provisions for Belgium. Fires broke out in the part of the city nearest the harbour. Over 2000 people, it is said, were killed by the explosion and the falling of buildings. Fierce Blizzard Later news, on Monday morning, says that terrible suffering among the homeless population of Halifax has followed in the wake of the great disaster which swept the city on Thursday morning. A fierce blizzard is driving in from the...

This story starts on 13th December 1866, when Kenneth Maciver, a fisherman from Coll, Isle of Lewis, wed his bride, Mary Munro, a domestic servant, living in the same village. Kenneth was the son of crofter Colin Maciver and Margaret Matheson. Mary was the daughter of grieve Alexander Munro and Janet Macdairmid. Nearly fifteen years after their marriage, the enumerators for the 1881 census found Kenneth and Mary with their children Alexander (aged 13), James (11), Murdo (9), Donald (3) and Margaret (1). The child called Donald was born on 4 February 1878, and he is the subject of this article. Kenneth and Mary had twelve children in all, but by the beginning of 1917, only five were left alive. On 14 April 1889, Kenneth and his family embarked the emigrant ship “Scandinavian” for Canada at Glasgow. They were among about 300 Scottish and Irish emigrants who were seeking a new life in the colonies. Upon arrival in Halifax, they proceeded inland and settled at the Lothian c...

Daniel was a sergeant-major in the 5th battalion Canadian Infantry (Saskatchewan Regiment), the Fighting Fifth, when he was killed in action on 28 April 1917, aged 41. His link to the Isle of Lewis did not become clear to me until I was going through tributes in the Stornoway Gazette for 1917. The article, which sourced its information from a Canadian newspaper, the Yorkton Enterprise (Saskatchewan), gave quite a bit of information, but there was no reference to him from local files. Let me quote the article first. From the "Yorkton Enterpise" (Sask, Canada) to hand we cull the following:- "Word was received by Mr Maciver, Saltcoats, on 19th May, that his son, Sergt Major Dan Maciver, D.C.M. of the Fighting Fifth battalion, had been killed in action. Dan, who was well known and a prime favourite throughout the district, was born at Coll, Lewis, Scotland, and came to Canada with his parents in 1889, settling in the Lothian Colony. Whilst still in his teens...

Private DONALD MACIVER Last address in Lewis: 17 Knock, Point Son of Murdo and Mary Mciver, of 17 Knock, Point Service unit: 179th Canadian Infantry Service number: 859994 Date of death: 24 May 1920 at the age of 28 Was gassed; quoted as severely wounded Interred: Winnipeg (Brookside) Military Cemetery, grave Mil. 246 He does not feature on the local war memorial in Garrabost, and is not listed as deceased in the Roll of Honour, presumably because he died 18 months after the end of the First World War. However, Donald still qualifies for inclusion as he passed away before 1922 (the CWGC cut-off point) and he was born in Lewis.

In the compilation of “ Faces from the Lewis War Memoria l” (which remembers the Fallen from the Isle of Lewis in World War I), there are quite a few names with very little information. It sometimes takes a little bit of effort to disentangle the web and let the light from the past shine more clearly. An example. The Roll of Honour mentions an Iver Maciver from 9 North Shawbost , who, serving with the Canadians, died of wounds in 1916 at the age of 21. I just couldn’t cross reference him - not with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission , not with the Canadian Virtual War Memorial , and not with the CEF records on Libraries and Archives Canada either. Until this evening. Looking at the page for North Shawbost again, it occurred to me that Kenneth Maciver , also quoted at 9 North Shawbost, might be the brother of “Iver”. Kenneth Maciver is reported to have been born at Lochcarron, so I did a search on ScotlandsPeople for Macivers in Lochcarron around 1895 - and who c...

Someone was looking for a Canadian soldier, surname Murray, who had died in the First World War, leaving behind a widow, Christina, and three young children. Christina died not long after the end of the war, and the children were adopted. The question was: is there a Canadian soldier from WW1, who died in the conflict and was married to a Christina. I looked up the listings for anyone called Murray on the website for Veteran Affairs Canada, which displayed all that were killed in WW1. I then cross-referenced those against attestation papers, which are displayed on the website for Library & Archives Canada, using the service numbers. And after more than 100 searches, I finally found the man I was looking for: On the website of Veteran Affairs Canada, James Watson Murray is quoted as being the husband of a Christina Murray. His attestation paper does not mention the name of his wife, but he is marked down as married. James Watson lies buried at Contay; further de...

On 28 February 1916, a man named Norman Maciver walked into an army recruitment centre at Saltcoats in Saskatchewan, Canada. Norman was a man of small stature, half an inch short of 5 feet, with a chest circumference of only 30½ inches. He was apparently eager to join the Canadian Expedionary Force fighting in France. His mother, erroneously named Mary Macaulay on his enrolment paper, lived a dozen miles away in Wroxton. Norman was born in the Isle of Lewis in 1899 and not married in 1916. On 12 December 1916, he was signed off medically unfit. On 20 January 1917, a man named Norman Maciver walked into an army recruitment centre at Melville in Saskatchewan, Canada. Norman was a man of small stature, half an inch short of 5 feet, with a chest circumference of only 31½ inches. but apparently eager to join the Canadian Expedionary Force fighting in France. His mother, Mary lived a dozen miles away in Yorkton, where he himself also lived. Norman was born in the Isle of Le...

My perusal of attestation papers for the Canadian Expeditionary Forces in the First World War revealed some unusual details, some actually quite tragic. A 31-year old trapper from the Canadian Northwest Territories, George Mckenzie, was apprehended on 14 October 1918 after not reporting for military duty. Since 1917, the military draft had been in force in Canada. The numbers of volunteers had seemingly dropped off dramatically as the heroic battles on the Western Front showed themselves to be pointless bloodbaths in which thousands of Canadian lads had perished. George Mckenzie had been called up 11 months previously, but not reported for duty. His place of residence is quoted as Fort Smith, a settlement on the Salt River on the border between Alberta and Northwest Territories. He was born in 1887 in Fort Resolution, 60 miles to the north on the shores of the Great Slave Lake. If he was a trapper, it stands to reason he would not receive his summons for nearly a year. ...

Lewismen serving in the Canadian Expeditionary Force 1914-1918 Total found: 678 112 do not feature in the Rolls of Honour 200 cannot be traced on Veteran Affairs Canada (with any degree of reliability), in spite of being quoted as serving with the Canadians 130 were killed Drafted 37 were called up under the Army Act from 1917 onwards, 3 were defaulters, and were arrested after not answering their summons 445 volunteered for service Marital status 53 were married 414 were single Religion 1 was a Seventh Day Adventist 1 was United Free Church 11 were Church of England 451 were Presbyterian 6 had no religion recorded Location of enlistment Calgary 21 Edmonton 21 Valcartier 41 Vancouver 38 Victoria 31 Winnipeg 96 amongst others Trades / occupations Carpenter 35 Farmer, farmworker 50 Labourer 110 Miner 22 Sailor 15 Stonemason, -cutter 16 Teamster 21 amongst others Complexion Dark 141 Fair 150 Fresh 40 Ruddy 45 Eyes ...

I have compiled a new website , entitled as per header of this post. It shows information on 134 men from the Isle of Lewis who entered military service during the First World War as part of the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force. They fought on the Western Front in Belgium and France. You may remember my main tribute site for WW1 casualties from Lewis, Faces from the Lewis War Memorial .  I have extracted those men who are marked as Canadians , and tracked down their details on the website of Library & Archives Canada . LAC have scanned the attestation (registration) forms of all 600,000 Canadian men who volunteered or were drafted into service during WW1. Apart from those that died, I am also tracing the 420 Lewismen who served as Canadians, but survived. It is startling to see the rate of volunteering dropping off during 1916, and compulsory military service being introduced in 1917. This leads to men absconding after being served their papers, being arrested...

I have been looking up further information on the Canadian casualties from Lewis from the First World War. The attestation papers give the address in Canada where the man in question lived before he signed up. It is possible for me to view the house courtesy Google Streetview. It struck me how many came from Fort William near Thunder Bay, Ontario. There is also a Fort William here in Scotland, 100 miles north of Glasgow. Many Lewismen emigrated to the Maritime Provinces of Canada, and were then transported up the Great Lakes to end up in places like Thunder Bay. Some crossed over into the USA, not far down the road, and abandoned all identifying items in order that they could not be sent back into Canada.