The Falkirk District List of Service Personnel in WW1

The letters in blue are hyperlinks to further relevant pages.

Introduction

The Falkirk and district List of service personnel who served in the First World War, [or FadLosp WWI for short] includes the names of over 13,500 people from the area who served in the nursing or armed services during the Great War of 1914-1919.  Of these, just under 4,000 died whilst signed up – 14 at the Battle of Jutland and 8 at Grangemouth Docks.  The Spanish Flu (recorded as influenza or pneumonia) accounted for a large number.  The remainder returned to an uncertain future – the majority with physical and psychological wounds.  Just how uncertain that future was is demonstrated by the deaths of over half a dozen of these men in industrial accidents within twelve months of their homecoming.  Two died during an explosion in Bridgeness Pit, one was electrocuted at Carron Works, one died when the horse and cart he was in charge of overturned on the Glen Brae, and so on.

The psychological scars were papered over, but rarely healed.  It was hard for the returning men to cope with the mundaneness of their new existence, the startling change from the ever-present danger and comradeship of the Trenches to routine civilian life.  Personal relationships suffered and not a few of the men have been identified because they were violent and ended up in the local courts, or announced their divorce.  One name was only recovered because whilst he was in France his wife was in court – for running a brothel!

Whilst we can be sure that we have practically a full list of those who were killed in the conflict, those returning are less well recorded in contemporary records and so there is still much work to be done to fill the missing gaps.  If you have the names of people (such as relatives) who should be added please let us know.  Or if you have extra information on those who are already on the Falkirk and district List of service personnel who served in the First World War, we would be pleased to hear from you.

The more accurate and complete this database is, the more it will serve as a lasting commemoration of the people involved; and the more ways it will be possible to explore this major episode in our history.  It would be interesting, for example, to be able to see if the life expectancy of those who served was lower than those who did not by including the final dates of death.

Falkirk and district List of service personnel who served in the First World War has been compiled by Geoff Bailey with the help of a band of dedicated volunteers (including Dene Ashberry, James McLachlan, Jessie Young, Allan Ronald, Tatjana Sandon & Ian Hawkins), many from the Falkirk Local History Society.  Please feel free to use the information for your own research – whether it be family, medical, population or local studies.  Naturally, we’d appreciate an acknowledgement.

As different sources of information provide conflicting details they have been kept on separate rows in the data.  So, for example, the Falkirk Herald might give the rank of the individual as Cpl (corporal) and the age as 22, but the Commonwealth War graves Commission might have these as L Cpl (lance corporal) and 23.  The sources used will be found below in Appendix 1. 

The columns on the spreadsheet are:

  1. Each individual is given a unique identifying number beginning with the letter S.
  2. The second column is the surname, often spelled differently in different sources.  Johnston, for example, may, or may not, have a terminal “e”; Miller may be Millar.  On some cases it has been found necessary to intersperse variant spellings.
  3. The Christian name is normally expanded – Alexander rather than Alex – with less common contractions such as Alick in brackets.
  4. The middle names are given where known to help to identify the individual.  They often include the mother’s maiden name.
  5. Service numbers were provided to every soldier and non-commissioned officer, but not to commissioned officers, merchant marines or nurses.  These provide a key into service records.  They often changed of the person moved to a new regiment.
  6. Rank changed throughout a person’s period of service and the highest rank is usually given here.  This includes promotions in the field (acting) or temporary ranks.
  7. Regiments are provided where known to the battalion level or lower.  This may have changed in the person’s career and so different sources often have a different regiment named.  Some regiments, such as the Tank Corps, or the Royal Air Force, did not exist at the beginning of the war.  If a single source mentions an alternative military unit it will appear in the notes column ((14)
  8. Whether the person survived or was killed, or the last date they are known to still be surviving from the records checked.
  9. Dates of death vary surprisingly according to the source.  For those lost at sea on a long voyage it may not have been known at what point the vessel was sunk.  For those lost in the industrial trench warfare they may not have been a surviving witness or a body to recover and the date of death is usually presumed as that on which they went missing.
  10. Age of death – where we are told that someone died in the xth year of their life we have recorded their age as x-1, ie someone in their 20th year was aged 19.
  11. Place of death varies.  Many died in Britain where they were being treated for wounds and the hospital is usually named.  On the Western Front the equivalent was a Casualty Clearing Station (CCS).  The Commonwealth War Graves Commission provides information on graves or commemorative panels in France, Belgium, Iraq, Turkey, etc, and as men were usually buried close to the place where they fell this is a good indicator.
  12. Address – in most instances the only address available is that of the person’s parents and this is retained in column 13.  Addresses of spouses are more reliable indicators of the last living address.  In the early years of the war the newspaper lists provided the address where the individual lived when they signed up.
  13. Relations.  Where known the names and addresses of parents is give, followed by those of spouses, and then siblings who also served (and who will therefore also appear in the list).  Where a relative predeceased the individual being commemorated the word “late” is placed in front of each name, thus the “late Frank & Elizabeth Surname” means that Frank was already dead, but not Elizabeth.  Where the woman’s maiden name is known it is given in brackets with the word “nee”.
  14. Notes – is a catch all for any other information and includes place of birth, education, date of enlisting, injuries, promotion, places of service, etc.
  15. Medals – we have chosen to avoid abbreviations such as MM for Military Medal in order to avoid confusion.
  16. Local monument/source – see Appendix I.
  17. Occupation before the war – reflects the nature of the work available, notably in iron foundries.
  18. Citation for medals.

Names A – Z

A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K   L  Mc  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  Y  Z

Appendix I

Sources Used :

Rolls of Honour

Newspapers

  • BJ                    Bo’ness Journal
  • Bo’ness Academy Tablet; BJ 7.2.1919
  • Edinburgh Gazette
  • London Gazette
  • LG                   Linlithgow Gazette
  • FH                   Falkirk Herald
  • Airth Parish Roll (FH 6.11.1915 p.6)
  • AmalSoc Carpenters & Joiners (14.8.1915 p.5)
  • Bainsford UF Church Roll of Honour (FH 9.1.1915)
  • Bothkennar PC Roll (FH 30.1.1915 p.6)
  • Camelon Brass Band Roll (FH 19.6.1915 p.6)
  • Camelon PC Roll (FH 30.1.1915 p.6)
  • Camelon School Roll (FH 13.3.1915)
  • Camelon School Roll (FH 19.6.1915 p.5)
  • Camelon Trinity UF Church (FH 23.1.1915 p.5)
  • Carron Co Employees; FH 23/08/1919
  • Carron UF Church Roll, FH 16.1.1915
  • Carronshore School Roll (24.4.1915 p.6)
  • Christ Church Roll (FH 17.4.1915 p.6)
  • Comely Park School Roll of Honour A& FH 13.3.1915 p.6
  • Denny Bowling Club Roll (FH 30.10.1915 p.6)
  • Dennyloanhead UF Church Roll (FH 29.5.1915 p.6)
  • East Stirlingshire list of POWs (FH 30.11.1918)
  • Erskine UF Church Roll of Honour (FH 9.1.1915)
  • Falkirk Baptist Church Roll of Honour (9.1.1915)
  • Falkirk Salvation Army Corps (FH 23.1.1915 p.5)
  • Falkirk West UF Church Roll of Honour (FH 9.1.1915)
  • Graham’s Road UF Church Roll of Honour (FH 9.1.1915)
  • Grahamston Parish Church Roll of Honour (FH 9.1.1915)
  • Grangemouth Roll (FH 6.3.1915 p.5)
  • Grangemouth Roll (FH 13.2.1915 p.3)
  • Greenhill School Roll (17.4.1915 p.6)
  • Irving UF Church Roll (FH 30.1.1915 p.6)
  • Larbert PC Roll of Honour (FH 9.1.1915)
  • Larbert West UF Church (FH 23.1.1915 p.5)
  • Laurieston PC Roll (FH 20.2.1915 p.4)
  • Lodge Zetland  Roll (FH 15.5.1915 p.6)
  • Redding School Roll (FH 3.4.1915 p.6)
  • Roll of Honour men – Falkirk Herald 04/08/1920
  • St Andrew’s UF Church Roll of Honour (FH 9.1.1915)
  • St James UF Church Roll of Honour (FH 9.1.1915)
  • Sons of the Manse; Falkirk Herald 30 Sep 1916
  • St Francis RC School Roll (FH 14.8.1915 p.5)
  • St Modan’s Church Roll of Honour (FH 9.1.1915)
  • Stenhousemuir Universalist Church (FH 20.2.1915 p.4)
  • Trinity EU Cong Church Roll of Honour (9.1.1915)
  • Victoria School Roll (FH 18.9.1915 p.5)
  • FM                   Falkirk Mail

War Memorials

Books & Websites

Archives held in Falkirk Museum

  • a66.9
  • a590.1
  • a935.4
  • Dead Man’s Penny                    Brass memorial plaques

Graveyards

  • Airth Cemetery
  • Bo’ness Cemetery
  • Carriden Cemetery
  • Carriden Churchyard
  • Denny Cemetery
  • Falkirk Cemetery
  • Grandsable Cemetery
  • Muiravonside Cemetery
  • Polmont Churchyard
  • Slamannan Cemetery
  • Stenhousemuir Cemetery

Appendix II

Notes from the Newspapers of the Time:

Bonnybridge – 700 men left Bonnybridge for the war, of whom 30 were awarded medals. 79 of the men worked in Bonnybridge Silica & Fireclay Co Ltd. (FH 19.7.1919 p.5c).

Bo’ness – Watt winding engine made by Carron Co & erected at Burn Pit, Kinneil, in 1768, in operation for 55 years. (FH 30.8.1919 p.4c)

Carron Co – list of fallen (FH 23.8.1919 p.3)

Carron Glen Lodge of Shepherds – 22 members killed, 100 still in the Forces, 4 received honours (FH 11.1.1919 p.4d)

Cross Chemical Co. – 38 men enlisted (FH 11.9.1918 p3c)

Denny – 920 men joined the forces of whom 155 were killed. 26 received military honours (3 of whom subsequently killed).

Falkirk – Lodge St John, Falkirk No 16 – 9 dead & 69 returned. (FH 14.12.1918 p.5g)

Grangemouth – 5 men from Grangemouth Dockyard won Mimitary medals [FH 25.10.1919 p.3f]

Grangemouth – Grangemouth dock accident – wooden crane replaced by steel. (31.5.1919 p.3)

Grangemouth – No fewer than 1500 men from Grangemouth served in the Forces in the War. (FH 25.10.1919 p.8)

Grangemouth – Framed Roll of Honour containing a list of 180 brethren who served in the War presented to Grangemouth Masonic Lodge. 13 had died. (FH 22.2.1919 p.3c).

Larbert – 1600 men from Larbert Parish enlisted, out of whom 266 died. (FH 11.10.1919 p.5d)

Laurieston – At the outbreak of war four men worked in the Laurieston Wire Works. All enlisted. One was killed, one missing, one in hospital with trench feet for 12 months, and John Stewart won the MM. (FM 23.3.1918 p.4)

POWs from East Stirlingshire imprisoned in Germany – 351; Bulgaria – 2; interned in neutral countries – 12; total = 365. 344 repatriated by 8.2.1919 (FH); hospital – 5; died in captivity or since repatriated – 14; remainder still to be repatriated – 12. When armistice signed 1 ton 16cwt of parcels were being sent each week, at a cost of around £210. The East Stirlingshire POW Fund sent a total of 21,116 parcels having received a total of £13,500.

G.B. Bailey & Co., 2019