The City of Glasgow Police War Memorials

We are happy to announce the publication of the City of Glasgow Police War Memorial booklet.

The memorials to the Glasgow Police are on display in the Glasgow Police Museum, and Research Group members John and Margaret Houston have been researching the names listed on the memorial.

We are please to publish their research,and we would like to congratulate them on their hard work.

The research has been published through online "print on demand" site Lulu, and is available in downloadable pdf format.

Please click here to download your copy of the Glasgow Police research.

Free buns and coffee!

Sandy Leishman has posted on Facebook that a small group called "Unsung Heroes of the British Armed Forces" will be giving out free buns and coffee to all visitors at the Museum of the Royal Highland Fusiliers this Friday (16th March) between 1pm and 3pm.

All are welcome.

We've already posted abut the museum, and if you didn't have a reason to go before (and you should, it;s a great museum) then perhaps the idea of a free coffee and a bun will persuade you!

(thanks to Sandy for the tip-off!)

Additional names for the Glasgow Roll of Honour?

Another item about our Glasgow Roll...

Since the publication of the Roll of Honour for Glasgow, we've been contacted on several occasions by people noting that their relative is not included.

We weren't too surprised at this, as the Roll was published nearly ninety years ago, and at the time there were bound to be omissions. We took the decision to reprint the Roll "as is", with no additional names added - even if we were 100% sure they warranted inclusion.

However, we didn't want the names of these "missing" Glasgow men to be forgotten, so we have taken the decision to collate any names which it is believed should be on the Roll.

We won't be adding these to the original publication, but will instead list them on our website in an additional supplement to the original Roll of Honour.

The information will be the same as the 1920s publication, and will hopefully include Name, Rank, Unit and Address.

If you have a relative who isn't currently on the Glasgow Roll of Honour, and you would like us to include him, please send the details you have to the new email address for this supplement:

glasgow-roll-of-honour@live.co.uk

Once we have compiled some of the names we will publish it on our website, and then subsequently update it on a regular basis.

Glasgow Roll of Honour - discount voucher

One of our most popular projects last year was the publication of the Roll of Honour for the City of Glasgow.

The Roll is of course available to download free, but a printed book version is also available. For those who would like to print a book, we can offer a voucher code which will give you a massive 25% off the purchase price.

Simply visit http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/scottishmilitary and when you go the the checkout enter the code:

LULUBOOKUK305


But hurry! This code is only valid until the 31st January.


The inevitable small print:

Disclaimer: Use coupon code LULUBOOKUK305 at checkout and receive 25% off your order. The maximum savings with this promotion is £50. You can only use the code once per account, and you can't use this coupon in combination with other coupon codes. This great offer ends on 31 January 2012 at 11:59 PM PST. While very unlikely Lulu.com reserves the right to change or revoke this offer at anytime, and of course we cannot offer this coupon where it is against the law to do so. This coupon will work for multiple titles but savings cannot go past the maximum of £50.  

On this day in Scottish Military History - 16th Bn HLI hold Frankfurt Trench - 1916

"The Somme" by Lyn MacDonald is probably my favourite book about the First World War. I have a well thumbed copy on my bookshelves and tonight I will bring it down again and read the epilogue.

1st July 1916 overshadows every other phase of the Battle of the Somme, but the battle was not fought on one day; it officially ended with the end of Battle of the Ancre just over ninety five years ago. Amongst the Scottish troops in action during the last battle were the 51st (Highland) Division. They captured Beaumont Hamel (and a place in history) on 13th-14th November. Their bravery that day is commemorated by the magnificent bronze highlander which was unveiled by Marchal Foch in 1924.

They weren't the only Scots in action in the last phase of the Battle. The 16th Battalion, Highland Light Infantry attacked the German trenches east of Beaumont Hamel on the what was officially the last day of the Battle - 18th November 1916. The battalion reached its objectives of Munich and Frankfurt trenches but were beaten back by the Germans.

Three days later, on this day ninety-five years ago, it was realised that not all the Highland Light Infantry had retreated. Some of 'D' Company, 16th HLI still held Frankfurt Trench. They were surrounded, and lesser men would have surrendered, but the Glasgow Boys' Brigade battalion men were made of sterner stuff and held on, hoping to be relieved.

This takes me back to Lyn MacDonald's book. The story of the fight of the men of 16th (Service) Battalion (2nd Glasgow), Highland Light Infantry in November 1916 is the subject of the epilogue of her book. I'm not going to go into more detail here. Nothing I could write could come close to Lyn MacDonald's moving description to the events which closed the 1916 fighting on the Somme. Instead I'd encourage you to find a copy in a shop or a library and read it.

In the mean time have a look at the Glasgow Roll of Honour which we have just published. Many of the men listed are just like the ones MacDonald describes in her book. "The shipping clerks, errand-boys, stevedores, railway porters, grocers' assistants, postmen"; the men of Glasgow who answered the call in 1914.

On this day in Scottish Military History - The birth of John Moore - 1761

Today is the 250th anniversary of the birth of Glaswegian general and army reformer Sir John Moore. You'd be hard pressed to find many modern Glasgow residents who have heard of him. Even if they knew of his statue in George Square they would probably not know what he is famous for.

We've already covered his life in one of our Who's who articles so you can read that to find out more about him.

As we remember the dead of more recent wars on this remembrance Sunday, spare a thought for the Scotsmen lost fighting Napoleon's tyranny and the brave Sir John Moore, killed in action 16th January 1809.

The City of Glasgow Roll of Honour 1914-1918

We have posted updates on our progress with the Glasgow Roll of Honour project before, and today we are proud to be able to say that this project is now complete and the full Roll can now be downloaded entirely free of charge.

Below is a short piece we have written giving further information on this Roll, which may be of interest to you. It also gives the link where the Roll can now be downloaded. It is free of charge for a digital download, and a printed copy of the Roll can be purchased for a reasonable charge.

The Scottish Military Research Group is proud to announce the release of the fully transcribed Glasgow Roll of Honour 1914-1918.

The transcription of the Glasgow Roll of Honour 1914-1918 by the Scottish Military Research Group has made a valuable historical resource available online for the first time. This will enable genealogists, military historians, social historians and local Glasgow historians to study a snapshot of Scotland's biggest city from nearly 100 years ago.

Two of our members have worked on it for several years and the transcription was only recently completed. The late Kevin O’Neill and David McNay transcribed and double checked 17,695 entries which listed the name, rank, regiment and address of the men of Glasgow who died in the war. (There are no women listed but there are actually some men who survived the war listed!). There are original copies in the Mitchell Library and City Chambers in Glasgow, but this is the first time the Roll has been made available to the general public to own. It is now available to be downloaded for free.

Although this Roll cannot be seen as a completely true reflection of Glasgow’s sacrifice in the war because of the way it was collated, it does give a very good indication of the distribution of Glaswegians through the armed forces. For example it shows that approximately 21% of the men on the Roll were serving in the Highland Light Infantry (3,726 men). Not surprising for the City’s local regiment. A further 2,234 were in the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles).

The number of men who joined the Service battalions of the Highland Regiments is highlighted too with large numbers serving in the Cameron Highlanders (1,032); Seaforth Highlanders (795); Black Watch (442); Gordon Highlanders (724) and the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (993).

Those men who had chosen to emigrate or work abroad before 1914 are listed too with 401 men serving in the Canadian Forces, 181 in the Australians, 44 in the New Zealand Forces and 25 with the South African Forces. There are even two Newfoundland Regiment men. Newfoundland was still a British Colony in the First World War, it wasn't part of Canada until 1949, and Alexander MacDougall of 105 Elder Park Street, Govan and William Maddock of 119 New City Road both served in the blue-putteed regiment attached to the British 29th Division.

At the other end of the scale are smaller units such as the Egyptian Camel Corps with two entries and the Nyasaland Force in which one Glasgow man, Private Leonard Dumelow of 16 Dudley Drive, Hyndland died.

Not surprisingly there are a large number of sailors listed. 812 men are listed under Royal Navy, Royal Naval Reserve and Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve. Many men are listed under the land-based Royal Naval Division and eight as serving on HMS' Indefatigable' which was sunk at the Battle of Jutland in 1916.
The Royal Naval Air Service, Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force are also represented with a combination of 178 entries in total.

Some well known names can be found within the Roll. One officer who can be found listed under 419 St Vincent Street is a surprise entry. Professional footballer and the British Army’s first black officer Walter Tull is believed to have visited Glasgow in 1917 to speak to Rangers about signing for them once the war was over. It’s not his football club but rather a family connection which sees him listed. His brother Edward Tull-Hunter lived at the St Vincent Street address.

Visitors to the new Riverside Museum in Glasgow will no doubt have seen the display on the Glasgow Tramways Battalion which features Company Sergeant Major George Cockburn. The Roll lists his address as 53 Barloch Street, Possilpark.

Although the Roll does not list any gallantry awards, some winners of the Victoria Cross can be found on the list. One in particular is Lieutenant Colonel William Anderson VC of the Highland Light Infantry. He is listed along with his three brothers Alexander, Charles and Edward who also died. All are listed under their father's address at 18 Woodside Terrace.

It is the Scottish Military Research Group's intention that this Roll of Honour should be made available to view for free. It can be downloaded in pdf format where the names are listed alphabetically. It can also be printed for those who prefer a hardcopy book. Both the download and printed book can be found at the following website:

http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/scottishmilitary

Day of Remembrance plea to Occupy Glasgow camp

I saw this article in The Herald today. I noticed the camp this week and realised they were camped on the area traditionally used for the Garden of Remembrance - I'll be keeping on an eye on these proceedings with interest.

A veterans’ charity has called on anti-capitalist protesters who have camped on the Garden of Remembrance in the heart of Scotland’s largest city to leave.

The Royal British Legion in Scotland said the Occupy Glasgow group’s encampment in George Square threatens to disrupt the upcoming Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday services in the city.

The demonstration, which takes up a corner of the square near the war memorial opposite the council chambers, has been in situ since October 15 and is made up of about 20 tents with a similar number of full-time residents.

Last week, a woman was raped by two men at the camp, though none of those involved is thought to have been part of the protest.

Last night, Neil Griffiths, spokesman for the Royal British Legion Scotland, said the charity had held discussions with the activists about them leaving so services could take place unimpeded, but their pleas had so far been rebuffed.

He said: “They assured me they would move away from the area needed for the remembrance service, but I’ll believe it when I see it.

“We do not have a problem with their protest, although we do not accept their argument that millions of servicemen died so they could camp in George Square. Our main concern is that their camp disrupts the Garden of Remembrance and the plans for the Armistice service.”

He said the demonstrators would be welcome to attend any of the services, but said a request by them to lay a wreath had been refused as the Royal British Legion does not align itself with any single-issue groups.

Glasgow City Council has issued the camp with a notice of expulsion and will go to court on Tuesday to get an eviction order, clearing the way for the demonstration to be forcibly removed.

The camp’s presence could also affect the Christmas lights switching-on festivities, as well as a fun fair planned for the end of November.

A source at Glasgow City Council said the authority was continuing to hold discussions with the demonstrators. The insider said: “Our first hope is that the sheriff grants the order and it’s complied with.”

One of "The Few" remembered in Glasgow today

The BBC Scotland News Website reports on the funeral of 19 Squadron Ace Wallace Cunningham from Glasgow, who passed away in Lanarkshire last week.

Funeral for Battle of Britain ace Wallace Cunningham

A funeral service has been held in Glasgow for a Scottish World War II Spitfire pilot.

Wallace Cunningham, 94, was among Churchill's famous "few" who took part in the Battle of Britain.

During the summer of 1940 he destroyed five German aircraft and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. He later spent three and a half years as a prisoner of war.He died at his retirement home in South Lanarkshire last week.

In a speech in August 1940 Winston Churchill famously said about the Battle of Britain pilots: "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."

Mr Cunningham, who was born in Glasgow in 1916 and attended Govan High School, joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve in 1938 and trained to fly at Prestwick.

On the outbreak of war in 1939 he was called up for service and after completing training was posted to 19 Fighter Squadron, based at Duxford in Cambridgeshire.

Dr Jeremy Crag, a historian based at the University of Edinburgh, gave a eulogy at his funeral.

He met the Battle of Britain pilot in the late 1990s and became good friends with him after persuading him to speak to some of his history students about his wartime experiences.

He said: "19 squadron was to become part of Douglas Bader's famous 'Big Wing' during the Battle of Britain and Wallace was in the thick of the fighting.

"During that epic summer he destroyed five German aircraft, making him an Ace.

"It's interesting that was the first Glasgow airman to be awarded the DFC in the Second World War. The citation actually reads that 'Pilot Officer Cunningham...has shown great personal gallantry and splendid skill in action'. "

In 1941 Mr Cunningham's Spitfire was shot down and he crash landed on Rotterdam beach in the Netherlands.

Dr Crag added: "He came to rest close to a German gun post and in the officers' mess there he was given a tomato sandwich and a glass of champagne, and a German major said to him 'for you the war is over'."

Mr Cunningham spent most of the next three and a half years in Stalag Luft III, the camp made famous by the Great Escape.

After the war he worked as an engineer, firstly in Kent, then he returned to Glasgow in 1960.

Dr Crag said: "They are not very many of the 'few' left. Wallace was a very modest and unassuming man. He would never have regarded himself as a war hero.

"But he was a hero and as long as the epic events of the summer of 1940 are remembered, he too will be remembered.

"I think we owe him and his comrades an enormous debt of gratitude."

After the funeral service at Linn Crematorium, near Glasgow, there was an RAF flypast in honour of Mr Cunningham.

602 (City of Glasgow) Squadron - On this day in Scottish Military History - 1925 and 1940

A slightly different On-this-day because it covers two events on the same date, fifteen years apart.

In the mid-1920s it was decided to form an air reserve equivalent to the Territorial Army and Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve. It would be called the Auxiliary Air Force and several squadrons would be formed around the UK. The first auxiliary squadron to be raised was No 602 (City of Glasgow) Squadron. It was formed at RAF Renfrew on this day in 1925. It was initially equipped with Airco DH9As. The DH9A was an aircraft which had served during the last months of the First World War and was effectively obsolete before it was even sent to 602 squadron.

Another Scottish squadron was raised shortly afterwards; No 603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron was formed at RAF Turnhouse on 14th October 1925. Both squadrons went through various aircraft over the next fourteen years; Avro 504Ks, Fairey Fawns, Westland Wapitis, Hawker Harts, Hawker Hinds, Hawker Hectors, Gloster Gauntlets and Gloster Gladiators. Over that time they changed role from light bomber to army co-operation to fighter squadrons.

By late 1939 both squadrons were equipped with Spitfires and were on defensive duties in Scotland. In October 1939 603 squadron intercepted the first German raid against the UK when Luftwaffe JU88s attempted to attack the naval base at Rosyth. 603 were still at their base at RAF Turnhouse and brought down the first German aircraft to fall on British soil. 602 were based at RAF Drem in East Lothian and were also in the air on that day. Shortly after 603 shot down their bomber, 602 claimed their first kill. The Commander-in-Chief of Fighter Command, Air Marshall Sir Hugh Dowding sent a message to the squadrons that night. "Well done. First blood to the Auxiliaries!".

By August 1940 the Battle of Britain was reaching a critical point. The Luftwaffe had switched to bombing London after a raid on Berlin by the RAF. Air Marshall Dowding replaced his tired squadrons in 11 Group in the South of England with squadrons from the Northern Fighter Groups. 602 Sqdn went to RAF Westhampnett in Sussex on 12th August 1940, and 603 Sqdn went to RAF Hornchurch in Essex on 27th August 1940. They were soon in the thick of the fighting and would be for the rest of the battle.

This day seventy one years ago was the turning point of the Battle of Britain. Both squadrons were in action on this day. 602 squadron shot down 10 German aircraft, and 603 Squadron intercepted two Luftwaffe raids, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

Germany had launched 1,500 aircraft against London over the day but Luftwaffe losses were so great on 15th September 1940 that two days later Hitler postponed his invasion plan, Operation Sealion, until 1941. Luftwaffe tactics also now changed from day attacks to night bombing.

The Battle of Britain had reached its climax but there was still a lot of hard fighting to be done by both Scottish fighter squadrons over the next five years.

We should also not forget No 612 (County of Aberdeen) Squadron. It was formed at RAF Dyce on 1st June 1937 during a pre-war expansion of the Auxiliary Air Force and soon took on a reconnaissance role. It served throughout the war in the vital but not very glamorous maritime reconnaissance role as part of Coastal Command.

In 1957 all three Scottish reserve squadrons along with all other Royal Auxiliary Air Force squadrons were disbanded.

In 1999 it was decided to reuse the old RAuxAF squadron numbers for non-flying RAF part-time reserve units. No 2 (City of Edinburgh) Maritime Headquarters Unit became 603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron. In 2006 the mission support element of the Edinburgh Squadron was split away to form another squadron in Glasgow and No 602 (City of Glasgow) Squadron was back on the RAF books after a hiatus of nearly fifty years.

Eighty five years after it was first formed, Glasgow's own is still going strong. It now has an ISTAR (Intelligence Surveillance Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance) mission support role. In recent years Its members have served at RAF Kinloss and on attachment to RAF units in Iraq, Cyprus and Afghanistan.

Cave Leonem Cruciatum

The Big Picnic - Govan

I was lucky enough to see Bill Bryden's 'The Big Picnic' during its original run, in fact I came across the programme recently. It was quite a spectacle even though the pedant in me didn't like 'New Army' men being at Mons. However it was set on a truly epic scale; originally in a huge old shipyard engine shed and not a theatre. That allowed the production crew to build a section of trench and no man's land.

One scene particularly stands out in my mind from near the end of the play. An islander who enlisted in Glasgow sings the 23rd Psalm in Gaelic. It was one of those moments when the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

A theatre company made up of young Glasgow students called Shoogalie Road chose 'The Big Picnic' as their first big show and put it on for the first time in seventeen years. They also went back to Govan to put it on.

Unfortunately the show has been and gone, it was on the 7th and 8th September, so we can't plug it. Instead we'll publish the very favourable review that they got in 'The Scotsman' here

THE BIG PICNIC - PEARCE INSTITUTE, GOVAN
By Joyce McMillan. Date: 10 September 2011

REID Kerr College, Langside College, Telford, Coatbridge, and the University of the West of Scotland: recession or no recession, Scotland's colleges keep churning out students with a burning interest in theatre, and a determination to build careers for themselves.

To judge by their latest production at the Pearce Institute in Govan, though, the new Glasgow company known as Shoogalie Road must be one of the most ambitious graduate groups in Scotland, in that they've chosen, with the consent, support and first-night presence of the playwright himself, to tackle Bill Bryden's huge 1994 epic The Big Picnic. The play tells the story of a group of nine working-class Govan men who join Glasgow's famous Highland Light Infantry at the outset of the First World War, and are plunged into the hell of the trenches. It also keeps an eye on the story of their wives and womenfolk, trying to keep the home fires burning back in Glasgow; and it remains a well-researched and moving, if slightly predictable, slice of Glasgow working-class history, which resonates powerfully in the local setting of the Pearce, a focal point of the Govan community since 1906.

Directed by Jemima Sinclair and Liam Lambie – who also adapted the text – this young production of Bryden's play is never flawless; all of the actors have a tendency to lose control of their voices in moments of high emotion, and there is too much aimless shouting. At its best, though, it combines some impressive acting with a fine soundscape, and an outstanding grasp of how to use a large cast – there are 17 on stage – to create memorable stage pictures; and although there are some theatrical events in Scotland this week which achieve a higher professional polish, there are few driven by such an urgency to tell a tale which should never be forgotten, and by such a powerful emerging sense of theatrical poetry, in telling it.

Royal Highland Fusiliers Museum, Glasgow

It's been a while since we took a look at one of Scotland's military museums, so on Monday I took the opportunity of a day off work to visit the museum of the Royal Highland Fusiliers, situated at the top of Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow.

I've visited the museum on many occasions, but on this particular day it seemed I took a little more time around the exhibits, looking at the displays with fresh eyes.

If you've never visited the museum, then you're in for a treat. It's a veritable treasure trove of artefacts from both the Highland Light Infantry and the Royal Scots Fusiliers spanning several hundred years.

The layout stretches over two floors, with the ground floor covering the regiments from their formation up until the outbreak of the First World War, with displays for India, Africa and other parts of the world where colonial campaigns were fought.

The ground floor also features displays for the volunteers and militia, the pipe bands and other musicians, as well as displays of uniform and medals.

The upper floor covers the two World Wars in great detail, with imaginatively laid out displays.

The First World War section is particularly fascinating - it contains many items, a lot of them unique.

The Second World War section is no less interesting, and both the war in Europe and the Far East have a large number of items on display.

The Second World War display then leads on to the final displays covering the RHF from amalgamation to the present day.

The final section is a little disappointing, as it is almost sidelined in a small alcove - another minor grump is that one of the displays is empty, with a sign stating that this display will cover the regiment since its merging in to the Royal Regiment of Scotland. That sign has been there for some time - hopefully the display will be filled fairly soon.

There are plenty of fascinating items to see here, and it's well worth giving yourself plenty of time to take it all in. We plan to feature a number of the items in the museum in our "object of the month" feature in the coming months.

Finally, for the researchers amongst you the museum contains a well-stocked library which is definitely worth visiting. I can testify to discovering many fascinating records in my time there.

The museum also holds one "hidden" aspect.For those of you with an interest in Glasgow design, this museum is a must visit as the interior was designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Many of the design features he created can still be seen, particularly in the metal work around the lift shaft.

Mackintosh designed decorative work on the lift shaft.

So if you're visiting Glasgow, make a point of seeing the RHF museum. It really is a hidden gem in the city. More people deserve to know about it.

For more information on the museum, as well as opening hours and a link to their online shop, visit their website at www.rhf.org.uk

World Pipe Band Championships 2011

Yesterday I was in Glasgow Green to attend the 2011 World Pipe Band Championships.

230 pipe bands attended, taking part in competition across several grades, with the Field Marshal Montgomery Pipe Band being crowned World Champions.

The weather managed to stay reasonably dry, and there was plenty to see - it was certainly a busy day!

There's a fine military tradition where pipe bands are concerned, and while there didn't seem to be any bands from the Scottish regiments, there were several others with names that had a hint of the military tradition, starting obviously with the World Champions, named after the famous Field Marshal, "Monty" himself.

Not that there were no regiments present - the 1st Royal Tank Regiment were present in the 4B grade, and the 3B Grade saw the presence of the 101st Northumbrian Regiment, Royal Artillery - or the Tyneside Scottish as they might be better known.



We stayed to watch the Grade 4A final, and here was found a band which clearly honours the fallen of the Great War - Thiepval Memorial Pipe Band. You probably can't see it in this video, but their bagpipe covers have an image of the famous memorial on them.



The Grade 4A was won by Scottish Borders Pipe Band with a fine performance it's worth highlighting here:



All in all, it was a fantastic day out with plenty to see and do. I would highly recommend checking the dedicated page on the BBC website to watch the Grade One performances, and make sure you book your tickets for next years contest - I'll see you there!

Glasgow City Roll of Honour - Update

The Scottish Military Research Group have been running a project to fully transcribe the First World War Roll of Honour for the City of Glasgow. It was originally published in 1922 and listed name, rank, unit and address. At present it can only be viewed at the City Chambers in George Square, or the Mitchell Library in Glasgow. For people outside of Glasgow access to the information is difficult.

Our aim is to make the Roll more accessible, and at the same time make it easier to search and sort the data.

The first section of 4,340 names covered surnames A - D and was released on 23rd December 2011.

Today we are pleased to release the second section, which covers the surnames E - K and is for a further 3,600 names.

The purpose of the project is to take the existing information and make it more manageable, without diluting it with extraneous information. Among the goals of the project are the following:

• Split the name into surname and first name(s), thus making it easier for researchers to search for a specific name.

• Standardise the Unit text, making it easier for searching. For example, "Black Watch" and "Royal Highlanders" will be standardised into one specific unit title, as will "Cameronians" and "Scottish Rifles", This will make it easier for a researcher looking for a specific regiment or unit.

• Splitting the address into separate fields, thus making it easier for a researcher to locate the fallen for a specific street, district or even a particular house.

The Roll contains nearly 18,500 names and only a small number of people are working on the project so it is likely to be 2012 before it is fully completed.

A lot of the work in transcribing the roll was undertaken by the late Kevin O'Neill who was an enthusiastic researcher and transcriber of Great War records. The newly transcribed roll is dedicated to his memory.

The two completed sections of the Roll can be viewed by clicking the links below:

Glasgow City Roll of Honour E-K

Glasgow City Roll of Honour A-D

George Penny Chissel - The Great War and Beyond

I was recently given a link to a "special edition" of the newsletter of the Glasgow Highlanders Association.

This special edition is devoted to a highly detailed article by Dr Andre Chissel about his grandfathers service in the Great War.

It deserves a larger audience than the members of the GH Association, so I hope they won't mind if I point you in the direction of a link to the newsletter.

George Penny Chissel- The Great War and Beyond

We have another article by Andre, covering another ancestor which came to us from Andre via Anne Anderson. We hope to feature that in a future blog post.

Black KOSB's diary found in Glasgow attic

Quite a few newspapers have covered the story of the find of the diary of Arthur Roberts which covered his time in the trenches in the First World War.

The diary had been found in a loft in Glasgow and is currently in the hands of the King's Own Scottish Borderers Museum in Berwick.

The Scotsman covers it here.

Arandora Star Memorial, Glasgow

The other evening the two regular writers on this blog happened to be walking past St. Andrew's Cathedral in Glasgow. We noticed that the garden had been done up, but little did we realise that we were looking at the new Arandora Star memorial.

Today it was unveiled by our First Minister Alex Salmond and the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Glasgow, Mario Conti. The BBC reported on today's events here.

It is a tribute to the hundred Scots-Italian internees who were amongst the 800 men killed when their transport ship was torpedoed by a U-Boat in 1940.

We don't have any photographs of the new memorial, but on the Scottish War Memorials Project Guido Blokland has recorded some of the graves of those who died in the sinking and were washed ashore on the Western Isles.

Bodies of internees, merchant seamen and guards from regiments like the Lovat Scouts were found washed up all along the coast of Scotland and Ireland. This photograph is of the grave of Oreste Fisanotti buried in Borve Graveyard

From the Calton to Catalonia

A play telling the story of the Glaswegian volunteers who joined the Internation Brigade in Spain in 1937 will be performed at The Wynd in Paisley on the 13th and 14th May.

The play is presented by Basement Theatre Company. It is based on the experiences of James Maley and has been written by two of his sons, John and Willy.

The Wynd is located at 6 School Wynd, Paisley and tickets are priced at £8 and £5 concession. The box office number is 0141 848 7471.

Does Glasgow need a 'Super Museum'?

We've had some posts lately about the highs and lows of Scotland's military museums. Of special concern are those still run by the MoD and attached to regimental headquarters. With cuts across government departments a priority for this coalition the Ministry of Defence may see regimental museums as an expense too far; especially those museums with few folk coming through the door.

When the government had to reform the army they often resorted to amalgamation. In 1881, 1957, 1961 and 1994 Scottish regiments merged to form larger entities. It was taken to its logical conclusion in 2006 with the creation of the 'super' Royal Regiment of Scotland (something actually touted in 1968 by Douglas Hurd, but in a novel and not as a politician, in his book "Scotch on the Rocks")

So here is a radical solution to the museums' problems - amalgamate them. Why not have a 'super museum' to match the 'super regiment'.

I'm not suggesting we have one combined regimental museum to cover all the Scottish Infantry regiments but perhaps the regiments who traditionally recruited in the West of Scotland could come together in a new purpose-built facility in Glasgow. If we think of the old Strathclyde Region it had four famous Scottish Infantry Regiments recruiting in that area. The Royal Scots Fusiliers in Ayrshire, The Cameronians in Lanarkshire, the Highland Light Infantry in Glasgow and the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in Argyll, Dunbartonshire and Renfrewshire.

If we add in the Ayrshire Yeomanry, Glasgow Yeomanry and Lanarkshire Yeomanry too, and the Territorial artillery, engineers, medical and transport units based in the area then that is a lot of units and a lot of service. In fact why not go the whole hog and add in Glasgow's own RAF squadron - 602 Squadron RAFVR. And if they are in why not the local Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve too.

So there's my suggestion - a great big Lottery funded museum supported by all the local authorities around Glasgow donating some funds and their 'war' holdings alongside the regimental material to showcase Glasgow and the West of Scotland's proud military, naval and aviation history. A Strathclyde War Museum no less.

Ok, this is just wild pie-in-the-sky thinking but what is the alternative for some of our museums if the MoD pulls the plug? Going back to the army's own solution if amalgamation isn't possible; it is suspended animation or worse, disbandment.

Mixed fortunes for Scotland's regimental museums

In Victorian times line regiments sometimes felt aggrieved when they were in a battle next to a highland regiment because the Highlanders would steal all the glory. No matter if they had done as much if not more fighting than the Scots, the kilted warriors stood out and were a favourite for news illustrators. In a period when most armies wore uniforms based on French and Prussian styles the highlanders of Scotland were unique.

By 1881 the Lowland regiments raised to fight the Jacobite highlanders two hundred years before were transformed into pseudo-highlanders with tartan trews and basket hilted broadswords. In 2006 the transformation was complete when all Scottish infantry battalions were subsumed within the Royal Regiment of Scotland which became a highland regiment. All battalions of the regiment no matter their history or traditions became Black Watch clones in Government tartan kilts.

In 21st Century Scotland it seems that a Scottish soldier equals a highland soldier. When it comes to the museums of the Scottish infantry regiments this new pecking order seems to have taken precedence over the old Regimental Order of Precedence too.

The Highlanders museum at Fort George and the Black Watch museum at Perth have recently announced ambitious and expensive plans for their museums whilst just this week the complete opposite has happened at the King's Own Scottish Borderers Museum in Berwick which has been forced to reduce its opening hours because of a spat with English Heritage (who own the Barracks in Berwick where the Museum is based).

The other two museums to Highland regiments, The Argylls in Stirling Castle and the Gordon Highlanders museum in Aberdeen seem to be doing well too. The Argylls have the benefit of being in one of Scotland's top visitor attractions and the Gordons have a relatively new and well maintained museum at the former Bridge of Don Barracks.

The Royal Scots boasts a prime location in Edinburgh castle so it is guaranteed a large number of visitors but they are the luckiest ones when it comes to the four Lowland regimental museums.

The Cameronians are included in the South Lanarkshire run Low Parks Museum in Hamilton. It is open seven days a week and is free, but because of council cuts will that remain the case? I hope so. With the museum being in the care of a local authority you'd hope the items will always be on display. The downside is there may not always be money they want to improve their displays.

We've mentioned the KOSB museum above. It is a small museum with limited visitors and funding, and it seems that their troubles are probably going to get worse. With no more handouts from English Heritage, and no weekend opening to encourage more visitors where will they get the money they need to run the museum? It seems to me that this will lead to a downward spiral. Reduced opening hours means fewer visitors, which means less income, which probably means a cut in staff, which means a further reduction in opening hours, and then fewer visitors and so on...

Is there an answer to the KOSB Museum's problems? I hope so, and I hope former KOSB's and Berwick folk rally round their regimental heritage. It may be fifty years since the regiment last had a depot in the barracks but it is their spiritual home.

Finally last, but by no means least, is the poor old Royal Highland Fusiliers Museum. It sits forlornly at the wrong end of Sauchiehall Street and has such limited opening hours it is a wonder it gets any visitors at all. Like the KOSB they seem to be moving in ever decreasing circles. Currently the museum is only open Monday to Friday between ten and four. It isn't open in the evening and it isn't open at the weekends. Do they actually get anyone going through their door?

It is a real shame because it is a cracking museum. It is based in a Rennie Mackintosh building and out of all the regiments it probably has the most interesting history. The mix of Highland and Lowland regiments. The Royal Scots Fusiliers' long service and Highland Light Infantry's battle honours. The 71st at Waterloo and Vimiero, the 74th at Assaye and on the Birkenhead. The 21st at Blenheim in 1704, Inkerman in 1854, at the Jemappes Bridge in 1914 and countless other battles and campaigns from the Earl of Mar's regiment in 1678 up to 2 Scots in Afghanistan in 2011.

I hope the powers that be in charge of the RHF museum can see sense and make their collection more accessible. The history of Glasgow's infantry regiments should make Glasgow proud. Glaswegians, and especially the former members, and the families of former members, of the Royal Scots Fusiliers, Highland Light Infantry, Royal Highland Fusiliers and 2nd Bn Royal Regiment of Scotland should start supporting their local regimental museum and learn a bit about their glorious past.