James Bruce Johnstone, a miner, was born in Patna in 1891. He was the son of Charles J Johnstone and his wife Mary McDerment. He had blue eyes and reddish hair and was 5ft 8 and a half inches tall. He was a Sergeant in the 7th Battalion of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, regimental number 13541. He was killed in action in France/Flanders on the 27th February 1916. He was 25. His father received his medals on the 6th July 1921.
Thanks to his great nephew, also James Bruce Johnstone, who provided the photograph, medal and memorial silk.
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| Sgt Jimmy B Johnstone |
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| Victory Medal |
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| memorial silk, printed in Cumnock |
It seems James had a sweetheart Gladys from Farnham. He did 3 months training at Aldershot and Farnham isn't too far away. Gladys kept these mementoes and never married.
From Natalie
One of our ancestors was a lady born in 1902 named Gladys Dorothy Moore.
She was born the youngest of three children in Farnham in Surrey.
She never married and she lived to a very good age - dying in 2000 aged 97.
Anyway amongst her things we found this lovely "remember me" postcard from a soldier - James B Johnstone.
On the back of the card he has written “to Gladys from Sgt JB Johnstone.”
Tucked in and hidden behind the little photo on the card we found the small death notice you can see in the photo above. We also have the memorial card - photographed above and there is a longish newspaper clipping .
I went looking for the movements of the battalion that James Johnstone was in and it seems they were stationed at Aldershot just north of Farnham for about 3 months from November 1914 until January 1915.
We presume this must have been when James and Gladys crossed paths! Gladys would only have been about 12-13 years old at that time.
One of the relatives I met yesterday was Gladys’s niece - Maggie.
Maggie told me she had asked Gladys why she never married and Gladys had replied because she’d had a sweetheart but he’d died in the war.
Her sweetheart was James B Johnstone.
It’s such a lovely story but sad too.
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| Gladys and her brothers |
Michael Shirkie, a miner, was born in Catrine in 1889. He was the eldest child of Edward Shirkie and his wife Isabella Montgomery. He had fair hair and blue eyes and was 5ft 7in. He was a Private 7th Battalion of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, regimental number 13468. He was reported missing presumed dead after the Battle of Loos on the 25th September 1915. He was 26. Michael (Mick) was batman to Captain Wm H Kirkland who was also killed in the Battle of Loos and the story goes Michael went to his aid on the field and perished too. Michael's sister got a letter addressed to any living relative of Michael Shirkie, Skares. It was from Captain Kirkland's sister and the postman delivered it to Liz Ferguson's grandmother Nellie, Michael's sister in the photo.
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| Mick Shirkie with brother Johnnie and sister Nellie |
Thanks to Liz Ferguson, Michael's great niece for info and photo.
Both men are commemorated on the Cumnock War Memorial and on the Loos Memorial in France.
Michael Shirkie on Cumnock Connections family tree and on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission site
Update 17 Sep 2014
It seems that not 2 but 3 men signed up together.
John Stewart of 54 Skares Row also enlisted together. I have found the service papers of John Stewart which confirms he did. After the war he went to the USA.
The cousin of Michael Shirkie also Michael Shirkie, mentioned below, did sign up but he was younger and enlisted later than the other 3.
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