Introduction

In 2014 the centenary of the outbreak of World War One, Cumnock History Group began researching the names on the Cumnock War Memorial plus other men and women with Cumnock connections mentioned on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission or in the Cumnock Chronicle of the time. The research is not limited to those who died but also to men and women who served, using family history information.

The group would like to appeal to individuals with knowledge of family members for photographs of the soldier, either in uniform or not, and photos of medals or other memorabilia eg letters sent home from the Front. If you would be prepared to share these on this site, please email the web manager info@cumnockhistorygroup.org The group is willing to share any copies of documents found with the soldier's descendants.

Friday 16 May 2014

David M Niven

This man is on Cumnock War Memorial as Pte David M Niven S.R.
He died on 26th November 1917 in Flanders and is remembered on the Tyne Cot Memorial.



CWGC

Ancestry has this


Name:David Niven
Birth Place:Portobello, Midlothian
Death Date:26 Nov 1917
Death Location:France & Flanders
Enlistment Location:Edinburgh
Rank:Private
Regiment:Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)
Battalion:1st Battalion
Number:202574
Type of Casualty:Killed in action
Theatre of War:Western European Theatre


He doesn't appear to have a local connection until the Cumnock Chronicle comes up with the link.
photo from Cumnock Chronicle by Kay, added March 2018

Update 25 Nov 2017
He was born David McArthur Niven in 1896 in Portobello
He was a railway clerk serving in the RSF when he married Jeanie Armstrong in Edinburgh in 1915.
She was the daughter of John Armstrong and Elizabeth Hall who married in Sorn on 31 Dec 1872.
So his young widow is the local connection.  She married again in Cumnock in 1923 to Henry Trousdale Russell.

Cumnock Connections tree

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