Armistice

Cumnock Chronicle November 1918

William Earl MM

William Earl was born in Townhead, Cumnock on 13th December 1897. His parents were James Earl and Janet Bradford. By 1901 the family had moved to Glasgow and in 1918 they lived in Oxford Drive, North Kelvinside, Glasgow. 

When war was declared William was an employee of North British Railways and he immediately joined the Highland Light Infantry. In May 1915, on completion of his training at Leven, Fifeshire, he went with the big contingent to the Dardanelles  where he remained until the evacuation. He was then drafted to Egypt. It was while fighting in the Holy Land that he gained the Military Medal.

His regimental number was 200351 in the 7th HLI and he previously served with the 5th HLI no. 1820.

He married Agnes Ferguson in Glasgow 1923 and died in 1959.

Cumnock Connections tree

He is a nephew of Nurse Agnes Kerr Earl.

Daniel Bradford

Daniel Bradford was the son of Hugh Bradford and Matilda Marrs born on 17th January 1878 and the older brother of George Bradford.

In the 1901 census he was a tailor but by the time he enlisted on 29th August 1914 he was a pit headman and at 36 years and 8 months old he was older than most. He had previously been a regular soldier.

His service record survives. He was recruited by Sgt McGill. He had been with the 2nd battalion the Royal Scots Fusiliers. He was single.  Regimental number 7355 1st RSF and 657045 in the Labour Corps.

He was sent to France almost immediately in September 1914 but by January 1915 he was court-martialled for not obeying an order and sentenced to 3 years' penal servitude. He didn't serve much of this as he was posted again in February 1916. His recent good conduct was noted. 

He was transferred to the Labour Corps and on demob was of very good character.

His address was 4 Barrhill Rd (parents' address) also down as Hillside Cottage. He was 40 on discharge.

After the war he moved to Glasgow and married Janet Napier in 1920. He lived in 32 Hopehill Road in 1935 when he applied to join the Glasgow branch of The Old Contemptibles. He died in Ruchill Hospital in 1949.

Cumnock Connections tree

Adam Begg

Adam Begg was born in Lugar on the 16th February 1885.

Photos from Paul Eedle

He married Mary Kelly on New Year's Day in 1909 in Girvan when he was a baker's van driver and sailed to  St John New Brunswick, Canada on 2 March 1912 on the Saturnia. He was a van man planning to take up farming.

With war looming he returned to Ayrshire in August 1914 on the Letitia. He was an engine driver. 

He enlisted in the Ayrshire Yeomanry in 12 October 1914.

Adam Begg served in the Ayrshire Yeomanry, which landed at Helles Bay in Gallipoli on 11 October 1915, some time after the disastrous initial landings in April. His service record shows that he was discharged because of 'wounds' on 10 April 1916.

He died in Reading in 1957.

His younger brother James Begg died in Palestine.

Cumnock Connections tree

James or John McKie DCM

I can't work out who this man is.

Medal Roll card say James McKie but John Hutson refers to him as John McKie of Glengyron. Wondered if it could be John McKay of Glengyron but he has a different regimental number; 240110, although also in the 1/5th RSF.  Maybe John Hutson is muddling the two up. JohnMcKay had the MM.

Would be good to know more about him!

John Hutson memoirs

George Hyslop MM

George Hyslop was born in 1893 in Cumnock to Robert Hyslop and Annie Miller.

He was in the 7th RSF first before transferring to Royal Engineers, Tunnelling Section.

His brother Robert's death here

Here are the 3 brothers among a list of Cumnock men who had enlisted by 1916 printed in the Chronicle.

Hyslop	George	Private	7th Royal Scots Fusiliers
Hyslop	James	Private	5th Royal Scots Fusiliers
Hyslop	Robert	Private	7th Royal Scots Fusiliers

Cumnock Chronicle

Hyslop family tree

Dr Robert D Goldie

Robert Dunlop Goldie was born on 4 May 1887 in Cumnock, the son of John Goldie the draper's in the Square.

He graduated as a doctor (MB) from Glasgow University in 1908.

Captain Robert D Goldie
Rank: Captain
Regiment: Royal Army Medical Corps - Special Reserve
Degree: MB ChB
Awards: French Medaille D'honneur

He was a Captain in the RAMC

In 1916  he was awarded the Medal of Honour from the Mayor of Corbie in France for devotion to duty regarding contagious diseases in and around Corbie.

After the war he emigrated to Corrimal then Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia where he worked as a doctor.

He died on 1st March 1952

Cumnock Connections tree

His death was reported in the
Illawarra Daily Mercury (Wollongong, NSW) in the edition of 3rd March 1952, accessed via Trove

David Ritchie Arthur

David Arthur was a saddler born in Cumnock in 1871.

He married widow Eliza Cockcroft in 1899 in Leeds.

He had previously served 4 years in the Royal Scots Fusiliers when he signed up for the Yeomanry in 1914. He was 43 which was unusually old for a volunteer.  He was 5 ft 4 with grey eyes and brown hair. He was promoted to sergeant.

However was invalided out of the army in 1916. His address on his pension record was 91 South Harbour St., Ayr.

 He died at 29 New Street in Riccarton on 1 November 1918 of phtisus pulmonalis (TB) according to his death certificate.

Cumnock Connections tree

Samson brothers

John Samson and Alexander Kerr Samson were sons of Alexander Samson and Elizabeth Richmond.

John was born in Cumnock in 1873 and was employed in the Post Office. His service record survives. He enlisted in the Royal Engineers as a telegraphist.  He was 44 years old when he enlisted in July 1918 which was considerably older than average. He was a gifted telegraphist. His address was Pitlochry Cottage in Glaisnock Street. He was married to Agnes Dow and had several children.

His brother Alexander Kerr  Samson also enlisted in the Royal Engineers (No. 420406)  in 1915.  His service papers survive. Born in Cumnock in 1881 he was 34 and a booking clerk for SW Railway , living at 7 Montgomery Street in Irvine.  He married Susan Ward in Irvine in January 1916. He sailed to France from Southampton in October 1916.  He had 8 days in hospital in 1918.  He was awarded the Good Conduct Badge in March 1918. He was variously described as very good, proficient and skilled as a clerk. His pay doubled from 6d (sixpence)  a day to a shilling when he passed a proficiency test.

Their brother Robert Richmond Samson was also  in the Royal Engineers.
Happily all three survived the war.

Cumnock Connections tree

George Begg

It was reported in the Ayr advertiser in 1916 that George Begg of Cumnock had recently returned from South Africa was to take up a post in the Royal Engineers.

He the son of George Begg and Margaret Tannahill of Greenbank and the brother of James McGee Begg.

In December 1917,  reported in the Scotsman, he was admitted as a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers.

He rose to the rank of Captain. 

After the war he appears to have returned to South Africa as there are records of his journeys in 1935 and 1938 accompanied by his wife Rabie!

Cumnock Connections tree

James Hamilton Dick MC and Kenneth Sage Dick

James Hamilton Dick was born in Hamilton in 1895. His brother Kenneth was 3 years his junior.
His father John Dick was a teacher at Cumnock School. Latterly he lived at Linwood, Holmside until his death in 1932. By then he was Academy Rector.

1901 census
Oakland Cottage, Cumnock
John Dick 36 schoolmaster
Agnes Dick 36
John Dick 7
James H Dick 6
Kenneth S Dick 3
Lizzie Laurie 15 dom servant  (BTW sister of John Laurie MM)
All born Hamilton except Lizzie


Some background information on James, though I haven't made a note of where I found this.

1917

                           

Both James and brother Kenneth were promoted to second lieutenants in 1915. And both served with the Scottish Mounted Field Ambulance Brigade

London Gazette, 

This is his citation for the Military Cross

1917

Happily both brothers survived the war and became doctors in England.
In 1925 they were still in  Cumnock according to the Medical Directory.

The family on Cumnock Connections tree

Margaret Ramage Thorburn Gardner

Margaret Thorburn was born in Skares on the 15th May 1885, the daughter of William Thorburn and Elizabeth Burnside.

She married Robert Gardner of Kirkconnel in 1908. They had 2 children under 12 when she enrolled in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps on 8 May 1918. She was 32 years old.

I was able to download her application from the National Archives for a small fee.

She was just over 5 ft tall and weighed 111lbs.   Her address was 100 Prestwick Road, Ayr and she gave her father William Thorburn, 128 Skares as her next of kin. She was working as an assistant. waitress. She was given the option to serve abroad or at home and she chose unsurprisingly home.

She had to submit references! She was educated at Garallan school 'til the age of 14. John B Wilson her former teacher gave her a reference. As did Mrs Mary Urquhart of 32 North Park Avenue, Ayr , the wife of a blacksmith with whom Margaret had been employed as a metal machinist. She had also been employed before her marriage by Mr D Thomson Auchinleck Road, Cumnock as a table maid and by Dr Roxburgh of Troon.

After training in Edinburgh, she was posted to Gailes Camp nr Irvine.

There is no further detail of her service.

The family emigrated to the USA and she died in San Francisco in 1954.

Cumnock Connections tree

John Mckay MM

John McKay was born on the 9th December 1895 in Glengyron Row.
(I have a particular interest in him since his grandmother is Elizabeth McMeekin, making him a half first cousin once removed of my husband)

Supplement to London Gazette 23 Jul 1919,  Establishes that John McKay 240110 was from Cumnock.

Cumnock Chronicle Jan 1919

His service record does not survive but his medal roll card strangely does not mention MM.

But Ancestry assures me he was awarded it!

John McKay
Regimental Number	240110
Regiment	Royal Scots Fusiliers
Battalion	1/5th Battalion
Rank	Private
Medals	Military Medal
Other Records	John McKay - RoyalScotsFusiliers 240110

John married Jeanie Agnew Wilson in 1921 and died in Cumnock in 1980

John McKay on Cumnock Connections tree

John Laurie MM

Born in Cumnock in 1887  John Laurie's Military Medal was announced in the Cumnock Chronicle of 3 May 1918.

He was the son of John Laurie a railway porter at the "old" station in Barrhill Road and Agnes Samson.

Son John also worked for the railway but was a fireman at Berryhill pit when he signed up in the Seaforth Highlanders (S/4001).  He was a Signaller Sergeant.

Cumnock Chronicle 3 May 1918

also in 1918

Found by Bobby Grierson, added Sep 2018

Medal Roll Card

He married Agnes Johnstone in 1919 and died at Gateside Cottage in Auchinleck on 21st August 1962. Was this the same Gateside Cottage his parents lived in in 1918?


Cumnock Connections tree 

Hamish Weir Samson MC the soldier who returned from the dead

Hamish Weir Samson was born James Weir Samson on 8th February 1896 in Craigston Square in Lugar the son of John Samson a colliery salesman and Catherine Oliver.

His mother  died in 1903 and his father remarried in 1906 in Derby. By 1911 he was attending a private school in London.

By 1915 his father was a managing partner of Sanquhar and Kirkconnel Collieries and they were living at Burnfoot in Sanquhar.   They also appear to have lived in Glaisnock House in Cumnock in 1917.

He was a Lieutenant at Arras and went missing presumed dead. But in fact he was wounded and a POW in Germany (more info in the links below).

His father was so grateful to have him returned that he donated a large sum to St Bride's Church in Sanquhar.

John Samson died at Norwood in Downhill, Glasgow in 1920. He also had  an address of Glaisnock House and Hamish was an engineer and died in1971 in Hove, Sussex.
Samson family on Cumnock Connections tree.

POW record

H W Samson
Rank	Capt.
Regiment	6th Battalion. K.O. Scottish Borderers
Date Missing	3 May 1917
Repatriation Date	2 Dec 1918
Notes	Attached from Royal Scots.
Record Number	2237

Lots of articles appeared on the 3rd of May the anniversary of his supposed demise.

Church of Scotland article with gravestone

ITV with photo of him outside St Bride's Church ca 1917

BBC article

Herald article