John Douglas

I started this search knowing John Douglas was among the First World War names on the memorial.  The CWGC website found 15 men of the same name but either they seemed linked to other places (Rutherglen, Hawick, Aberdeen) or no further info was provided.

Fortunately, Scottish Military Research Group have transcribed war memorials in Scotland and from their website I found John had died on 17^th September 1916.  It also said he had been in 3^rd Battalion of the Highland Light Infantry.  This was a mystery as none of the CWGC names were in that unit and soldiers were generally buried in a cemetery close to where they died – so why was he not in France?

With a date of death, I could then use Scotland’s People to find the record of his death.  This shows the cause as being “phthisis pulmonalis”, or tuberculosis, with a duration of disease of 16 months i.e. diagnosed around May 1915.

But there is so much more information.  John’s age was 35 so born around 1881, his occupation was as a cashier.  He was married to Janet Maxwell Fleming (and her father registered his death).  His address was Eskadale, Hillfoot, Bearsden.

Scotland’s People allows a search on the 1915 Valuation Roll (rateable value of properties) so I could search the New Kilpatrick roll for Eskadale …. but found nothing.  I had heard of “Eskdale” in the Lake District so tried that and was lucky: “J. Douglas, clerk” rented “Eskdale” from Donald Munro of 13 Robertson Street, Glasgow.

It’s possible someone compiling the roll had (like me) heard of Eskdale but not Eskadale and assumed it was an error.  In fact, Eskadale is about 17 miles west of Inverness:

Eskadale is on Milngavie Road in Bearsden, but to find a street number I needed the 1940 Valuation Roll and again I was lucky: Janet M. Douglas, widow, was the owner of Eskadale, 117 Milngavie Road.  I checked neighbouring properties because Janet could have moved house and taken the name with her, but the 1915-to-1940 comparison paid off.  The houses called Rozell, Cranley, Eskdale, Glen Airlie, Lossiebank and Edzell became 113, 115, 117, 119, 121, 123 and 125 respectively. 

As you drive north on Milngavie Road, passing through the traffic lights at Boclair Road-Roman Road, this row of houses is on the left.  (Douglas Terrace is the row of shops on the bridge over the railway by Hillfoot Station, including the late, lamented Hillfoot Café).

I could also find the record of John’s marriage to Janet, on 2^nd June 1911 at 185 Buchanan Street.  This is not an address with any obvious resonance, but some will remember it as the Buchanan Hotel at the top end of Buchanan Street; for those with shorter memories it is now the site of H&M, the clothing shop.  (I am surprised how many weddings of this period took place outside of churches.)

John was 29 years old, a cashier, living at 33 Albert Drive, Crosshill (would have been next to the Tramway Theatre but now demolished).  Janet was the same age and lived at 141 Coplaw Street (still standing, looking over Govanhill Park).

Despite now knowing John’s parents were John (senior) and Jessie (nee Lorain), I was still having trouble finding a record of his birth because the mother’s maiden name was not always included and there were several candidates.  I tried Ancestry.co.uk and got lucky again: a man in Melbourne, Australia (Russell Williams), had included John in a family tree.  He had attached what was described by Ancestry as John’s army pension record but proved to be the form John completed when he enrolled in the army.  This took place six weeks after war had been declared on 4^th August, on 17^th September 1914 (two years to the day before he died).

John joined 1 Company of the 3^rd Battalion, Highland Light Infantry at the Technical College (204 George Street, now part of Strathclyde University); this fitted with the information from the Scottish Military Research Group website.

The form also told me he was 33 years and 2 months old and was born in Govan.  Armed with this information I could identify him as having been born on 15^th July 1881.  The address is included but difficult to read; my guess is 143 Pollokshaws Road, Govanhill.  John’s father was a railway porter at the time.

From his service record, he joined as a private but by January 1915 he had been promoted to sergeant.  He also seems to have transferred to 17^th Battalion HLI although no date is given.  They were in training in the UK in 1915 but John was discharged as medically unfit on 27^th September 1915; he would have been diagnosed with TB by this point.  His unit went to France about six weeks later.

This photo of the battalion on parade was taken in April 1915 in Troon:

John is probably in there; this is the only possible photo of him I have been able to find.

Mr Williams’ work on Ancestry also told me John and Janet had one child, John Lorain Douglas but seemingly known as Ian.  He was born on 2^nd June 1912 at 92 Dundrennan Road (still standing) in Cathcart.

Ian had his own sad story.  His childhood would have been defined by his father returning home ill when he was three, lingering for almost a year and then dying when he was four.  He must have been good at school because we have a glimpse of him as a stockbroker’s clerk in the 1930s, setting up a publishing company called Pastime Journals.  He married Isabella Strachan and they had a daughter, Anne, but she did not live to her first birthday.  He joined the Royal Artillery in 1939 and was promoted to an officer, but there the record goes cold, and the next I can find he died aged 34.  The cause was polycystic syndrome and a stroke.

Janet died in 1975.

John's grave in New Kilpatrick Cemetery - thanks to Chris McKay for permission to use the photos (click here to see Chris's brilliant page about the cemetery):