Gilbert Heron Currie

Thanks to Margaret for supplying the photo of the Currie brothers

Gilbert Heron Currie, 2nd Lieutenant in the 10th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, was killed on 12th October 1916 within a few yards of Second Lieutenant William Buchan of the 7th Seaforth Highlanders.  William's home was Mindffordd, 34 Roman Road, Bearsden, and Gilbert's was Lochiel, 20 Thorn Road, Bearsden.  We don't know if they knew each other in Bearsden.

I have described what happened on 12th October here but in brief a hurriedly prepared attack was made uphill against a German defensive position with an inadequate prior artillery barrage.  William's battalion, the 7th Seaforths, formed the first four waves in the advance, while Gilbert's battalion provided two companies for a fifth and sixth wave.  They were met by intense machine gun and rifle fire and by the end of the day 70% of the Seaforths were killed, wounded or missing.

With 37 dead the A&SH fared slightly better than the Seaforths (130 dead).  Gilbert has a known grave, unlike William Buchan.  However, Gilbert's body was initially identified as an officer of the South African Brigade, initials G.C., as shown in this record from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission:

Note the map reference in the fourth column where his grave was initially found; it did not have a cross, hence his body would have been exhumed to try to identify it.  Staff would then have had to compare what was known (his rank and initials) to a (long) list of those known to have died in the area with no known grave.

With their diligence, he was buried in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery named Cabaret-Rouge:

Gilbert Heron Currie was born in 1895 on 25^th September at 30 Burnbank Gardens, Glasgow:

Great Western Road cuts across the bottom left hand corner.  (Note that another man named on the Bearsden War Memorial, Andrew McPherson, lived at number 17 Burnbank Gardens in the early 1920s.)

His father, William Rankine Currie, was an "earthenware manufacturer" and his mother was Margaret (Maggie) Dickson Heron.  Gilbert was a year younger than their first child, Allan.

His father's story is taken from this website.  William was a potter who then bought Campbellfield Pottery, Gallowgate in 1874 and produced stoneware, Rockingham ware and white earthenware jam jars. (In modern terms this was just to the west of the Forge Retail Park.)  Things must have been going well because in 1881 he purchased the newly-built Springburn Pottery to produce transfer-printed pieces for the domestic and Irish markets. The Gallowgate works closed in 1885 and the Springburn works continued until 1899 when the company went into voluntary liquidation.

The Springburn (Campbellfield) Pottery Flemington Road, Petershill, Springburn - map 1892-4

The family moved to a villa called Bartica in the New Kilpatrick area (hard to identify in modern terms).  William now gave his occupation as "flint miller", which is another part of the pottery-making process.  By this stage Gilbert and Allan had younger siblings, Janet and William.  They had three servants, one for childcare and two for the house.

By 1905 they were at Lochiel - from the 1911 Census, we know this was on Thorn Road and by comparing various records it was number 20.  William was still a flint miller; all the children were still at school, but now they only had one servant.

After attending Glasgow Academy, Gilbert started his military service as a private in the 3^rd Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.  He had transferred to 9th HLI by the time he won the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his actions on 17th May 1915 at Richebourg.  British troops had captured German trench and messages had to be taken to them and he collected them and ran across 100 yards of open ground to deliver them.

When he came home on leave in July 1915 he was accosted by the Daily Record for the story:

He was commissioned in 3^rd Battalion, Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders as a 2^nd Lieutenant in November 1915.  He may have transferred to 10th Battalion on 25 August 1916, when that battalion received five officers to replace casualties at Camblon l’Abbe.

Gilbert's older brother, Allan Peter Currie, is not named on the Bearsden War Memorial.  My understanding is the memorial names people who were nominated and met the criteria, so no nomination meant no listing.  With Gilbert and his parents dead, there seems to have been nobody left to list Allan. 

He was born on 8th October 1894, also at 30 Burnbank Gardens.  There's a helpful biography of Allan here, although I do not agree with everything said.  For example, he is said to have attended Janefield School, Bearden, which I cannot locate; could it have been a short-lived prep school?  He attended Glasgow Academy and was in the school's First XV for rugby.

He joined the army in 1914 as a private in 9th Battalion Highland Light Infantry (HLI, the Glasgow Highlanders).  He was quickly promoted to Lance-Corporal and was wounded in the knee on 17th May 1915, the same day his brother won the DCM: 

He was evacuated to a hospital in Oxford to recover.  

He won the Military Cross in 1917 at Ypres when he carried a wounded man back from 50 yards in front of the enemy line, despite being under fire.  He was wounded again in 1918:

His promotions included to Lieutenant, Captain (this was in 6th HLI) and he finished the war as a Major in the 18th Battalion HLI.

After the war, he joined J&P Coates of Paisley, a textile business with origins in Paisley but now an international company.  Allan worked in countries around the Baltic Sea and became a cartographer; he also learned to ski and was in the 1924 British team for the Winter Olympics although he did not start either event he was entered for.  He later worked in Sweden, Finland and Norway.

In 1932 he married Susan Margaret Croll Adam, 19-year old daughter of a doctor, at Govan Old Parish Church.  

Allan gave his occupation as a "branch inspector" for his company.  Both gave their address as 19 Belhaven Terrace, which is on Great Western Road by the junction with Horselethill Road:

 

They had one son, Gilbert Heron Adam Currie (named after Allan's younger brother), who was born in Sweden in December 1935.

Allan was recalled to the army when World War 2 started and fought in Norway, the short and doomed British-French attempt to seize bases in a neutral country and that was thwarted by a German invasion.  He was assigned to the Ministry of Information, the managers of news (and propaganda) for the British population, specialising in military affairs.

He died in London on 27th June 1944.  The circumstances are not clear: he was said to be at work (possibly fire-watching), so the enemy action that caused his death was most probably a V1 flying bomb (doodlebug).  If so, he was the only casualty.  Checking the GRO record, he died at the Princess Beatrice Hospital.

As this was a maternity hospital (I can find no indication it played a different role during the war) it suggests he might have been wounded very near by and somebody thought it as the best place to get urgent medical care.

The building still stands today and is located in Earl's Court.  This is another aspect of the mystery as the Ministry of Information is usually associated with the Senate House in Bloomsbury, several miles away and passing a number of excellent and better equipped hospitals along the way.  It's possible the Ministry had other offices in London and he was fatally injured at one in Earl's Court.

Allan's wife, Susan, was staying in Forres in Morayshire (her birthplace):