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[Currie]

Hello Helen,

You can’t really rely on the area to determine the regiment. Early in the War there may have been the option to enlist in a particular regiment but after conscription was introduced you could have ended up anywhere. Gaps created by casualties had to be filled.

There’s a James Glacken in the Royal Naval Division. This fellow was in the Navy (RNVR) but doing the work of an Army man. He appears to have given his date of birth as 8 April, 1895, but he may have fiddled it as he was so young. There appear to be two sets of documents available online for him, totalling three pages.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/docu ... Id=7990096
Name: Glacken, James
Service Number: 1/2598
RNVR Division: Clyde
Date: 09 April 1895
Catalogue reference ADM 337/19
(1 page)

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/docu ... Id=7543794
Name: Glacken, James
Service Number(s): 1/13, 1/2598
Rank or Rating: Ordinary Seaman, Able Seaman
Date of Birth: 9 April 1895
Date 9 April 1895
Catalogue reference ADM 339/1
(2 pages)

There’s info about the RND here http://www.1914-1918.net/63div.htm and some good pictures here http://www.chakoten.dk/royal_naval_div.html

Now here’s something interesting in The Scotsman, 05 December, 1914.

ARMY VETERAN'S FUNERAL IN EDINBURGH.—The remains of Private Peter Glacken, late 92nd Gordon Highlanders, were interred at Echobank Cemetery with military honours. Mr Glacken served for 21 years in the Army, was the recipient of several medals, and took part in the famous march to Kandahar, under Lord Roberts. He was for over 22 years a respected servant of the North British Rubber Company, and his demise was deeply regretted among his fellow-workers. He was a keen bowler. Mr Glacken had two sons in their country's service. Both have fought at the front. William, a private in the 1st Battalion Gordon Highlanders, is a prisoner in Germany; and James, a seaman of the R.N.V.R., was in action at the siege of Antwerp.

If that’s your lot just say the word and I’ll put the image on photobucket so you can take a copy.

All the best,
Alan

[hg]

Wow. Alan that's them. =D> I have some info on Peter already. Found a list of casualties from the London gazette, dec 3rd 1880. Peter is on there, with a gunshot wound to left arm. This also means that the William I found on the index roll on Ancestry is mine.

This is fantastic. I cannot thank you enough for the help you have given me.

all the best

Helen

[Currie]

That’s great Helen, I was hoping it was them.

Here’s the image: http://i944.photobucket.com/albums/ad28 ... lacken.jpg

And here’s a story about the “Antwerp Adventure” and some more pictures. http://www.greatwardifferent.com/Great_ ... ure_01.htm


The 1st Battalion of the Gordon Highlanders suffered a great many casualties (killed, wounded, missing, prisoners, etc) at the battle of Le Cateau on 26 August, 1914. That was when William would have been captured. He was in a huge list of 624 Gordon Highlanders reported missing, in the Scotsman, 26 October, 1914. (534 Glacken, Private W., Gordon Highlanders). It seems the prisoners were later allowed to write home to say they had been captured but were okay, and notices to this effect for some soldiers appeared in the newspapers.

There’s a history of the battle on this page including:
“Of the Gordon Highlanders about five hundred were taken, but a few escaped, and a handful of them actually made their way through the German lines to Antwerp, whence they were sent back to England. The fortune of war was hard upon the l/Gordons. For the time they practically ceased to exist as a battalion, but by their gallant resistance to all German attacks between 5 P.M. and dark on the 26th August they had rendered incalculable service to the 3rd Division and to the Army at large.” http://1914ancien.free.fr/edmochp9.htm


FMP have a Chelsea Pensioner record for the old soldier Peter Glacken b.1849 Glasgow. http://www.findmypast.co.uk/army-servic ... rch.action

All the best,
Alan

[Anne H]

Great finds as usual Alan. =D>

I mentioned to Helen that a record for Peter was on FMP but Helen already had that information.

Helen,I just had an email from FMP announcing new Navy records have been added so I had another look but your James isn't there.

There are only the following two records...

James Glacken born 26 Sep 1880, Greenock, Renfrewshire
Francis James born 25 Mar 1888, Londonderry

Too bad, especially since they both had photos of the men. Still, this might mean that there are more records to come online at some point.

Regards,
Anne H

[AndrewP]

... The remains of Private Peter Glacken, late 92nd Gordon Highlanders, were interred at Echobank Cemetery with military honours.

Hi Helen,

If you seek to follow up on this burial, be aware that Echobank Cemetery is known as Newington Cemetery these days.

All the best,

AndrewP

[apanderson]

There's a general photograph of Newington Cemetery here: (Scottish War Graves Project)
http://scottishwargraves.phpbbweb.com/v ... hwargraves

Taken from upstairs on a double-decker bus!

Anne

[hg]

Here's the photo.
Many thanks to everyone who has taken the time to reply.
all the best
Helen

[Currie]

That's a very nice photo Helen, I wish I had a few like that. He looks to me like he's aged in his 40's or somewhere thereabouts. I’ll have a go at identifying the uniform but should say first that I'm not a uniform expert or even one’s bootlace.

He's not wearing a kilt, he's wearing tartan trews. That would suggest that it’s a Lowland regiment. He has a number of medal ribbons, probably Pip, Squeak, and Wilfred. http://www.greatwar.co.uk/medals/ww1-ca ... medals.htm

His cap is a Glengarry, the badge is very 'round' looking, with a bump at the top. It looks to me a bit like Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, maybe a bit like King's Own Scottish Borderers or even the Gordon Highlanders. They all tend to blur into a bit of a blob when seen from that angle. http://www.lawranceordnance.com/khaki_a ... /index.php

The collar badges on the jacket look a bit like St. Andrew and his cross. There are similar collar badges on the fellow talked about in this thread and they seem to think it suggests Territorial. http://www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine. ... c5986.html

The Royal Naval Division was demobilised in 1919. Perhaps he joined up with the Territorial Army as a part-time soldier. Maybe there are clues to this on the RND records the National Archives has?

My guess is that he’s Territorial Battalion of the K.O.S.B. but I’ll probably be wrong. See if anyone else has any ideas and if not try the forums previously mentioned.

All the best,
Alan

[SarahND]

Did you have any luck with this Helen?

I thought I’d have another look around but still couldn’t find the list of collar badges I had been looking for, although there are plenty of cap badge displays. I decided to try ebay (where everything's for sale) and that brings up a few. The Royal Regiment of Scotland badge seems the most promising out of that lot. Hope this link works. http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_from ... Categories

All the best,
Alan

(Posted by SarahND but really from Currie)

[hg]

A couple of people on another forum seemed to think the 1930's - Royal Scots. I was thinking the late 1930's because the older boy - my uncle was born 1926, I think he looks about 13, so the dates tie in.

all the best

Helen