Tag Archives: Cameron Highlanders

Younie Brothers in Arms

This is a blog I started a couple of weeks ago and saved as a draft, with it being late in the evening.  In the meantime I, after having a chat with a fellow researcher, did the long awaited entry for Alexander Riach who had an accidental death.

It has been a while since I have touched anything connecte to my family history, I’ve been too busy researching for a couple of projects I have on the go.  But tonight I took the bull by the horns and transferred my family tree from my pc to my laptop.

So I have been having a mooch around and seeing who is there, been looking through the pictures I have added to the many people and I came up with a piccy of a headstone, my friends will say ‘well what a surprise, a headstone!’  I had totally forgotten taking this one on a visit to Forres, Morayshire, years ago – I think it could have been one of those I’ll do a little research on that one at a later  moment…………………the moment has come!

Isn’t it wonderful what a headstone can tell you, and especially a Scottish headstone as they nearly always have the wife with her maiden name for all to see – a woman keeps her name from cradle to grave…………wouldn’t that be wonderful if that was done in other countries!

This simple headstone is to William Younie who died at Bank Lane, 1926 aged 77.  His wife, Mary MacDonald died in 1935 aged 80.  But there are another couple of entries to their children.  Two of these entries I will go into further detail in a while, but now I will name Leslie, Alexander and William who die din infancy.

So, to the other children, namely, James and Thomas. 1891 sees the family living at 34 St Leonards Road, Forres, where William is a mason.   In 1901 the boys, were living at 3 Bank Street, Forres, with their parents, William Younie and Mary Ann MacDonald, and siblings – Donald, John and Emma.  In 1901 James McAndrew Younie and his brother Thomas P Younie were 12 years old – yes, they were twins!

I had some left over credits on Scotlands People, not a place I like to spend money as I wish they would do an annual subscription, but hey ho!  The William and Mary are living at 3 Bank Lane, Forres, with two of their children – James aged 23 and Emma aged 13.  Also in the household is James Munro aged 25, a boarder, who speaks both Gaelic and English.  William and Mary had bee married 33 years and had had eight children born alive, but only five had survived to be in the census of 1911.   William was still a mason, but this census specifies house building.  James was aged 23 and employed as a grocers assistant. Just for interest James Munro was employed as a law clerk.

During the Great War both James and Thomas fought for their country.

Lets look for James first.  He had been living in Glasgow, so it was there that he enlisted, joining the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders, with the service number S/2469 and rising to the rank of Lance younie james mcandrew kiaCorporal in the 6th Battalion.  And son it  was that  on the 16th of July 1917 that James McAndrew Younie died of wounds received in action aged 29.  He rests in Dozinghem Military Cemetery, near Krombeke, north west of Poperinge, in the West Vleteren region of Belgium, along with 3239 other casualties from  the  Commonwealth, the Chinese labour force and  Germany.

Westvleteren was outside the front held by Commonwealth forces in Belgium during the First World War, but in July 1917, in readiness for the forthcoming offensive, groups of casualty clearing stations were placed at three positions called by the troops Mendinghem, Dozinghem and Bandaghem.

The 4th, 47th and 61st Casualty Clearing Stations were posted at Dozinghem and the military cemetery was used by them until early in 1918.

A book about the War Memorial Unveiled in the United Free High Church has the following entry for James McAndrew Younie.

younie james moray n nairn fhs

Now to James’s twin, Thomas – while looking for James in the 1911 Scottish census, there was not one entry that I could 100% say was him.  Looking for Thomas has been a lot harder going than his brother, but we got somewhere in the end.  Thomas enlisted at Fort George in 1906. During the Great War, Thomas Petrie Younie served in the Seaforth Highlanders and became, Company Serjeant Major, 9500.  He served in France and on 2 July 1919, nearly 2 years to the day since his brother James died, Thomas died as the result of a gun shot wound to his leg.  As the war had ended Thomas had been sent back home and he rests in Cluny Hill Cemetery, Forres.

Younie Cluny hill cem forresThomas had been awarded the Military Medal and a similar article to his brother tells more about his life and war.

younie thomas moray n nairn fhs

 

So it was that three brothers went to war, Mary’s twins both died and  one came home. But one question still remains – which other brother went to war, was it Donald or John?

Younie Cluny hill cem forres

Sources

Ancestry

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Find My Past

Find a Grave

Soldiers who Died in the Great War

Moray and Nairn FHS click here 

Walter Hamilton Riach contd., by guest blogger David Oxlade

A very warm welcome to my first guest blogger, with some further information on Walter Hamilton RIACH and his family.

I was intrigued to see the recent blog concerning the background research on Walter Hamilton Riach, as I have been looking into him myself, as he and my father were cousins. If it is of interest to anyone, I may be able to add a little more to his and his family’s background.

Walter Hamilton Riach’s (WHR) mother was Mildred Agnes Riach nee Baker, (sister of Eveline Maude Baker (EMB), my paternal grandmother) who had indeed married Lt. Col (RE) Arthur Dundas Riach on June 3rd in Newton Abbott, Devon. WHR was born June 24th 1897, and as noted previously, joined the Queens Own Cameron Highlanders where he was Capt., 5th Bn, was captured in France and died of his wounds shortly before his 21st birthday – like so many of his generation! – on May 5th 1918; he is buried in Le Cateau Military Cemetery. In his earlier days he had been at school near Newton Abbott – Newton College, now no longer – where his brother and a number of his relatives were sent from India, including my father, Eric Robert Oxlade, his cousin, who was one year younger than WHR. He had then gone on to Haileybury Imperial Service College where he had been one of the first group of 23 pupils to join the College, which opened in 1912; 12 of his group of 23 were killed in the first war alone!

WHR had three siblings, two younger brothers, Lt Col. Robert Malcolm Riach, DSO, OBE, (RMR) born July 24th 1900, died Nov 7th 1962, who also joined the Cameron Highlanders and Lt. (RE) Wilfred Knight Riach, (WKR) born 8th August 1907, died 4th February 1928 while at RMQ Woolwich. WKR is buried at the Fort Pitt Military Cemetery in Kent, see photo below; how and why he died there, I have not been able to find out as yet. WHR also had a sister Margaret Stewart Riach, (MSR) born Jan 27th 1902. In 1911 the two younger Riachs (MSR and WKR) were listed in the census that year as staying with their mother and my grandfather Henry John Wilson Oxlade (their Uncle) at his house in Colliers Down, Caterham.

WHR’s mother Mildred Agnes RIACH nee Baker (usually known as “Agnes”) was born on 22nd Sept 1876, and died 14th June 1953; she was buried 18th June in St Peters Church, Yateley, Hampshire; her grave is located close to a tree behind the building attached to the back of the church, see photo below. While in England she seems to have lived most of the time in Cornwall, where exactly I don’t know, but letters from her father confirm that she was there and when her husband Arthur Hamilton Dundas Riach was in England on home leave, that is where they lived, although at various times her husband gave his address as 30, Mattock Lane, Ealing.

Her headstone reads:

riach mildred agnes wo arthur hamilton riach

Grave of Mildren Agnes Riach by D Oxlade

In Loving Memory of / Mildred Agnes / widow of Lt. Col. Arthur Hamilton Dundas Riach R.E./  Died 14 June 1953 / Aged 77 years.

riach robrt malcolm

Grave of Robert Malcolm Riach by D Oxlade

WHR’s younger brother, Lt Col. Robert Malcolm Riach (“Malcolm”), DSO, O.B.E., was born on July 24th 1900 and died on 7th Nov 1962. Also of the Cameron Highlanders like his older brother, Malcolm married in 1939 Marjorie Joan Howarth. His DSO was awarded in July 1940. RMR and his wife are buried at the Colvend Parish church in Dumfries and Galloway.

An interesting reference to RMR’s military career (and mentioning others of his family) is this extract from the description of an auction sale of various militaria:   ‘Robert Malcolm Riach enlisted on the 18th December in 1919 and was appointed as 2nd Lieutenant at Aldershot and the following year moved with the 2nd Bn to Ireland where he was wounded during the SInn feinn operations. He transferred to the 1st Bn in 1925 and served in India and Burma until 1929 when he was seconded to the 1st Nigerian Regiment until 1934 when he re-joined the 2nd Bn proceeding to Palestine the following year. He was transferred back to the 1st in 1935 and later completed a tour of duty at Cameron Barracks until the outbreak of war when he rejoined the 1st Bn. Embarking with the Bn for France he commanded “A” Company with distinction and was one of the survivors at Dunkirk. Awarded the D.S.O. (LG 11/2/ 1940). Commanded 2nd Bn Liverpool Scottish in May 1941 Awarded MID 29 April 1941 Awarded MID 10 May 1945 Awarded O.B.E. 24th Jan 1946. Commanded 4/5th Bn in 1947 until his retirement in 1950 as Lieutenant Colonel. riach broochBUT……take a good look at this lovely brooch and note that this is the pre 1881 version with the letters “LXX1X” beneath the sphinx. The Riach family have given great service to 4 their Regiment and to their Country. Now then, just who first owned this glorious brooch? It was made before 1881 so my guess is that perhaps RMR’s Great great Grand father might be a contender’.

Robert Malcolm RIACH’s engagement – and subsequent disengagement – seems to have been a matter of public record as well, his fiancée Dorothy Spicer being described as “one of England’s most beautiful airwomen” :  (From the Sydney Herald in August 1934: nla.gov.au/nla.newsarticle17103972; see also the Straits Times 30th July 1934 page 15 for a longer and slightly more colourful version)

Women’s Air-Taxi Business. There is only one air-taxi business in England, and it is conducted at Hunstanton, Norfolk, by two women, Miss Dorothy Spicer, the first woman to gain the Air Ministry’s B certificate for ground engineers, and her partner, Miss Pauline Gower, daughter of Sir Robert Gower, M.P., the second woman in England to obtain the Air Ministry’s B pilot certificate. Miss Spicer is young and very attractive, and became engaged some time ago to Captain Robert Malcolm Riach, of the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders, who has just arrived home from serving in Africa, naturally desirous of claiming his bride. But Miss Spicer has broken off her engagement. So the three-seater Moth of the Spicer-Gower partnership, the former as mechanic and the latter as pilot, is still available for passengers.

Grave of Wilfred Knight Riach

Grave of Wilfred Knight Riach

As mentioned above, WHR’s younger brother Wilfred Knight Riach died while at RMQ, and is buried at Fort Pitt Cemetery in Kent.

WHR’s sister Margaret Stewart RIACH (“Stewart”), was born January 27th 1902, and married Dennis Noel Venables, born 24th (some records state 20th) December 1898, Lt. Commander, RN, on June 23rd 1928. He was commissioned in August 1914, made Lt on Nov 15th 1919 and retired 15th Nov 1927 as Cmdr. He was obviously called up again and was mentioned in despatches 11th Nov 1941, awarded the DSC on Jan 1st 1943 and bar on Jan 23rd 1945. He commanded HMS Alresford and HMS Bagshot, both minesweepers, and HMS Glenearn an Infantry Landing Ship.

Margaret Stewart Riach and Dennis Noel Venables had three children: Robert Malcolm Venables, born 4th March 1935; Katherine Patience Venables who married an architect, Richard Watson, with whom she had a daughter and Hugh Spencer Venables, born ? and died 12th January 1946.

Hopefully the above will fill in some more details for anyone looking for background on this branch of the Riach family!

David A Oxlade – Guest Blogger

The original blog about Walter Hamilton Riach can be found here

If you have any further information on this family, or your family tree also ties in with these people, please let me know / Carol

Prisoners of War WW1

Over the past week or so I seem to have gone into blogging overdrive – well I have had a gap of over 12 months due to technical problems.  So, I am back with vengeance, as they say!

Those of you who visit my pages on a regular basis, will know that I like to tell you of resources to help with your research, news about places and updates to my website plus the odd mystery that has diverted me from my original path.

I think this bit of information will come under the heading of ‘help with your research’.  A few days ago someone sent a message around about Prisoners of WW1 record cards being put online by the International Committee of the Red Cross, and what a good source of information that is.

I think most people will be like me when a name search is placed directly in their view – yes, I go through most of the main surnames I am researching, well what did you expect me to say!   Siddle, no matches ; Wilkinson, too many ; Riach, not many.  Looks like Riach it is.

But before I tell you about soldier Riach, a little bit of background.   During the Great War 10 million, yes 10 million, sounds a lot dosn’t it? More than I imagined.  These 10 million were servicemen and civilians who were captured and sent to detention camps.  The countries involved provided an index card for each prisoner or detainee and  5 million are available to search through. One must realise, that the ICRC has a great deal of extra information in French, as it is based in Switzerland.

 Riach, was my search criteria, and a soldier named Walter H Riach turned up.

But what do his index cards tell? Walter was a Captain in the Cameron Highlanders. I saw his rank and thought to myself, that his service record won’t be online.  He was classed as wounded and missing on 23 March 1918. Words and references are F.S.E.  R.I.A E70738 with Z154 being struck through.  The card gives the impression that enquiries should be made to Berlin. Details of a Mrs Helen J W K Bakewell, of Forest End, Sandhurst, Berkshire are noted along with the fact he may be a Roman Catholic and that he was a prisoner, but with information that I now know the dates show the information was slow to be passed through.

If certain references are registered on the card it gives a link to other information available for that person – Walter has the relevant references. Another card tells that Walter Riach was a ‘soldat’ and had a reference of PA 28358 prefixed by a printed cross – possibly signifying a Red Cross reference.

Another card gives more references – A34209 with 27819 struck through.  We already know that Walter was wounded and missing since 23 March but now we know that it was between Fries and Equancourt – a look on a map tells me that Fries could be Fins.  We now have another name – Colonel Goff (cousin), Villa Valerie, Bellaria, La Tour, Vaud, Suisse.  the final page has another reference A400 with 30245 struck through.

As I said earlier there are reference that give access to more information and Walter had one, PA28358  which took me to a scanned book, typed and very faint but all in French.  The PA refers to British prisoners in the hands of Germany. The site has screen shots of what each reference means but sadly there was only one set of references for Walter so his information came to a halt here…………….but I wanted to find out what happened to him and more to the point who he was and who were Mrs Bakewell and Colonel Goff, his cousin.

Walter Hamilton Riach was the son of Arthur Hamilton Dundas Hamilton a Lieutenant Colonel in the Royal Engineers who served in India.  There are sources that say that Walter was born in Muree, India about 1897. This is getting very complicated as the more I search for the family the more I find peoples research differs and as this is not my Riach line, well not yet anyway, I am not going to get bogged down in others research, therefore, I will focus on what is out there on original documents. One document I did find was the Roll of Honour of The Imperial Service College which tells that during 1912-1914 Walter was there.

Ancestry has the medal card for Walter which tells what we know already – his name, ranks, that he was eligible for the 1915 Star etc. That he served in France from 30 September 1915 and his date of death.  Yes, Walter died his wounds while a prisoner of war on 5 May 1918 aged 21.  Here is card is unusual as it has information on the reverse.  An application was made by Mrs C H Holmes on behalf of her late nephew Capt., Riach W H for his medals.  An address is given as Rosevale, Newton Abbot presumably for Walter and his fathers address is given as 44 Grange Road, Ealing, W5.

Now, as to who is Mrs Bakewell and Colonel Goff, shall we say that is my next adventure………..see you there!

The CWGC tells that  Walter served in the 5th Bn., of the Cameron Highlanders and that his father at the time information was given regarding his grave was 30 Mattock Lane, Ealing, London.  Additional documentation for the CWGC gives references to his plot and tells that a headstone had been erected, no. 324, with the design 1010/1C with a cross with the words ‘The pure in heart shall see God’ his father’s name is also listed with his address but without seeing the headstone I’m not sure if all the wording is included.

le cateau cwgcWalter rests in plot III F 4 in Le Cateau Military Cemetery, along with over 700 others who gave their lives for King and Country, of which 511 are identified.  The probate for Walter’s estate was granted on 13 August 1919 to Arthur Hamilton Dundas Riach, Lieutenant-Colonel R.E.. Effects £593 9s 7d.

The area had been in German hands since 1914 and Le Cateau had been the site of a German railhead and also the site of an important military hospital.  In 1916 the Germans laid out the cemetery and allocated separate sections for Commonwealth servicemen and German soldiers, of which over 5000 rest within its boundaries and 34 Russian servicemen .

 There are three other people mentioned in this snippet, Arthur Hamilton Dundas Riach, Mrs Bakewell and Colonel Goff, a cousin.  Who they are will have to be another story……………so see you soon!

Sources

Ancestry

International Committee for the Red Cross

CWGC