Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
War heroes remembered
University links established after painstaking research
Two Monklands military heroes were among the First World War fallen whose names have been added to a new database.
Robert Scott MacDonald and William George MacFarlane Orr were identified by University of Glasgow researchers using digital resources that confirmed their connection to the university.
Now, 100 years after the war, their names, along with 17 other previously unidentified WWI personnel, will be carved in stone alongside those of the men and women already remembered in the university’s memorial chapel.
Robert and Wi l l i a m’s families have also been invited to memorial services on Remembrance Sunday, taking place on November 11.
William was born in Coatbridge, where his dad, also named William, was a banker and solicitor.
He enrolled at the university aged 17, signing up for one class, French, and was still living at the family home, the British Linen Bank House, when he enlisted as a Gunner in the Royal Field Artillery just after his 18th birthday.
Serving with ‘ B’ Battery of the 223rd Brigade, William was among the heavy casualties sustained in the Allied efforts to repel the German Spring offensive on the Somme in 1916.
After recovering, he continued to fight on the Western Front but was tragically only 19-years-old when he died on May 31, 1918.
The details of his grave are recorded by the name of George, most likely the forename he used to distinguish himself from his father.
He is buried at Bagneux British Cemetery in Gezaincourt, where he is remembered on his headstone, “Beloved Son of William Orr B.L. Solicitor and Banker, Coatbridge, Scotland”.
William is also commemorated on his home town’s war memorial.
Though born in Bellshill, Robert was brought up in the Schoolhouse at Chapelhall.
He was educated at the Chapelhall Public School before attending Whitehill School, where he gained the grades necessary to attend university.
War had broken out shortly before Robert started studying, and he failed to complete his first year in his haste to sign up.
As a member of the University of Glasgow’s officer training corps, Robert had already undertaken some military training when he joined the 14th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders as a Lance Corporal in November 1915.
His family was informed on September 23, 1918, that Robert had been reported missing after a battle at Bullecort, presumed to be a prisoner of war.
When he did not return after the Armistice, however, he was presumed dead – a fact later confirmed by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission on December 12, 1918. He was just 21-years-old.
Katie McDonald, researcher with the college of arts at the University of Glasgow, said: “We are still piecing together the stories behind the names of the fallen and ask anyone who has any information about them and any pictures of them to get in touch.
“In 1929, when the university originally called for names to be inscribed in the memorial chapel, the university widely advertised in newspapers, asking families to come forward with names of the fallen.
“Some people may not have seen the advertisements, or they could have assumed their son or brother or father’s name was already on record.
“Also, many families found it terribly hard to talk about their losses and may have found it too painful to come forward.
“Where students studied at more than one institution, some have been remembered in one and not the other.
“Perhaps an assumption was made by those providing the information that it would be shared, or perhaps it was too hard to relay the news repeatedly.
“Now, thanks to digital resources, online research, and collaborations with both local projects, such as the Scottish War Memorial Project and the Inverclyde Great War Project, and national initiatives such as the Imperial War Museum’s ‘ Lives of the First World War’ project, we have been able to add more names to the memorial chapel.”
The university asks people who have any more information, family stories or pictures related to William, Robert and the other 17 additional names to get in touch with the chapel by calling 0141 330 5419 or emailing chaplaincy@glasgow.ac.uk.
If anyone would like to view the records the university holds on the fallen, contact the university archives by email at archives@ glasgow. ac. uk or phone 0141 330 5515.