Rhubarb leavesled todeath
Pte Robert Holmes, who had earlier been reported killed in action. The 21-year-old was the second son of Mrs and Mrs Robert Holmes, Netherton Farm, Doune, and had served with the Scottish Horse and Black Watch. Popular comrade Villagers in Deanston were saddened to learn of the death in action of Pte John Blacklock, a member of the Territorials, whose wife lived in Fifth Division.
Pte Blacklock, described by his commanding officer as a valued and popular comrade, worked for six years as a gardener at Deanston House. He left a widow and a child. Aberfoyle casualty A 36-year-old Aberfoyle villager, one of three brothers with the Colours, was killed in action. Pte Dougal McGregor’s parents lived in Aberfoyle. Gamekeeper was crack shot Another soldier from rural Stirling area to make the ultimate sacrifice was Andrew Fairweather, Royal Scots, from Kippen. The 24-yearold died on April 9.
He was said to be one of the best shots in his battalion and joined up in May of the previous year. He had been through many severe engagement but died during the latest great push.
Pte Fairweather previously worked with his father as a gamekeeper on the Boquhan estate. Kippen soldier Pte John Gray, son of Archibald Gray, Wright Place, had again been wounded, this time on the chin.
Pte Walter Poole, son-in-law of Mrs John Welsh, Edina House, was also reported injured. He was a gardener at Auchentroig, Buchlyvie. With food shortages caused by the war a feature of life across Britain, one family decided to eat boiled rhubarb leaves.
One man died and other family members suffered serious illness.
The Observer said: “If rhubarb leaves were good food the fact would have been discovered long ago.
“Not only are they dangerous but modern medical opinion is fast coming to the conclusion that the stalks of the leaves are equally to be condemned.
“The old belief that rhubarb is a wholesome spring comestible, especially for children, is dying out.
“Some doctors denounce it as poison and say it is the one thing people should eat if they wish to cultivate gouty and rheumatic conditions.”
For people inclined to such ailments the oxalic acid in rhubarb was a “deadly poison”.
The paper said many people had allergies to certain foods. Strawberries caused a rash in some people while mackerel, shellfish and cucumber disagreed with others.
“Danger clearly attaches to the quest for new vegetables as substitutes for the produce which the war and the long winter have made so scarce,” the paper warned.
These days it is accepted that rhubarb leaves contain dangerous chemicals such as oxalic acid and can be poisonous if eaten in large quantities.