Well-known milkman reported killed

A young man, well known both as a winner of ploughing competitions and as a milkman, was reported killed in action.

Pte Douglas Matthew , who died on June 13, 1917, from fatal wounds, was the son of Mr David Matthew, farmer, Mains of Auchenbowie, Stirling.

The 22 year-old joined the Army in November, 1916, and was at first attached to the Royal Field Artillery before transferring to the Yorkshire Regiment. He went to France in January.

Pte Matthew worked with his farmer and was widely known in St Ninians and the suburbs of Stirling as, for two years, he was in charge of the milk car which covered the area.

He was also a skilled ploughman and before the war competed in the Bannockburn, Plean and Polmaise ploughing match.

He won the junior championship and 12 months later repeated his success in the senior section.

Pte Alex Innes, from Bannockburn, was reported wounded and missing since April 23, 1917. The 32-year-old, who enlisted in the A&SH and was transferred to the Machine Gun Corp, had been in France for two years.

He had, before the latest engagement, been wounded twice and had two brothers with the Colours.

Before enlisting, he worked with Alloa Coal Company at Cowie.

Sympathy was extended to his widowed mother and wife and children

Trustees of the Carnegie Hero Fund awarded £10 and an honorary certificate to Police Constable Robert May, who was injured in Port Street, Stirling, attempting to stop a runaway horse hitched to a wagon.

He grabbed the reins of one of the horses but was dragged under their hooves and a wheel of the wagon passed over him. The Observer reported that Prime Minister Lloyd George passed through Stirling on a special train travelling from Glasgow to Dundee.

He went from Dundee by car to Inverness before returning to London by the east coast train.

Some Stirling citizens were astonished when on the previous Sunday afternoon they saw two trams passing through the town full of armed soldiers.

“Some nervous persons jumped to the conclusion that a German invasion had taken place,” said the Observer. However, that was not so. The trams were taking the Bridge of Allan section of Stirling Volunteer Corp to an inspection at Williamfield cricket ground.

Music hall entertainer Harry Lauder was reported to have arrived in Callander for an indefinite stay. He was, said the Observer, “a keen angler and Loch Venachar is sure to receive much attention from him during his sojourn to the district”.