Gunner Jamieson becomes 27th member of Stirling church to die

A grim wartime milestone was reached 100 years ago this week.

The death in action of Gunner Alexander SL Jamieson, Royal Field Artillery, brought to 27 the number of names of Stirling North Parish Church members who had made the “supreme sacrifice”.

Gunner Jamieson’s mother, of 21 Forth Crescent, Stirling, was told her son had been wounded in fighting on September 1, 1917, when a fragment of a shell pierced his thigh.

It infected other injuries and he died a few days later in a casualty clearing station.

Before joining up, the 20-year-old was on the clerical staff at Cambus Brewery (Mr Knox’s).

Gunner Jamieson’s brother Frank joined the RFA in January 1916 and the two brothers had been serving in the same battery.

Frank was able to be with his brother shortly after he was wounded, said the Observer.

Gunner Alexander Jamieson was a member of Stirling Boating Club and won first place in the Burgh Stakes in 1914 at the last regatta before the start of war.

Householders were given an early indication of how they were going to get their hands on sugar now supplies were being restricted because of the war.

Some people in the area received a ‘sugar application form’ through which they had to supply information such as name and number of occupants in their home.

The form was to be returned to the office in the newly opened Municipal Buildings of the Food Controller for the burgh and county.

At Stirling Castle, a large number of women had been taken on as clerks to handle administrative work arising from the introduction of conscription.

The Observer reported that as much of that work had now been completed, there was no longer the need for so many office staff and 100 were to be dispensed with.

“They will miss their good pay and congenial hours,” said the Observer. “However, there should soon be plenty of typists and clerkesses on the market.”

The death occurred on August 30, 1917, at a casualty clearing station in France of Pte James Christie, Cameron Highlanders, younger son of Mr Robert Christie who was the former telegraph superintendent at Stirling Station.

Pte Christie was 24 and his death was due to gastric enteritis and must have been sudden as his wife received a letter, dated August 28, 1917, in which he stated he was feeling “champion”.

He joined the A&SH in January 1917 and on arrival in France was drafted into the Cameron Highlanders.

Before joining the Army he was employed in the works manager’s office, Caledonian Railway Locomotive Works, St Rollox, Glasgow.