Sudden death of recruiting officer (48)

The officer in charge of Army recruitment in Stirling was reported to have passed away 100 years ago this week.

Major RM Mann, who suffered from a heart condition, complained of feeling unwell while working at Stirling Castle.

He returned to his home in the town’s Albert Place where he complained of sickness and died a short time later.

He was third son of Mr James Mann, a Glasgow businessman, and came from Bothwell.

At the outbreak of war, he held the rank of major in one of the Scottish Rifles’ Territorial Battalions and was said to be greatly disappointed when, for health reasons, he was unable to serve with his regiment on the battlefield.

Major Mann was appointed chief recruiting officer at Stirling shortly after the start of hostilities when there was a rush of men wishing to enlist.

He held the office until his death and, said the Stirling Journal:“His duties at all times were of a most exacting nature, for the area in which he was in charge was a very extensive one and the major never spared himself in the work.”

Eighteen months earlier, his health broke down completely and he had to take time away from the post and Stirling for a period.

It was, said the paper, a sad coincidence that the major had passed away at a time when the hardest part of the job was over yet the task had not yet been fully completed.

He was popular with brother officers, townsfolk and “the many thousands of soldiers who ‘passed through his hands’will also read the announcement of his death with regret, remembering their appearances before him at the castle in the days when they were in the embryo stage of the warrior profession”.

Major Mann (48) was survived by his wife and married daughter. He was brother-in-law of Mr Marshall, dentist, Snowdon Place, Stirling, and his funeral was to take place in East Kilbride.