Soldier dies of old war wounds

A brave Hillfoots soldier collapsed and died from war wounds sustained almost two years earlier, the Observer reported.

Trooper JAH Robertson, Fife and Forfar Imperial Yeomanry, worked with Stirling livestock agents Speedie Brothers before joining the Army.

He was seriously wounded after landing with his regiment in the Dardanelles during the Gallipoli campaign which took place between February, 1915, and January of the following year.

Trooper Robertson was taken back to Britain and received care at Stobhill Hospital, Glasgow.

The Observer said: “After many months of nursing and treatment he was sent home to Alva, a wreck of his former sprightly self with a paralysed arm and a leg that dragged.

“However, possessed of an indomitable spirit, as time went on he moved round wonderfully and was to be found every market day among his old friends at the mart.

“He was there as recently as Thursday. The following day he was not very well and in the evening he collapsed and passed away, death being attributed to damage to the brain from shrapnel which it had not been possible to remove from his head.”

Trooper Robertson’s father was a retired manufacturer living in Alva. The former Speedie Brothers employee was a good athlete during his school days at Dollar Academy and a “dashing soldier” who was marked for promotion by his superiors. On the day he was wounded, his name was to go forward for a commission.

*** The Observer of 100 years ago this week also reported on a number of soldiers killed in action.

One was Bombardier Archibald Robertson, Royal Garrison Artillery, whose mother lived in Ronald Place, Stirling. During action on December 26, 1917, he was knocked unconscious by a gas shell blast and died in hospital two days later. The 32-year-old was the fourth son of the late Mr John Robertson, gardener, and Mrs Robertson, and for several years he ran a tobacconist and newsagents business in Upper Craigs. He joined the Army in July, 1913, and had been in France for two months.

*** Pte William Rourke, A&SH, from St Ninians, who had been missing since November, 1916, was officially presumed to have died on that date. Age 23, he was a surface worker at Millhall Colliery before enlisting and had three bothers also serving in the forces. His father, James, Caledonia Place, St Ninians, was an old soldier having spent 21 years in the Royal Artillery. ***

Mr Alexander Ferguson, gardener, Nelson Place, Stirling, learned his son, William, a private in the A&SH, previously reported wounded and missing, was killed or died of wounds on September 20, 1917. Pte Ferguson was 21 and worked as a butcher with Mr James Cullens before joining up. He had been in France for 21 months.