More local names on casualty lists
Families discover fate of their loved ones
News of Stirling area casualties during the latest German offensive continue to filter back to worried relatives. Among those named in the Observer were:
• Pte Stephen Tierney, Gordon Highlanders, who parents lived at 79 Main Street St Ninians. He was in hospital in Kent suffering from shell-shock . He enlisted as a 17-year-old in April, 1915 and went to France in July of that year. The former Fallin Colliery miner was gassed at the Battle of Loos in 1915, and gassed and wounded during the Battle of the Somme the following year.
• Pte George McFarlane, a Lewis gunner with 11th Royal Scots whose parents lived at 92 Cowane Street, Stirling, was wounded in the arm by shrapnel. He was wounded at Ypres in September, 1917, but re-joined his regiment in December of that year and had been serving on the Cambrai Front. He worked before enlisting at the clothing department, Army Ordnance Stores, Stirling.
• Pte Samuel Stewart, Royal Scots Fusiliers, was in 72nd General Hospital in France suffering from wounds in the arm and shoulder. The private, whose parents lived at 41 Lower Craigs, Stirling, was a tailor in Forthside Stores before enlisting. He was also wounded at Aisne in April, 1917. His brother, Thomas, was in the Army but had been missing since July, 1917.
• Pte John Anderson, A&SH, wrote to his parents of 94 Upper Craigs, Stirling, explaining he had suffered a slight gunshot wound in the left ankle. The former parcels department employee at Stirling Station had re-joined his regiment after a spell in hospital.
• Pte William Bett, A&SH, younger son of Mr and Mrs James Bett, 17 Seaforth Place, Stirling, was reported wounded on the left side and burned. The 20-year-old former yardsman with Caledonian Railway enlisted in May, 1917 and had been in France for six months. He was the youngest of four brothers serving with the Colours.
• Pte Alexander Fraser, A&SH was in hospital in France after being wounded, although not seriously according to the Observer. The 23-year-old was eldest son of cabman Mr Duncan Fraser and Mrs Fraser, 10 Viewfield Street, Stirling. Before enlisting he was an electrical engineer at Millhall Colliery.
• Pte Norman Mclean, Highland Light Infantry, second son of Mr and Mrs John Mclean, Wallace Arms, St Ninians, and Bridge Custom House, received a bullet wound to the arm and was in hospital in France. It was the second time he had been wounded. Before enlisting, he worked with his father.
• Pte George Killingbeck, Royal Scots, whose mother lived at 27 Queen Street, Stirling, was in hospital in Stirling suffering from shrapnel wounds to the leg. He joined the Army a year ago after serving his apprenticeship as a grocer with Mr Easson, Baker Street.
• Cpl Alexander Young, A&SH, was in hospital in France suffering from wounds suffered in the recent fighting. He was youngest son of Mr David Young, Murray Place, Cambusbarron, and served his apprenticeship as a chemist with WJ Moore & Son, Stirling.
• Pt James Thyne, Gordon Highlanders, wrote to his father, James, a gardener of 11 Baker Street, Stirling, to say he was in hospital in France suffering from wounds to his right arm. The former postman had joined up a year earlier and was 19 when he went to France.
• Pte Andrew Young, Royal Scots, was wounded in France on March 27, 1918, and in hospital in Carlisle. The son of ostler Mr Alexander Young, 37 Lower Craigs, Stirling, he joined the Army in 1915 and had been wounded before. He returned to the trenches at the beginning of the year. One brother died as a result of illness contracted on active service and another had been discharged from the Army.