Flu death follows armistice
A Fintry soldier – admitted to hospital on Armistice Day – died four days later from influenza `his work done for King and Country’, the Observer said. Gunner John Scott was the only son of Mr and Mrs Archibald Scott, Mill of Glenboig.
*** News reached Doune that Pte Charles Mills, Black Watch, had been killed in the early days of November, 1918. Before going to France he was sent out to Palestine. On the journey to the Middle East his ship was torpedoed. Most of those on board, including Pte Mills, were rescued. `He was a tall and handsome soldier and also a quiet and amiable young man,’ the Observer said.
*** End-of-war celebrations continued in Deanston where a fete was held by Mr James Muir & Co, Deanston Mills. Children marched in procession from the school to a field, above the village, were a marquee had been erected. The parade was led by Piper T Burt and Pipe Major Wright. The Observer said there was `tea, coffee and plenty to eat’ and those who gathered were entertained by piping, dancing and a bonfire plus fireworks.
*** Dunblane’s first Naval casualty of the war was named just days after the cease fire was agreed. Gunner William Stirling, Royal Marines , died from pneumonia aboard a naval hospital ship. The son of the late Mr Henry Stirling, Bridgend, Gunner Stirling joined up at 18 and served for two years. He was employed as a grocer with D&J McEwen before enlisting. The Observer said Gnr Stirling was also the first man from HM Forces to be laid to rest in the district since the outbreak of World War One.
*** Mr and Mrs Smellie, from Ashfield, received a letter from their son, Thomas, saying he had been awarded a Military Medal. Pte Smellie joined Scottish Horse at the start of the war and saw service at Gallipoli, Egypt, Salonica and France. Before the war, he worked as a sawmiller in Auchterarder. His parents lived there before moving to Ashfield a short time earlier. *** Home on leave in Doune was Pte David Rutherford, son of Mr W Rutherford, Braehead Cottage. He had been in France for two years, most of that time with the Lancashire Fusiliers. He was attached to General Herbert Plumer’s Army and took part in a series of battles in Flanders in which Germany was driven back. Pte Rutherford was still in action when bugles sounded the cease fire. The brave private had survived the Battle of the Somme plus fighting around Albert and had returned home to Doune `unharmed,’ the Observer said.
*** Pte James Gray, Black Watch, son of Mrs Gray, Argaty Mill, had a bone in his left arm shattered and was in hospital in Reading. He was mobilised with Scottish Horse at the start of the war and served in Gallipoli, Egypt and France.
*** On the homefront, Balfron had until a few days earlier not felt the effects of the influenza epidemic sweeping the country. However, a number of cases , some of them serious, had been reported in the village. Both the school and the Reading Room were closed.