Tragic sweethearts to be commemorated
● Soldier’s death to be remembered in poignant local church service
They were childhood sweethearts tragically parted when he was killed in the trenches in Belgium during the First World War – she wore a secret locket containing his picture until the day she died.
Now a couple who were engaged to be married a century ago are among those to be remembered in a poignant Remembranceservicedisplay to mark the centenary of the end of the First World War.
Private Robert Dawson was engaged to be married to Jessie Fletcher Orr when he died of catastrophic injuries after the trench in Belgium he was fighting in was shelled. Ms Orr’s family says she never fully recovered from the death of the love of her life, despite later marrying another man, with whom she had three children – one of whom she named Margaret Dawson Jamieson.
The couple’s lives will each be represented by a silhouette as a powerful symbol of absence that will sit among parishioners in the pews during a special Remembrance Service at St John’s Parish Church in Hamilton.
Private Dawson was one of 29 members of the church who died in the Great War and his name is on a war memorial within the sanctuary.
Ms Orr’s grandson, Iain English, 61, said he remembered hearing his grandmother talk about Private Dawson.
He said: “Robert Dawson
was the love of my grandmother’s life, they got engaged in 1914 when he was 19, and she was devastated when he died.
“She never fully recovered from his death. She went on to marry my grandfather, Jimmy, but it was a case of, ‘You’ll do’ and I don’t think she was very happy throughout her life.”
Private Dawson was just 22 years old when he was badly wounded in Candle Trench at Poelcapelle, near Ypres. He was taken to a British military hospital in Etaples in northern France where he died from his injuries on 27 October, 1917. Mr English, a retired community safety officer who now manages a befriending service for older people, added: “I feel a great sense of connection to him and I wish my mum, Margaret, was around to be part of the Remembrance Service.
“It is very hard for me to keep my emotions together and the poignancy of all of this is, had Robert Dawson survived, my family would not exist. That is the part that we owe to that man’s life.”
The silhouettes to feature the service were created by thetherebutnottherearmistice Project. Ten of them were funded by the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust with the remaining 19 paid for by the church.
Scottish poet Walter Wingate knew the Dawson family. One of the last verses he wrote before his death in 1918 was about Robert’s demise.
Rev Joanne Hood, minister at St John’s Parish Church, said: “Our installation for Remembrance Sunday, and for the week after, will return to the pews the lives of 29 men lost. Each silhouette will have a cross placed beside it and the name of the man it represents.
“It is incredibly emotional hearing Robert Dawson’s story and it is an opportunity to celebrate his life in a way that will have never been done before in the church.
“Of all the names on our memorial, the story of Robert Dawson is the only one we know, so I would love it if people came forward with stories about the other 28 men who died.”