Soldiers he’s battling on
and updated was given its public launch.
The work was sent to all the primary and secondary schools, local libraries, Paisley Central, the Mitchell Library as well as other libraries in the Glasgow area.
And finishing the book was more just than a personal triumph as he lost his great uncle, Hugh Cameron Smith, at the Battle of the Somme.
Born in Saucel Street, Paisley, Hugh was only 17 when he was killed. He died at Guillemont and was laid to rest in an unmarked grave.
Jim’s wife Janet’s uncle, Thomas Love, who was born in Linwood and served with Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, also fell in the Great War. He was 28 when he was killed. Jim built his research on a book released in 1920 by local publisher William Lochhead, called Paisley’s Fallen in the Great War: 1914 to 1918.
And, working with fellow members of Renfrewshire Family History Society – Denise Williams, Chris McMenemy, Wilson McNair, Peter Hutchison and Bert Wilson – Jim was delighted to have the title printed.
He also drew on research from another title, Wasted Journey by William John Nixon and Lt. John McCulloch Young, and by fastidiously combing library archives, pouring over old newspapers articles and tracing war records and using online genealogy resources, such as the Scottish Registry and Scottish Ancestry.
Jim is rightly proud because he has helped record the death of every Paisley soldier in the Great War.
He told how important it is for future generations to understand the importance of those who died fighting for our freedom.
He said: “We have to honour our fallen soldiers because we wouldn’t be here today without them.”
The dedicated sleuth has also researched and written about Paisley’s past including tragic events such as the Glen Cinema Disaster of 1929 and the bombing of Woodside First Aid Post in 1941.
Although I am knackered most of the time, I’m doing my best to behave as normal Jim Smith