Prisoner of war died from TB

Word reached Deanston of the death of a soldier from the village who had been a prisoner of the Germans for three and a half years.

Pte Alexander Cameron passed away on April 21, 1918, from tuberculosis while being held by the enemy.

A soldier before 1914, the Cameron Highlander was working on the Glasgow trams when he was called up as a reservist at the outbreak of war.

He took part in several of the war’s early battles, including the retreat from Mons, and was captured by the Germans.

The Observer’s Doune correspondent said Pte Cameron must have endured a long and painful illness while in captivity but never betrayed his suffering in the many “cheerful” letters home to his family.

His fellow prisoner sent to his mother a “beautiful silk band” taken from the wreath they had laid on his grave. Gunner James Rorie, was killed in a shell explosion.

A gardener to trade, he was one of four of Mr Rorie’s sons engaged in the fighting and left a wife and two children.

Pte David Black, eldest son of Mr James Black, Main Street, Doune, was also a fatality. The 19-year-old had only been in France a few months.

Before joining the Camerons, he worked as a farmhand at the Braes of Doune.

There was better news of two soldiers from Doune area who had been posted missing.

Lance corporals D Morrison and A Logan, both Black Watch, sent postcards to their families saying they were prisoners in Germany.