Tragic news from the front

A Stirling soldier died in a hospital in Germany where he was being held as a prisoner-of-war.

Pte William Denovan, Gordon Highlanders, was the son of Mr Alexander Denovan, mason, and Mrs Denovan, of Glencairn Cottage, Alloa Road, Causewayhead.

Pte Denovan died on May 22, 1918, in Sagan War Hospital where he was being treated for a gunshot wound to the thigh.

It was not thought the wound was serious but it’s believed he suffered blood poisoning with fatal consequences.

Pte Denovan (pictured right) was employed as a hairdresser with Mr William McArthur in Upper Craigs before joining the Army two years earlier.

After a spell on the Western Front, he was invalided home with trench foot but later returned to the fighting and was reported missing on April 11, 1918.

His parents learned their son was a POW from a postcard he sent to them in which he explained he had a thigh wound.

Pte Denovan’s elder brother was a sapper in the Royal Engineers while his younger brother, Thomas, was in the A&SH. Pte William Denovan’s name was added to the Roll of Honour at Logie Parish Church.

Meanwhile, cabman Mr David Soutar, 28 Upper Craigs, Stirling, learned his youngest son, Andrew, a private in the A&SH, was killed in France on July 30, 1918. A letter from a chaplain explained Pte Soutar was killed instantly in fighting at Eperney. He described the private as a fine lad who would be greatly missed by his comrades. Pte Soutar worked as a law clerk with Messrs Mathie MacLuckie and Lupton and tried to join the Army before he was old enough. He was not accepted at that time but enlisted on his 18th birthday in July, 1917.

Among those reported to have been wounded were Second Lieutenant William Battison, A&SH, who had been recommended for the Military Cross. He was in hospital in London.

Rev James A Adam, Bruce Memorial United Free Church, Cambusbarron, learned from the War Office his elder son, John, a lieutenant in the Gordon Highlanders, was severely wounded with injuries to his arm and leg and was in a Red Cross Hospital in Rouen.. The 24-year-old was a first-year student in Divinity Hall, Glasgow, when the war broke out and he joined the Gordons in 1915. H e went to France later that year and had been at the Front for some time.

Company Sergeant Major Robert`Bob’ Harvey, Gordon Highlanders, was in hospital in the south of England suffering from wounds sustained in the latest fighting. The Falkirk man was well known in Stirling as right back for King’s Park FC over several seasons. He enlisted shortly after war broke out and had been stationed at Cambusbarron and Cornton .

Mrs Jamieson, Cottage Row, Bridge of Allan learned her son, Pte Hugh Jamieson, had been wounded in the left arm and was in hospital in England. Before enlisting, he was employed with Mr Duncan McEwan, Sunnylaw Farm, Bridge of Allan.