Cheers as return of the ‘remnant’ is welcomed

A ‘great popular reception’ was given to members of the 7th Battalion

Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (Stirlingshire and Clackmannanshire Territorials) who visited Stirling in April 1919.

The 7th A&SH was mobilised in Stirling shortly after the declaration of World War One in 1914 and for a short time the battalion was stationed in Dunblane before moving to Bedford for war training.

At the time the battalion crossed to France on December 16, 1914, it numbered 920 but it was an indication of the losses the 7th had suffered during four years of hard fighting, that the ‘remnant’ of the battalion which marched through Stirling in April 1919, comprised just five officers and 42 men.

In a lengthy piece, headed Back From The War, the Observer told how the battalion had ‘nobly bore its part’ in some of the war’s great battles including Ypres, Arras, Somme and Cambrai.

The paper added: “The greatest disaster that befell ‘the Stirlingshire’ was at the Second Battles of Ypres on April 22, 1915, when seven officers and 250 men were killed and many wounded, the total casualties being about 500.”

Other losses followed but none as severe. However gradually, the ranks of the ‘originals’ – the troops who had left Stirling in 1914 – diminished so much that in 1918 the battalion was disbanded.

It was expected that the battalion would rise – ‘phoenix-like’ – from the ashes but at that time all that remained was the ‘cadre’ of troops that arrived in Stirling having finally left France a few days earlier.

And despite a wet and windy day, thousands of townsfolk turned out to give the soldiers a rousing reception when they set foot at Stirling Station and marched in fours, along streets bedecked with flags, to the County Buildings. They were led by a brass band and pipers from Stirling Castle and their progress was accompanied by ‘continuous cheering’ from those who lined the rest of the route.