HOWWOOD WAR MEMORIAL
2014 IS THE REMEMBRANCE OF THE CENTENARY OF THE OUTBREAK OF THE FIRST WORD
WAR – THE GREAT WAR. ACROSS THE COMMONWEALTH MANY YOUNG MEN ANSWERED
THE CALL TO ARMS AND WENT TO FIGHT A WAR THAT THE WORLD WAS UNPREPARED
FOR.
From Peer to miner, from Soldier to recruit, from places of work to football teams and from city to
small village they came. Howwood was one such village.
In the aftermath of grief and shock of the numbers of wounded and dead from battles such as, the
Somme, Ypres, Passchendale, Jutland and Gallipoli there became a need for communities to
remember the fallen. Memorials began to appear across the landscape, in village greens, churches,
places of work and city squares, no matter the shape, size or design they had one thing in common,
the names of the fallen.
Howwood Memorial was an unusual Memorial as it was decided to build a cottage, for the use of the
district nurse. Later it was demolished and a small cairn was built on the spot of the cottage on the
Bowfield Rd, Howwood.
Locals Gayle Pollock and Alexis Urie have begun researching the men named on the Memorial and
are asking members of the community for help. If anyone is either related to or has information about
the men, their families or about the memorial itself please contact Gayle or Alexis
There are some names yet to be traced. There is also some confusion as there are some names on
the church memorial but not on the Village Memorial and in addition it is known that many men who
worked in the bleach works also perished. Gayle & Alexis are also interested in the fallen from WWIl.
HOWWOOD WAR MEMORIAL CONT.
If you know of any names missing from the memorial from either World Wars or from subsequent
conflicts please contact Gayle or Alexis with the details. Here are the names of the fallen collated to
date:
WWI
Pte. John Allen 2nd Kings Own Scottish Borderers (KOSB) 11-6-17
2nd. Lt. John Allison 14th Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders (A&SH) 21-3-18
L/Cpl. John Armstrong 7th Seaforth Highlanders (SH) 21-9-17
Pte. Hugh Campbell 8th SH 15-10-17
L/Cpl. Andrew Carnduff 9th Highland Light Infantry(HLI) 27-9-17
Pte. Philip Clark 7th Royal Scottish Fusiliers (RSF) 26-9-25
Pte. James Clews 1st Gordon Highlanders (GH) 30-4-18
Pte John Edgar MM 15th HLI 29-8-18
Pte Matthew Findlay 7th SH 19-9-15
Gnr. William Findlay Royal Field Artillery (RFA) 15-10-18
Pte. James Gilhooley 10th A&SH ????
PO John J. Gilhooley Royal Navy (RN) HMS Cassandra 5-12-18
Pte. John Graham 1st/7th GH 20-11-17
Cdt. Gilbert Guthrie Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) HMS Ramsey 8-8-15
Pte. Robert HB Guthrie 9th Scottish Rifles (SR) 12-1-17
Pte. James Haughy 7th SH 6-6-18
Coy. Sjt. Maj. John Hunter 1st SR ????
Sjt. David Irwin 0th Royal Irish Rifles (RIR) 7-6-17
Sjt. James Irwin 14th RIR ????
Pte Angus Kerr 11th RSF 21-4-20
Arthur Logan
Pte. David Logan 155sqd. RAF 8-8-18
Bombd. James Moore 251Bde.RFA 27-9-18
Pte. William Murphy 10th RSF 14-2-17
Pte. William H. McCabe 1st Border Regt. 29-6-15
Pte. John McIlroy 6th RSF 29-9-15
Pte. William McLure 7th Black Watch (Scottish Highlanders) 15-4-18
Cpl. Robert Neillands Imperial Camel Corps 8-8-18
Sig. William Barr Nelson 2nd RF (London Regt) 11-4-18
Pte. William Niven 12th Royal Scots (RS) 16-7-16
Cpl. G.Bert O'Bryen East African Transport Corps 1-12-18
John McR. Simpson ??
Pte. John Stevenson Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) 3-6-19
Robert Smith ??
AB. John Trainor RN HMS Fauvette 9-3-16
Pte. Arthur Wardlaw Lovat Scouts 14-10-15
Tpr. Robert R. Weir Canadian Light Horse (CLH) 29-9-18
Pte. David Wilson 1st/4th RSF 13-8-15 *
WWII
3rd.Eng.Off. Robert Andrew Merchant Navy (MN) MV Empire Spring 15-2-42
Gnr. R. Bruce 57th Searchlight Regt. RA 5-1-41
Flt.Sgt. OS Harvey 51sqd. Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve 23-4-44
Cpl. H. Nicol 6th SH 19-1-44
Rfl. T.Smith 2nd Cameronians 23-12-43
If you have any information or are willing to share copies or scans of papers & photos contact
gayleguide@hotmail.com There is a planned trip to Belgium at Easter were Gayle & Alexis hope to
visit the CWGC Cemeteries and Memorials were some Howwood men are either buried or mentioned.
To find information or research the following websites are useful:
www.operationwardiary.org www.1914.org www.poppyscotland.org.uk www.lastpost.be
www.warmemorials.org www.cwgc.org http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/
Contact Gayle Pollock or Alexis Urie gayleguide@hotmail.com