William Kay was born in Dunsyre, in South Lanarkshire in modern terms, on 27th November 1851, son of a joiner. He followed in his father’s footsteps and worked as a joiner and builder. He married Isabella Haddow on 10th September 1885.
Between 1885 and 1891 William built four houses at what was then called Kirk Place – this is what the street looks like today:
And here, on the left of the photo, are the houses William built:
William and Isabella had three sons. John (1886) and Walter (1888) were born in Stewart Place (now the north side of New Kirk Road) and Hugh (1890) who was born at Cliffden Cottage (I believe roughly opposite the Ashoka on Kirk Road). By 1891 the family was living in one of the newly-completed flats at Kirk Place.
Isabella raised the boys with a strong religious faith and good academic performance. She died at home of a cerebral haemorrhage in 1908, just as her boys were becoming established in the adult world.
Walter’s story
Walter was ill with near-fatal diseases but in 1905, he passed exams at Bearsden Public School to become a medical student and was awarded a bursary:
To give some context, average annual earnings were about £70 so this might be the equivalent of about £5000 today.
In 1908 Walter travelled as far as Dunfermline for a church event:
Their mother died in 1908 of a cerebral haemorrhage at 9 Kirk Place, Bearsden.
From 1909 Walter was studying for a degree in English Literature but in his spare time he was taking part in YMCA events (this example from 1911):
He was also assisting in the Foundry Boys Religious Society at Round Toll, something we’re told that involved a time commitment which affected his classwork. (I have not been able to find the location of the Society – one possibility is the UF Church hall on Lyon Street.)
In 1911 he was appointed as assistant at Trinity United Free Church in Glasgow:
This was located at Charlotte Street in the Calton area:
Glasgow Cross is in the top left, Glasgow Green is at the bottom.
He worked in this poor area for three years and developed an intense sympathy for the local people. He also held open-air meetings on Glasgow Green and greatly enjoyed the debates that follows.
We do not know here he lived during all of this period but in 1913 the electoral roll shows him as a lodger at 11 Craignestock Street; this would have been opposite Templeton’s Carpet Factory:
In the summer of 1913, he was awarded his degree and then a Master’s in 1914:
This would have been in moral philosophy at the start of his studies in divinity, finishing with him qualifying as a reverend in 1916. During this time, he also worked for two months in a munitions factory 9possibly the one in Mile End, Bridgeton).
In 1916 he joined the army; we’re told it was only at the urging of friends that he did not enlist earlier, their advice having been to finish his studies. This photo was probably taken around this time:
On his last Sunday evening in Glasgow he was in uniform, holding a street meeting for a missionary friend in Partick, attracting men home on leave because of his uniform and continuing the debate in the church hall. This left him in high spirits.
His knowledge of chemistry led to him being assigned to the Royal Engineers as a private to work in a unit that released gas in support of British attacks.
He served in the Beaumont Hamel Sector during that winter.
He was recommended for a commission, finishing his training in Oxford in the middle of 1917 and became a Second Lieutenant in the 6th Battalion of the Gordon Highlanders. He joined them in November 1917. Walter was described as a painstaking and conscientious officer, attentive to the welfare of his men.
On 21st March 1918 he had just returned to the battalion from home leave. A massive German attack hit the British army trenches, including 6th Gordons. Such was the disorder created as the British buckled, then retreated, that many battalion’s records of this period are scanty and I can find no record of how Walter died.
In a letter written by his commanding officer, it says his men held a key position and repulsed several attacks before he was killed. Such was their spirit that his men held out for a further 12 hours before retreating.
He is buried at Beaumetz-Les-Cambrai CWGC Cemetery:
His body had been found by the Germans and buried there in collective graves – he was fortunate in that his name was recorded, many other soldiers of the 51st Highland Division were buried as ‘an unknown soldier’.
Hugh’s story
We know little about Hugh’s early life other than that he attended Bearsden Public School, in common with his brothers. Then, in 1907 he left for Canada:
(Milngavie and Bearsden Herald 29 March 1907)
I’m interested to know whether Milngavie and Baldernock Church refers to the parish church at Baldernock or to a church in Milngavie – maybe someone reading this can help?
His initial plan in Canada seems to have been to study at Ontario Agricultural College, and he continued on to University College and Knox College, intending to become a churchman. He was active in the YMCA and also joined the Officer Training Corps.
“Knox” refers to his college
On 26th January 1916 he joined the Canadian army (an artillery unit) at Guelph, just outside Toronto, with a number of other men from his college. His papers describe him as 5 feet 10, fair hair and blue eyes. He left Canada by ship on 26th February and landed in Plymouth on 13th March. Around this time he was promoted to corporal.
In common with many other soldiers, Hugh made a will before he went into battle:
On 14th July 1916 his unit (43rd Battery, 11th Howitzer Brigade, CRA) landed at Le Havre in France. On 12th August he returned to the rank of gunner at own request – there is no explanation recorded.
The battery went into the front line at Ypres, then Kemmel. In January 1917 he went on a training course to convert him to a linesman, a gunner whose job it was to lay and maintain telephone wires. This was especially important as the infantry attacked because the only alternative way to send a message was by sending a ‘runner’ (someone physically carrying the message with the obvious dangers of the bearer being wounded or unable to find the intended recipient).
In April 1917, Hugh’s battery was at Vimy Ridge and Hill 70 and he was awarded the Military Medal for maintaining telephone communications during the battle (Milngavie and Bearsden Herald 7th July 1917):
On 6th November 1917 his battery were in the Battle of Passchendaele (Third Ypres). During an infantry attack, an artillery officer was sent along to act as a forward observer, passing back corrections to the artillery guns behind the Canadian lines. Three signallers accompanied him, one of whom was Hugh.
The officer was wounded and one of the signallers helped him back. Hugh and the other man went on and continued to send back information. Hugh was wounded but he continued; when he did make his way to a dressing station it was hit by a shell and he was killed instantly. (link)
He was buried at Hillside Farm, south-west of the village of Passchendaele (the map below shows the approximate location described in contemporary records).
However, the location of the grave was subsequently lost and he is commemorated on the Ypres Memorial, better known as The Menin Gate):
The inside of the gate is covered with the names of those with no known grave:
