I have already described key events in Conrad Kirsop’s early life in my profile of his younger brother, Purves (link). To briefly recap:
He was born Conrad Robert John Kirsop on 30th October 1892 in Hillend Gardens, now Highburgh Road in Hyndland; his father was a trader in iron and steel.
When he was aged 5, the family moved to 19 Ledcameroch Road (which they named Eltham), on the corner with Ledcameroch Crescent.
Here is the 1901 Census record for the family, at Eltham:
The family had three servants, including a governess for the two boys, aged 8 and 6.
Between 1901 and 1905 the family moved again to Chesters, a little further west along Ledcameroch Road, at 2 Chesters Road South.
At this time, Conrad attended Janefield School, a small private school on Chapelton Avenue in Bearsden. The Milngavie and Bearsden Herald of 1st July 1904 reported the school prizes as follows:
As you can see Conrad won prizes in five of the eight classes, coming second each time to Kitty Kirkwood! Assuming Kitty to be a nickname, this is likely to have been Catherine Kirkwood who lived at Dubriton on Boclair Road – her brother William is also named on the Bearsden War Memorial and I have profiled him here. If you find the wedding photo, Kitty could be the young lady seated on the right.
In education, he followed the same path as his younger brother: Glasgow Academy, then Morrisons Academy, Crieff. On leaving he received the gold medal for best liked boy and best behaved boy.
Again, in common with his brother he joined his father’s company trading iron and steel. He was in the local lawn tennis club.
He joined the Glasgow Yeomanry, which we would think of today as a territorial or ‘part-time’ unit. Before the First World War started he transferred to the Royal Artillery, presumably still on a part-time basis. When war broke out he was promoted to lieutenant.
His unit arrived in Egypt at the start of 1916 (possibly 17th March, having missed the Gallipoli campaign).
In 1917 he was serving with 262 Brigade, Royal Field Artillery in Palestine. Having coming through various battles, he was accidentally wounded. While he probably made it to a Casualty Clearing Station, he died on 13th October.
He is buried in Deir el Belah War Cemetery in Palestine, 16 kilometres from the Egyptian border and 20 kilometres from Gaza.
