Robert Reid was born on 13th November 1888, the son of William Reid and Jeannie Hoog, who had married two years earlier. This took place at Canal Street, Grangemouth, an address that barely exists today but was once at the eastern end of the Forth and Clyde Canal:
That his parents were here was due to William’s job as a “mercantile clerk” in a firm of timber merchants. As can be seen from this 1896 map above, there were several timber basins and the company William worked for, Love & Stewart, was at the forefront of the import trade. They had been formed in Glasgow to supply coal mines with wood to line the pit shafts. They weren’t the only company in this business but they secured an office in Sweden close to the sources of supply and built a sawmill at Grangemouth to cut the newly arrived timber into the required dimensions. This gave them distinct advantages in the 1880s and 1890s. (For more detail of the timber trade at Grangemouth see this account published by the Falkirk Local History Society (link)).
Men unloading timber at Grangemouth, photo credit Falkirk Local History Society
Rising through the ranks, William came to be the manager of the office in Sweden. This was probably at Falkenberg which is on the west coast of that country, about half way between Gothenberg and Malmo.
The harbour at Falkenborg, then a phot of this small town (admittedly from 1950s) to give an idea of what it was like:
The family moved there soon after Robert was born. We know this because his sister Rachael was born there a year later as were James, Jane, Mary, Henry, David and Margaret; they are listed in the 1901 Census so we can deduce the Reids moved to Sweden in 1889 and returned in 1900 or 1901. Love and Stewart had a head office at 140 Hope Street in Glasgow. The numbering has now changed but 140 was the upper floor of this building (second block up from Central Station):
Robert lived in Sweden from when he was probably less than a year old until he was 11. The family moved back to a property called Redlands in Bo-ness; his education continued at Bo’ness Academy. Two further children, John and Wilma were born there, making ten in total; however, the 1911 Census records there were eleven children, two of whom had died. We know Mary was one of these because she died in 1904, aged 10, of rheumatic heart disease (cardiac failure after rheumatic fever – uncommon in 2025 because antibiotics are used to treat strep throat).
By this time, the Reids had settled in Bearsden at a villa called Falkenberg; in modern terms this is number 39 Manse Road:
Robert was employed by his father’s firm as a commercial traveller. He was not in Bearsden at the time of the 1911 Census and may have been overseas. When he was at home, he was active in organising the local scouts. He was also involved in the YMC Mission at Round Toll, so may have known others from Bearsden active in that area, John Chalmers (YMCA) and Walter Kay (Foundry Boys Christian Society) – both of these men were killed in the war and are on the Bearsden memorial.
From 1911 to 1914 he was a part-time soldier with the 5th Scottish Rifles (Territorials). When war was declared in August 1914 he joined the 9th Battalion, Glasgow Highlanders, initially as a private. However, he was quickly promoted to sergeant and showed expertise in musketry (rifle fire) so he was made an instructor.
A photo of Robert from about this time
He was still serving in the UK in 1915 when his younger brother, Harry, was admitted to Ruchill Hospital and died there aged 17 on 2nd April. The cause was cerebro-spinal meningitis.
Less than two months later Robert married Margaret Oliver Chisholm on 28th May. She was also from Bearsden, daughter of William, a dry goods warehouseman. Their address was “Allars, Erskine Park” – in modern terms 16 South Erskine Park.
They were married at 16 Windsor Terrace in Woodside, the home of Dr John Chisholm who I believe may have been Margaret’s uncle. Dr Chisholm’s son (also John) was active in the scouts as well and with the proximity of Windsor Terrace to Round Toll, I wonder if this is how they met? On the map below, 16 Windsor Terrace is in the red circle and Round Toll is in blue:
Note that there was also a Windsor Terrace on Great Western Road but by this time it had been renamed Kirklee Terrace.
Robert was a sergeant at this time and we have a photo of him, smiling and in uniform, possibly in the garden of a house from which I imagine it could be on his wedding day (photo thanks to Robert Crawford via Ancestry):
Sad to relate, the host of the wedding, Dr Chisholm, had a son (also called John) who was killed in France in 1918 (link).
Sometime in the next few months Robert was commissioned (started training as an officer) and became a Second Lieutenant in 1st / 7th Black Watch (Royal Highlanders). He left for France in approximately May 1916.
Robert’s brother, James, was serving in the navy as a Sub-Lieutenant. He had chosen a career at sea after leaving school and on the declaration of war he joined up. In 1915 he was in command of a minesweeper during the operations around the Gallipoli peninsula and was commended for his service (Bo-ness Journal 17th March 1916):
Robert’s battalion was in reserve at the start of the Battle of the Somme but was put into the frontline at the end of July. On the 30th July they were in High Wood, and the battalion war diary reports:
“Attack at 6.10pm, C Company on the right, B Company on the left, A and D Companies in support … Our artillery bombardment on wood had little or no effect on the German front line trenches. Boche survived to be especially [lethal?] with machine guns. Advance parties held up by machine gun fire, sniping and bombing. Snipers were very active. B and C companies both took up positions in shellholes and attempted bombing. 2/lts Thornton and Lockhart B Company killed, Captain Boase C Company killed, … 2’Lt R Reid D Company killed, Lt G.H. Pagan killed.” The attack cost 31 killed, 98 wounded and 14 missing. The battalion was relieved that night by the Gordon Highlanders, losing a further 2 killed and 14 wounded as they left the trenches.
Thus while the Milngavie and Bearsden Herald reported he was killed leading the attack, he was actually shot through the body while with a support company, possibly the victim of a sniper.
He was buried in High Wood, probably very close to where he died, with a greatcoat thrown over his body. There was probably a makeshift ‘headstone’ of wood with his name and rank but this was lost, possibly in subsequent fighting. In 1928 when the scattered graves were being dug up to be reinterred in planned cemeteries his body had to be identified (see third entry on the form):
His body was buried in Serre Road Cemetery Number 2:
I believe that his widow, Margaret, did not marry again and died in Glasgow in her 50s.
And so we go back to pick up David’s story. He was born in Sweden in 1899, and so (unlike Robert) his upbringing was almost entirely in Scotland at Bo’ness or Bearsden. He was not old enough to enlist until 1917 but must have done so quite soon after because the following year he was a Lance Corporal (the next rank up from private) in the 2nd Battalion, Highland Light Infantry. They were with 2nd Division, 5th Infantry Brigade and faced the great German offensive launched on 21st March 1918.
By 1st April 1918 the battalion had been pushed back. They were part of 5th Brigade in 2nd Division and the whole were defending desperately for a week. There were a few days of respite, giving them the first rest in that time. They were then ordered to relieve a composite battalion that had been thrown together as the Germans advanced from any men available; this was in the Mesnil sector.
The battalion war diary records, “C Company had bad luck going into the line when passing near Battalion HQ 9 men were knocked out by one [artillery] shell.” As no other casualties are mentioned, I have to conclude this is how David died.
This is a photo of the chateau:
My understanding is that the chateua we see today was rebuilt on the foundations after the war.
On this map, the Chateau Mesnil is marked in the top left; I have included Longueval on the right of the map because this was the location of High Wood, the place where David’s bother Robert died less than two years earlier (the distance is about 10 kilometres).
Is it a sign of war-weariness that the local paper had the mpst terse report possible of his death? From the Milngavie and Bearsden Herald 19th April 1918:
David has no known grave and is recorded on the Arras Memorial.