Arthur Russell was born on 29th April 1893 at Loch Brae, Bearsden. His father, Charles, was an iron merchant – I believe this means he bought iron from manufacturers and sold it on at a profit. He married Jeanie Young Macpherson in Middlesborough in 1878 (at the time this was in North Yorkshire). They had two children there, Jane and Charles, then moved to Old Kilpatrick.
They then moved again to 1 Sardinia Terrace in the West End of Glasgow, then 12 Kersland Terrace (renumbered as 31 Kersland Street) where the twins, Bertie Angus and Ethel Margaret, were born in 1886, then Ernest in 1888, and Agnes in 1890.
Between April 1891 and April 1893 the family moved to Bearsden. At the time there were two villas called Lochbrae, one also being referred to as Lochbrae Cottage. They are shown on this map, surveyed in 1860:
To the left of Drymen Road you can see St Germains and the larger Lochbrae; these were replaced with flats around 50 years ago. Lochbrae Cottage is also marked and I believe this was Arthur’s home. It is still there today:
It was here that Arthur was born.
When Arthur was a year old, his older brother Ernest died (aged 6) of heart failure, after Scarlet Fever.
When Arthur was five, his oldest brother, Charles was an apprentice on a ship called Laurelbank, which was lost at sea on 6th September 1898; Charles was missing, presumed drowned. (See footnote.)
Note that in the 1911 Census it is recorded Jeanie and Charles had nine children, only five of whom were still alive. Therefore, there must be two additional children I have not been able to track.
His father Charles had his business address at 25 Gordon Street, which is on the corner with Mitchell Street:
Arthur was probably at school until he was 16 (1909) or 18 (1911). He worked then for the Clyde Shipping Company, the owners of a number of coastal cargo ships and tugs. Presumably as a part of his work, he lived in Germany for several years (probably 1912 and 1913).
Arthur was “well-known in Bearsden circles as a lad of brilliant characteristics. In Rugby circles he had few equals as a three-quarter, and he played many brilliant games for the Bearsden Club. He was also good at tennis …” (Milngavie and Bearsden Herald 28th July 1916)
He was a volunteer in the Glasgow Yeomanry for several years (presumably around 1910 to 1911), although he was not a member when war broke out (August 1914). However, this experience must have been influential in getting him a commission when war broke out, as a Lieutenant in the 9th Battalion, the Highland Light Infantry (the Glasgow Highlanders).
This is a photo of Arthur from about this time.
We don’t have a detailed record of Arthur’s service, but we do know the battalion went to France in November 1914 and served in the front line through 1915.
In 1916 the battalion was part of the Battle of the Somme (which took place over months, many smaller battles making up one campaign). They fortunately missed the first day, when three Bearsden men were among the 60,000 British casualties, but they were brought in as fresh troops in follow-up attacks.
On 15th July they were to attack in the area of High Wood in an action I have already described in the profile of John Duvoisin (link). In brief, the British advanced after the 1st July and a small wood on high ground (named High Wood) had been entered on the evening of the 14th. John’s battalion, 9th HLI, was to attack across German trenches further on, passing the wood on their left-hand side. As the units formed up it became obvious to those on the ground that the Germans still occupied the wood (wholly or partly) but the order was to attack anyway. The battalion was hot in the flank by rifle and machine gun fire from the higher ground of the wood. John Duvoisin and many others were killed; Arthur Russell was wounded, shot through the spine.
In this aerial reconnaissance photo from the time, High Wood is in the bottom right-hand corner. Arthur and 9th HLI would have been attacking from the bottom of the photo heading for the trenches around Martinpuich at the top of the photo – the exposure of men walking or jogging across open farmland to gunfire from the wood is obvious. (Photo credit 51hd website link)
Arthur was rescued (possibly not until dark) and taken to a casualty clearing station and from there to a base hospital; whether it was the nature of his wound or the high number of wounded meaning that beds were not available, he was evacuated to England. Arriving in Southampton, he would have been taken by train to nearby Eastleigh where there was a siding at the Royal Victoria Hospital. This was a dedicated hospital for soldiers injured overseas who could be evacuated to a dedicated facility (see this link for a history).
Arthur’s condition worsened and he was diagnosed with spinal meningitis (as a result of an infection?) He died on 23 July 1916, eight days after being wounded.
The policy at the time was that soldiers who died overseas should be buried in the same country – evacuation of bodies was said to be difficult in logistical terms, although there is the suspicion that numerous local funerals would be bad for morale at home. (The psychological impact on the man’s family was not a factor that was considered.) Arthur’s case was different because he had died in the UK, so his body could be brought home to Bearsden, where he was buried on 27th July in New Kilpatrick Cemetery on Boclair Road.
Photo credit to IC and TC on FindAGrave website (link).
Footnote: Arthur’s brother Bertie and sister Ethel
Bertie, Arthur’s elder brother, also served in the army in the war and won the Distinguished Service Order, a medal for bravery (Milngavie and Bearsden Herald 3rd May 1918):
Ethel was married in 1923 at the South Church:
Footnote: The Laurelbank – Arthur’s brother Charles
This ship was built in the Kingston Yard at Port Glasgow by Russell and Co.; while they share the same name as Arthur’s family, I have not been able to find any connection. It was a four-masted barque made of iron, launched on 31st August 1893, and was 283 feet long (about 86 metres).
In 1898, possibly owned or leased to the Canadian and North Pacific Company it was sailing from Shanghai to Portland in Oregon carrying ballast and with 29 hands on board. It departed two days late because of typhoons in the area alongside another ship, the Heathfield. They parted when 80km south-west of Yokohama. Heathfield subsequently encountered heavy weather; Laurelbank was not heard from again.
Credit for this information is entirely due to the Scottish Built Ships website (link)
This is the Beechbank, built by the same company and in the same yard a year earlier:
Photo credit (link)