Grandfather, what on earth were you thinking !!!

Those of you who in the past have read my blog will be well aware that I have a fascination with all things World War One and know that I love to research and try to find out as much as I can about the 20 plus family members who I have identified so far as having served during this war. Late last year during the course of my research I came across a document that stunned me and really made me sit back and think …… “golly gosh great, great grandfather, what on earth were you thinking” !!!

I was researching on www.ancestry.com, trying to locate the service records for my Scottish great great uncle Robert LINDSAY, the brother of my paternal great grandmother Elizabeth Speirs RENSHAW (nee LINDSAY). Lindsay is a fairly common surname in Scotland, and add to that the very common name of Robert, and it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Since great, great uncle Robert had returned safely from the war there would be no record to be found for him on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website, and I had not a clue as to which regiment or battalion he had served with, other than it was a Scottish one.

So I was slowly and methodically working my way down the list of service records for all the Robert LINDSAY’s from Scotland when I came across a record for a Robert LINDSAY from Blantyre, Lanarkshire. This location caught my eye as “my Lindsay’s” came from around that area. Further reading revealed that this record wasn’t for my great, great uncle Robert though, but was in fact for his father, my great, great grandfather. His next of kin was listed as his wife Bridget LINDSAY (nee MURPHY) which was indeed the name of his second wife, so this was definitely my Robert.

My great, great grandfather
Robert Speirs LINDSAY
(1868 - 1928)

Robert had enlisted exactly 100 years ago today on the 14th of May 1915 and I was thrilled to see a description for him which showed he was 5ft 4in tall, weighed 143 lbs, had a fresh complexion, brown eyes and light brown hair. “How wonderful to finally learn these details about him” I thought to myself as I read through his records, “....... but great great grandfather, you were born in 1868 so wouldn’t you be too old to be a serving soldier in world war one ?"

Robert’s three sons (Andrew, Robert and James) were all serving soldiers at this time, aged in their mid 20’s, so the age shown on Robert’s enlistment of 38 years was a long, long way from the truth. Robert was in fact almost 47 years old but had somehow managed to convince the recruitment officers that he was only 38. He had enlisted locally at Hamilton but within one week had been assigned to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion of the Cameron Highlanders (No. 18162) at Inverness.

Robert had been physically examined and had been found “fit for homes services only”. But he obviously had the desire to do more than just stay in Scotland on the home front as 11 months later he was requesting a transfer to the Royal Engineers. I am very fortunate to have found a copy of the hand-written letter he wrote to go with his transfer request. In this he states:

Sir,

On being medically inspected I regret that I have been found fit for Home Services only. I quite agree that this is true, so far as service in the Cameron Highlanders is concerned and I beg of you to consider my transfer to the Royal Engineers as a miner, on the grounds that I have been a miner for twenty years, and would be quite fit to undertake the duties and render good service as a “Sapper” in France. I am exceedingly anxious to proceed to the “Front”, and if I am unable to do so as a Cameron Highlander, I beg of you to allow me to go as a miner. Trusting this, my requisition will meet favourable consideration. 

I am Sir, your obedient servant,

18162 R Lindsay, Pte

After quite a bit of correspondence back and forwards, as well as another medical exam to determine if Robert was in fact fit to serve in the Royal Engineers, he was officially transferred on the 10th of May 1916 and assigned to the Royal Engineers 3rd Provisional Company (No. 158271). 

On the 25th of May 1916, just over a year after he initially enlisted, Robert got his wish and embarked for France. In July 1916 the Royal Engineers 256th Tunnelling Company was formed and Robert was assigned to them and moved with them to the Vimy front in Northern France. At this time the British Army had 30 different tunnelling companies working in France and had in the previous 12 months sought the services of many experienced coal miners from back home. Because Robert was an experienced miner having spent over 20 years underground at the Bothwell Castle Colliery, this was probably the only reason he got his wish and got to see active service.

But his time in France was short-lived and just over 100 days after his arrival in France he was on his way back to England, suffering from 'sickness'. Exactly what type of sickness we will probably never be able to find out but most likely it would have been a combination of dysentry, vomiting and fever caused by the horrendous conditions the men were forced to live in and work in. It often brought down even the strongest of men and was the cause of many thousands of deaths during the war. Robert arrived home on the 4th of September 1916 and was discharged from the 256th Tunnelling Company five days later on the 9th of September under “King’s Regulations paragraph 392 XVI (no longer physically fit for war service)”. 

Whether Robert was disappointed by his short-lived stay in France we will never know. He was so keen to get over there that he lied about his age, but I personally think that upon witnessing the horrors of war he may well have been a bit relieved to actually be coming home alive. After recuperating back in England Robert was declared no longer medically fit for war service on the 24th of November 1916 and was officially discharged from the army on the 15th of December 1916.

But that isn’t the end of Robert’s story. On the 5th of June 1919, seven months after the official end of the war, Robert re-enlisted with the British Army with the 174th Company of the Labour Corps (No. 703574) and four days later was sent back to France. I have been unable to find out as yet the exact movements of this Company but I do know that it was heavily involved with “grave registration” work in France. This work involved the collecting of bodies and the locating of out-lying or previously unknown graves, and then the re-location of them into the formal cemeteries that were being developed throughout France and Belgium. This would have been an absolutely horrendous job for Robert and the other men in his Company to have done, with many of the bodies still lying in the mud or out in the open many months or even years after their deaths. It would also have been extremely dangerous work as it is estimated that nearly one quarter of all the shells fired during the war had failed to detonate but instead lay buried where they fell just beneath the surface of the ground. One can only imagine the gruesome scenes that the workers of the Labour Corp saw and the horrors they had to deal with and I’m sure that along with all the other soldiers who saw active service in World War One, they were forever scarred by their experiences.

After five months of hard work Robert came home and was yet-again officially discharged from the British Army on the 12th of November 1919 under “King’s Regulations paragraph 392 XXva (no longer required for war service, surplus to requirements)”. He wasn’t far off being 52 years old and was quite possibly one of the oldest serving regular soldiers at this time.

I mentioned at the top of this article that one document I found stunned me somewhat and I will include it here as it too is part of Robert’s story. This document followed Robert home from France when he returned home due to sickness in September 1916 and it leaves me a bit unsure of exactly how I feel about this whole scenario of Robert being so old and serving in the war. 

In a way I am very proud of what he did, especially re-enlisting after the war to return to France to help deal with the gruesome task of locating and helping to identify bodies. But just like a previous article I have written on this blog about another part of Robert’s mysterious life, another part of me is quite confused as to what exactly his motives were.

• Why was he so determined to go to war that he had to lie about his age ?
• Did he genuinely have the desire to go over there to help or was he like many thousands of others who thought it would just be some great holiday or adventure ?
• Did he feel left out being at home when his three sons were over at the front and he simply wanted to go and join them ?
• Or was he just after the recognised pension schemes that he knew would follow after the war ?

The life of a tunneller in France during World War One was an extremely hard and very physically demanding one. As well as having to work deep underground in very confined conditions with the risk of cave-in or explosion always on the cards, there was also the real danger that your tunnel would accidentally meet an enemy tunnel and then one can only imagine the chaos that would have followed.

A preserved WW1 British tunnel on the Vimy
front. I wonder if Robert played any part in
the digging of this particular tunnel. **

It must be remembered that when the above document was written Robert was nearly 50 years old, over twice the age of many of the other tunnellers he would have been working with. I often wonder whether his superior officers ever realised that he might have perhaps been older than what he stated on his enlistment papers. If they didn't realise this then perhaps this is the reason why he is being labeled as “lazy” as there is no way a man of 50 could physically keep up with a young, fit man in his early 20’s. 

As for the comments that he was “unreliable" and "unintelligent”, I’ll just have to take these on the chin. Perhaps he was unintelligent but this certainly wasn’t his fault and it’s something I will probably never now be able to get confirmed or denied. Robert died in September 1928 aged only 59, after painfully suffering for over a year with cancer of the oesophagus. 

Robert, you are my great, great grandfather and I very proudly carry your Scottish genes. While many others chose to stay at home and do nothing when war was raging across Europe, you got out there and did your bit to help even though you really didn’t have to. And regardless of how you came across to others, I am still proud of what you did with your life and what you achieved. But once again you have left me with so many more questions than answers. I know that I will probably never find the answers I desire but I will keep searching, determined to find out all I can about what made you the person that you were. 

_________________________________

Please note:

The photo marked ** is not mine and was found online here during my research.

Family Mysteries: - A voyage across the seas

My gt, gt grandfather
Robert Speirs LINDSAY

In the late 1880’s my paternal great, great grandparents made a voyage from Scotland to the United States, and then back again the following year. They were unmarried at the time they left and married when they returned, but that in itself is nothing unusual. What is unusual however, is the fact that they were both from very poor families, so how or why they made this voyage is a complete mystery to me.

My great, great grandfather Robert Speirs LINDSAY was born on the 25th of September 1868 at Tollcross, Shettleston, Lanarkshire, Scotland. He was one of the youngest of a family of at least twelve children of Andrew and Elizabeth (nee SPEIRS) LINDSAY. 

Robert LINDSAY's parents, my 3x great grandparents
Andrew & Elizabeth (nee SPEIRS) LINDSAY

His wife Janet CLOSE was born about 1868 in County Down, Ireland. Exactly where or when I have been unable to ascertain yet. She was one of at least eight children of James and Agnes (nee WILKINSON) CLOSE who emigrated to Scotland from Ireland between 1873 and 1878 when Janet was aged between five and ten years old. Both the LINDSAY and CLOSE families lived in very close proximity to each other in Bothwell, Lanarkshire where the men of the families all worked as coal miners. In fact in 1891 the families were actually next door neighbours in Bellshill, so they would obviously have known each other well.

I first became aware of this mystery voyage when I located Robert LINDSAY and his wife Janet (nee CLOSE) on the 1891 Scottish census. Robert (aged 22) was recorded as a coal miner, living at Bellshill in Lanarkshire. What was notable about the census entry for his family was that his eldest son Andrew (age 1), was recorded as having been born in Bleurfield*, America while their second son, James (4 mths), was recorded as being born in Lanarkshire, Scotland. 

The 1891 census of Scotland showing Robert and Janet LINDSAY and their two sons

The subsequent purchase of the birth record for the second son James Close LINDSAY (born 15th November 1890) recorded that his parents were married on the 25th of October 1888 in Clearfield Co, Pennsylvania, America. So that was now two references to America. I obviously needed to look into this a bit further.

A quick search on Ancestry.com turned up a marriage record for a Robert LINDSAY (age 20) and a Jannett CLOSS (age 21) on the same date as mentioned above (25th of October 1888) at Clearfield County, Pennsylvania. This was definitely my couple, but what on earth were they doing in America? This marriage record also revealed that Robert was a miner working and living at the Morrisdale Mines. Another search soon found the baptism of their first son Andrew LINDSAY, born on the 6th of August 1889 and baptised “in the church” at Morrisdale on the 12th of January 1890.

On the 8th of February 1890 the ship 'Anchoria' arrived in Glasgow, Scotland, having sailed from New York. On board were 'John' LINDSAY and his wife Janet and their 6 month old son Andrew. Despite being recorded as 'John' and not Robert, I believe this is probably my family returning to Scotland as no other record for them returning home can be found.

When exactly Robert and Janet went to America I haven’t yet ascertained. I have found a record on Ancestry.com for a Robert LINDSAY, coalminer, leaving Glasgow on board 'State of Nebraska', arriving in New York on the 18th of July 1888. Whether or not this is my Robert I am not sure. And if it is, where then is Janet?

But the most important question, ......... why they went to America, is still the big mystery I hope to solve. There are so many questions I want answers to.

• Where did they get the money from to make the voyage? 
• Did their families know they had gone or did they run away together? 
• Did they go together or did Robert go first and then send money for Janet to come too? 
• Was Robert enticed over there by American coal mining companies seeking employees?
• Why did they choose to return to Scotland and not stay permanently in America, a land of so many opportunities?

So many questions, ….… so many answers I may never find, but I will keep searching.

________________________________

Footnote: Robert and Janet (nee CLOSE) LINDSAY went on to have four children together: Andrew (b.1889), James Close (b.1890), Elizabeth Speirs (b.1892) and Robert (b.1894).  Sadly Janet died from pneumonia in May 1896, aged just 28 years. Robert remarried in October 1899 to a widow, Bridget FOX (nee MURPHY), who had two young sons of her own. 

Robert and Janet’s two youngest children, Elizabeth Speirs (my great grandmother) and Robert were aged just 3 years old and 20 months old when their mother Janet died. They were brought up from then on by their paternal grandparents, Andrew and Elizabeth (nee SPEIRS) LINDSAY. The two eldest sons, Andrew and James (6 and 5 years old), also went to live with their grandparents initially, but later returned to live with their father and his new wife. They were still living with their father in 1901 aged 11 and 10 years old, but are later shown on the 1911 census aged in their early twenties living back with their very elderly grandparents in Green St, Bothwell.

The LINDSAY Family; date unknown but thought to be taken immediately after WW1.
Back: Elizabeth (nee McPHERSON, wife of Andrew LINDSAY), Bridget (FOX, nee MURPHY, 2nd wife of Robert Speirs
LINDSAY), Bessie RENSHAW (Elizabeth Speirs, nee LINDSAY, my great grandmother), Robert Speirs LINDSAY
(my gt, gt grandfather), Nellie (Helen, nee BLACK, wife of James Close LINDSAY), James Close LINDSAY.
Front: Thomas & Patrick FOX (Bridget's sons, not sure which one is which), Andrew LINDSAY, Robert LINDSAY

Note: * The “Bleurfield” recorded on the 1891 census is obviously a transcription error made by the enumerator and should read “Clearfield”. All subsequent census and birth entries record the name as “Clearfield”.

Brick Wall: Herbert Renshaw ..... war hero (Pt 2)

Continued from Pt 1

My paternal great grandfather, Herbert RENSHAW, is one of the many brick walls in my family history research.

Herbert survived almost five years in the trenches of France and Belgium during the Great War and thankfully returned home safely to his family in Bothwellhaugh, Scotland in late February 1919. Over 9,000,000 British soldiers served overseas during the first world war, of which over 1,000,000 were killed and remain forever in foreign lands. Another 4,000,000 were badly wounded or crippled and came home to a new life and a new world much changed from that they had left.

After the war Herbert, along with millions of other British soldiers, received medals for their efforts in the war. These three medals immediately below were amongst six that Herbert received, with most soldiers receiving these three WW1 campaign medals, commonly and affectionately known as “Pip, Squeak and Wilfred”.

Herbert’s 1914 - 1915 Star , also known in the military world as “Pip”. It was issued in 1918 to any soldier who served in Germany between 5th Aug 1914 and 31st Dec 1915. It was not issued alone though, and the recipient had to have received the British War Medal and the Victory Medal also. An estimated 2.4 million of these medals were issued.

Herbert’s British War Medal, also known in the military world as “Squeak”. This medal was awarded to officers and men of the British and Imperial Forces who served overseas between 5th Aug 1915 and 11th Nov 1918. Approximately 6.4 million of these medals were issued, each with the recipient’s service number, rank, name and unit engraved on the rim.

Herbert’s Allied Victory Medal, also known in the military world as “Wilfred”. Approximately 5.7 million Victory Medals were issued. Interestingly, eligibility for this medal was more restrictive and not everyone who received the British War Medal (Squeak) also received the Victory Medal (Wilfred). However, in general, all recipients of “Wilfred” also received “Squeak'”and all recipients of “Pip” also received both “Squeak” and “Wilfred”. 



Herbert also received three other medals that are very special to our family. They are the Territorial Force Efficiency Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal and the Medaille Militaire.

Herbert’s Territorial Force Efficiency Medal. It was a medal of the United Kingdom, awarded for long service in the Territorial Forces. The criteria was a minimum of 12 years service, with war service counting as double. Herbert’s service was calculated at 16 years; six years prior to the outbreak of war, and then five years in active service overseas (being counted as double).

Herbert’s Meritorious Service Medal, which was awarded to recognise meritorious service in the field by non-commissioned officers. Recipients were also granted an annuity, the amount being based on rank. Herbert was awarded this medal in June 1918.

Below is Herbert’s most special award, the Medaille Militaire. This is a French medal, an award for extreme valour and France’s second highest medal (ranking immediately after the prestigious Legion of Honor). It is awarded for distinguished acts of bravery in action against enemy forces and was awarded to Herbert by the French government after the war, for putting his life on the line and saving the Fabre family (that I mentioned previously). Exactly what Herbert did I have never been able to find out. My grandmother told me that Herbert (her father), like many soldiers who lived through the great war, would never talk about what had happened to him during this time. They came home from the war and just wanted to try to forget the horrendous conditions they had lived through and the horrors they had seen. 

According to my grandmother, the French government offered Herbert the opportunity to go and live in France after the war and offered to educate his children in the best French schools. But Herbert didn’t want to head back to France ever again, it held too many bad memories for him and he wanted to settle down to a quiet life again in Scotland.

The Medaille Militaire is a very high ranking medal, is reasonably rare and not readily found in many British or Commonwealth groups of medals. I am very, very proud of Herbert for receiving this award; I only wish I could find out more about what he did to earn it.

A very precious document from my family archives; Herbert’s 1919 demobilization papers.

As a child I was always fascinated by Herbert’s war medals and loved to take them out and hold them and look at them. They were left to my older brother by my grandmother when she died in 2000, so unfortunately I never get to see them now. But they will always be very special to me, even more so now that I have finally been able to find out a bit more about what Herbert did during the war and what he lived through.

Right from when Herbert received his medals, he always kept them in this special tin, where they still live to this day. This is a 1914 Christmas tin, sent to the troops fighting at the front line in France for Christmas 1914. The idea was the initiative of Princess Mary, the 17 year old daughter of King George V. Each tin contained a gift for the soldiers and included such things as tobacco or cigarettes, shaving brushes and combs, pencils and notepaper, sweets or chocolates, and a small christmas card.

Another interesting piece of information I very recently learned about Herbert was that his unit was one of many that took part in the now-famous “Christmas Truce” of 1914, where the war stopped for one day and both german and allied soldiers spent the day “fraternizing with the enemy”; singing carols, having a drink together, exchanging small gifts with each other and even playing football. 

Herbert with his wife Bessie (Elizabeth Speirs nee LINDSAY) and family, not long after his return home from war.  The small girl is my grandmother, Elizabeth (Lizzie) Speirs RENSHAW (later ENGLISH), with her older brother Davy. Herbert and Bessie later had another two sons, Herbert (Bert), born in Dec 1920 and Bryan, born and died in Nov 1934.

By early 1926 the Scottish mining industry was in turmoil. The war had seriously depleted many coal seams and exports were falling drastically. Mine owners tried to compensate for lost income by lowering wages of miner workers and increasing hours. In March it was suggested that mine workers should receive a 13.5% decrease in pay to try to improve the industry as a whole. Mine owners threatened to lock out the workers if they did not accept these new terms by May 1st. Workers rejected these new terms and true to their word, mine owners locked out over one million mine workers. Because of this the National Trade Unions called for a general strike to begin on May 3rd in support of the miners. The magnitude of the strike astounded both the union and the government, with more then three million industrial workers going out in support of the mine workers. However, after ten days when things began to turn violent the trade union decided to call off the general strike. Miners remained stoic for a few more months before being forced by their own economic needs to accept the new conditions and return to the mines.

Herbert and Bessie would have been a part of this turmoil and this must have influenced their decision to try to find a better life for themselves. Their eldest son Davy had just turned 15 years old at this time and Herbert had always maintained that “no son of mine will ever  go down the mines”.

Below is the reference that Herbert received from the Bent Colliery Company in late May 1926. This was just after the general strike had finished but the miners had still not returned to work. After 25 years in the mine Herbert had spent many years underground but had now progressed to a more senior role and was a safety inspector and fireman with the mine. I am only guessing but this may have meant he was still working and was not a part of the strike. This is a fine reference, which I very much doubt would have been given to someone still on strike.

"S.S. Ruapehu"  **

In mid August 1926 Herbert and Bessie and their three children packed up all of their belongings and left Scotland behind in search of a new and better life. They made their way to Southampton and on Aug 26th they boarded the New Zealand Shipping Company steam ship “Ruapehu” for a journey that would take them to the other side of the world, to a land very, very different to that from which they had come.

To the right is part of the passenger manuscript for their ship, “S.S.Ruapehu”, that sailed for New Zealand carrying 230 adults and 61 children as passengers. Their names are shown two-thirds of the way down the page. Herbert is listed as a miner but interestingly, Davy is listed as farming, not something he had done yet but obviously what his intentions were when he got to New Zealand.

The decision to leave Scotland and make a voyage to the unknown on the other side of the world must have been a very difficult decision to make. Herbert left behind his aunt and uncle who had raised him but poor Bessie left behind so much more. She had to say goodbye, knowing it was probably forever, to her father, her grandfather, her three brothers and their wives, nieces and nephews, and numerous other close relations who all lived nearby.

Herbert, Bessie and Davy would never see their beloved Scotland again and it was almost fifty years later before Lizzie and Bert made their way back there again for a visit.

Their voyage to New Zealand was quite rough at times and I can remember my grandmother telling me that many of their precious possessions they brought with them were broken on the journey, possibly when being loaded or unloaded by rough deckhands and ships crew. Things such as special items of crockery that had belonged to Bessie’s family, although well packed, were all smashed. When they were finally able to unpack in their new home town of Mataura, Bessie just sat and cried and cried when she discovered what had happened. 

The family settled well into life in New Zealand. Herbert gained employment in the paper mill, one of two large factories in their new hometown of Mataura. He worked there for many years, right up until he reached retirement age. Although Herbert and Bessie eventually came to love their new country, my grandmother told me it was always her mothers greatest wish “to go back home”, ... back to Scotland. But sadly she never, ever got the chance.

Below is one of the last photos ever taken of Herbert RENSHAW, taken with his family in the mid 1950’s. Herbert is sitting on the step on the left with his wife Bessie standing directly behind him. Standing on the other side is their daughter Lizzie (my grandmother), with her husband Bob ENGLISH also sitting on the step. Lizzie and Bob’s two sons Evan and Ron are also there. I believe this photo was taken on a family holiday they had together at Riverton.

Herbert died suddenly of a heart attack at his home in Bristol Street, Mataura on 15th December 1957, aged 72. The photo below shows Herbert’s wife Bessie and daughter Lizzie sitting by his graveside at the Mataura Cemetery. 

The grave of Herbert RENSHAW, and also his wife
Bessie and their two sons Davy and Bryan. This
grave is located in the Mataura Cemetery and is
one of the many graves of my ancestors that
I maintain and visit regularly. 

My great grandfather Herbert RENSHAW is a man that I would love to have known. Although he looks so serious in the few photos that I have of him, from what I gathered from my grandmother, he was a very quiet, gentle, kind and loving man. I would love to have been able to sit and have a chat with him to really get to know him, but sadly he died 14 years before I was born. His life was obviously not easy and I am very proud of him for overcoming all the obstacles he faced.

I would love to know what happened to his parents in Ireland and also his family in Bothwellhaugh. I am also very keen to know what happened to him during the war and find out more about the Fabre family. So with those goals in mind I will keep searching and searching in the hope that someday I will have the answers that I seek.

Thank you Herbert for your bravery and for your service to your country. Thank you also for bringing your family from the other side of the world to settle in New Zealand. I am very, very proud that you are my great grandfather.

__________________________

(Please note; the photo marked ** is not mine and was found online during my research)

Brick Wall: Herbert Renshaw ..... war hero (Pt 1)

My paternal great grandfather, Herbert RENSHAW, is one of the many brick walls in my family history research.

According to Herbert’s World War 1 records, he was born in Portadown, Armagh, Ireland (now Northern Ireland) in May 1885. He was the son of Mark RENSHAW (a joiner) and Mary Jane (nee RENSHAW). Despite a lot of searching I have not yet been able to locate this mystery couple; the only reason I know that these were their names is that they appear on Herbert’s marriage certificate.

My grandmother Elizabeth ENGLISH nee RENSHAW (Herbert’s daughter) told me that his parent’s died when he was just a young boy. He then went to live with his aunt and uncle David and Mary (nee McMullan) RENSHAW, who lived in Bothwellhaugh, Scotland. I believe the uncle David RENSHAW to be the brother of Herbert’s mother Mary Jane but this is yet to be confirmed.

Herbert had one sister, Bella, and after their parent’s died Herbert never saw her again. I do not know whether she was older or younger than Herbert, but my grandmother told me that Bella died young when she was still just a teenager and still living in Ireland. Who she was living with is another mystery yet to be solved.

I am not sure when or how Herbert moved to Scotland but the first real proof I have found of him being there is the 1901 Census which shows him at age 15 living at 43 Clyde Place, Bothwellhaugh with his aunt and uncle, David and Mary RENSHAW, and their children William (age 8), James (age 6) and David (age 3). Herbert is listed as a miner, working in the Hamilton Palace Colliery. 

1901 Scottish Census showing Herbert living with his aunt and uncle in Bothwellhaugh

Below are the four cousins that Herbert grew up with in Scotland and that he considered to be his brothers and sister. Herbert's daughter (my grandmother) grew up knowing these four siblings as her aunt and uncles.

William RENSHAW was born on 26 Nov 1892, James on 28 Feb 1895, David on 19 May 1897 and Edith in 1904. There was also another brother, Robert who died age 8 months of age in Feb 1900. His cause of death is listed as infantile convulsions and acute bronchitis.

I have not found too much information yet on William and David, other than a few facts told to me by my grandmother. According to her, William married Agnes HUNTER and had a daughter named Chrissie. William and David both served in France during World War 1.

James RENSHAW served during WW1 with the 18th Btn. Highland Light Infantry (Queen’s Own Glasgow Yeomanry) which arrived in France in May 1915. He spent almost three years fighting in France and was killed on 25 March 1918 (age 23 years) during the First Battle of Bapaume (part of the Second Battle of the Somme). His body was never found and he is commemorated on the Pozieres British Memorial, situated approx 6km from the small town of Albert in France. 

According to my grandmother, Edith RENSHAW was very intelligent young woman and was in training to become a teacher when she became very ill and died on 25 Aug 1923, age 19 years. Her cause of death is listed as toxemia and exhaustion of acute confusional insanity, and hypostatic pneumonia (13 days duration).

Below is the marriage registration of Herbert RENSHAW and his wife Elizabeth Speirs (nee LINDSAY). They were married at the Parish Church in Bothwell, Lanarkshire Scotland on 9 Sept 1910. Although the registration lists their ages as 22 for Herbert and 17 for Elizabeth (known as Bessie), Herbert was actually 25 when he was married.

Below is the 1911 Census (taken on 2 April 1911) showing Herbert and Bessie living together at 23 Avon Place Bothwellhaugh. Herbert is listed as being 26 years old, Bessie as 18 years old. This census was taken only two months before the birth of their first child, David (known as Davy) on 16 June 1911.

The tiny mining village of Bothwellhaugh in Lanarkshire, Scotland was the place that Herbert and his family called home. He worked for at least 25 years at the Hamilton Palace Colliery which had built the entire town to house it’s workers. The town was abandoned in the early 1960’s after the mine closed in 1959. The village was subsequently drowned when the Strathclyde Loch was created in the early 1970’s as part of the development of the Strathclyde Regional Park. 

The west end of Bothwellhaugh, date unknown  **

Hamilton Palace Colliery, Bothwellhaugh  **

In May 1908 Herbert enlisted as a volunteer with the territorial force and began life as a part-time soldier, still working in the mines but receiving military training during days off.  When war broke out in 1914 the territorial forces were amongst the first volunteers to be set to France, arriving there in Nov 1914 as part of Kitcheners Army, reinforcements for the British Expeditionary Forces. The British Expeditionary Forces were the full-time soldiers who were the first to head to France in August 1914 and who suffered massive losses in the first couple of months of the war. Herbert was part of the 5th / 6th Btn. Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) which during the course of the war lost over 37,400 men from their division.

I have no idea when the photo below was taken but I tend to think it was before the war when Herbert’s unit was still part of the territorial forces. Herbert is in the back row on the very right.

I have no idea when or where this photo was taken either, all I know is that my grandmother thought it was taken at the end of the war. Herbert is in the middle of the front row in his dress uniform of tartan trousers and button up tunic.

My grandmother told me that the lady in the back row third from the right was Herbert’s aunt who brought him up (Mary nee McMullen RENSHAW) and the rest of the people were “relations from Canada”. I have never found any information on any branches of the family that went to Canada so it is something that I am yet to spend more time on and hopefully discover more about.

During Herbert’s time in the Scottish Rifles his unit was involved in many of the famous battles of the first world war including:

* The Battle of Albert and the attacks on High and Deville Woods (all were phases of the Battle of the Somme in 1916)

* The First and Second Battles of the Scarpe and the Battle of Menin Ridge (phases of the Arras Offensive of 1917)

* The Battle of Polygon Wood (a phase of the Third Battles of Ypres 1917) which saw them encounter mustard gas for the first time, Herbert’s unit suffering 2,905 casualties in one day. This also included heavy fighting around Passchendaele in Nov of 1917.

Herbert’s unit and division were still in Flanders when the Germans launched their spring offensive of 1918. His unit spent much of 1918 on the front line and was heavily engaged in the Battles at Epehy, St Quentin Canal, Beaurevoir Line and Cambrai (phases of the Battles of the Hindenburg Line). They were part of the Advance to Victory and their final action was the Battle of Selle in late October. After the Armistice in November of 1918 the division stayed in France and was finally de-mobilized in Feb 1919.

In early November 1917 Herbert was “Mentioned in Despatches”. This is not the award of a medal but is a commendation of an act of extreme gallantry by an individual (though a medal of some kind may also be issued for the same act). A “Despatch” is an official report written by the senior commander of an army in the field recognising these individuals. All “Despatches” were published in the London Gazette in full or in part after the event. In 1919 it was decided that all those “Mentioned in Despatches” would receive a certificate honoring their achievement, all individually signed by Winston Churchill. 

This is Herbert’s certificate, now almost 100 years old and showing the
effects of time (and having gone through the Mataura flood in 1978).

Below is the London Gazette published on 18 December 1917 showing Herbert’s name “Mentioned in Despatches”. At this time his unit was fighting near Passchendaele in Belguim. Six months later in June 1918 Herbert was awarded the “Meritorious Service Medal” which is awarded for “meritorious service in the field by non-commissioned officers”. Whether this medal relates to this same time period in late 1917 or something completely separate I have not yet been able to find out.  Medals were often not awarded until many months later so hopefully one day I will be able to find this out and also find out exactly what he did to receive these recognitions.

During the later stages of the war Herbert was involved with saving a French family, the Fabres, from being captured and killed by the Germans. So far I have been unable to find out any further details about this family or the events surrounding them, but I do have in my possession this photo of their family that they sent to Herbert after the war.

After the Armistice in November 1918 while Herbert was still in France he was able to go back to the area where the Fabre's lived and go to visit them. Sadly, when he arrived there they were not there and he never got the chance to see them again. Not long after this he received this letter from them. It is a bit hard to read so I have written a transcript of it below. Herbert sent it home to his wife Bessie in Scotland and wrote the piece on it in pencil. Almost one hundred years later and I have this letter in my possession and it is a very treasured part of my family archives.

"My dear friend,

I am very content that you are good health and I was very sad the last day

when I knew that you came to see me and I was not there.

If you come again be kind enough send me a postcard so I shall stay

at home and wait for you.

My mother sends you her best regards.

Both of us reminds you every night in our prayers, so that

God keep you in good health and take you safely back to your family.

I would be very pleased to give my best respects to your wife and

your children whom I hope are enjoying good health.

I remain your grateful and faithful friend,

Gabrielle Fabre

Rue du Paradis, (?) "

________

"Perhaps you can't make out her name very well it is

Gabrielle Fabre. 

Show it to my aunt and uncle."

________

To be continued in Pt 2

______________________________

(Please note; the two photos marked ** are not mine and were found online during
the course of my research into Bothwellhaugh and the Hamilton Palace Colliery)