Down Memory Lane: War memorial’s tragic names brought back to life by book
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Donald Fraser and his three brothers from Trinloist, Stratherrick, all in the 4th Cameron Highlanders, were with the 51st Highland Division holding back the Germans at St Valery to allow the Dunkirk evacuation. Donald was 25 when he was killed on June 5, 1940, writes Bill McAllister.
His sister Catherine was the wartime local postwoman and had the tragic task of taking the telegram to her mother notifying of Donald’s death. Nine months later Catherine received another telegram that her brother Angus, aged 22, had died of wounds at a prisoner of war camp in Poland.
She could not face taking a second fateful telegram to her mother – but had to do it as Mrs Fraser had three sons in POW camps and needed to learn which one she had now lost.
This haunting tale is one of a series of sad episodes related in ‘Lest You Forget Stratherrick’, a labour of love in which Alister Chisholm, of Telford Road, Inverness, tells the stories behind the names on the war memorial in his native Stratherrick on Loch Ness’s south-east flank.
Drummer and bugler William Campbell, who at 14 worked for the British Aluminium Company at their Foyers smelter, enlisted in the 4th Camerons at Inverness. He was only 17 when he was killed by a sniper in France in March 1915.
Donald MacGillivray, born in Pumpgate Street, Inverness, was trying to dig out a comrade buried by an explosion in France in April 1917, when he was killed by another shell. He was 20.
Johan Fraser of Gorthleck was believed to have second sight and in May 1917, she remarked: “I have heard the shot that killed poor Ewen.” Her son Ewen was later confirmed to have been killed in France that same day.
The fallen of Stratherrick, which embraces Foyers, Whitebridge, Errogie, Gorthleck and Aberchalder, now lie in countries as diverse as Iceland, Tunisia, Egypt, Belgium, Greece, France and Kenya.
No fewer than six Stratherrick emigrant exiles joined the Canadian Army and were killed – one of them, Alick Chisholm, who had served in the Lovat Scouts, walked 300 miles to the nearest railway station to enlist at Edmonton in the Canadian Infantry, dying in France at the age of 27.
Christina Campbell, born in Kiltarlity but later from Whitebridge, was a nurse attached to the Canadian forces and in May 1918, she was on a hospital ship which was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat off the Irish coast. She was one of 234 who died.
Alister Chisholm brings them all back to life in these pages thanks to painstaking research, poring through military, registry and census records and even school rolls. It is a remarkable effort for an amateur, showing great commitment and attention to detail.
“It took me six years, off and on,” he told me. “My aim was to complete the book in time for last autumn’s centenary of the Stratherrick war memorial opening.
“I slogged through so many records, picking up snippets here and there, doing a bit of detective work to track the people behind the names on the memorial and produce snapshots of their lives – and deaths. I trawled through old newspapers, school rolls, births, deaths and marriages.
“I knew some of the families and my friend William Macdonald’s knowledge of the district helped. I didn’t want these people to be forgotten and it’s been satisfying to find families who didn’t know about their lost relatives and are pleased that they now know the connection.”
Alister managed to track down photographs of most of those involved – some still holding their shinty sticks.
His book won’t be a best-seller – it’s only available at Inverarnie Stores, Foyers Stores and Camerons Tea Room, Foyers – but it’s a fascinating glimpse into an era of great sacrifice in one small strath. In its way, it’s a tribute to those from other Highland straths and glens who fell far from home.
After heavy losses at the front in April 1915 the 2nd/4th Camerons staged a recruiting march round Loch Ness – the first time in over a century that a Highland regiment had marched round its shores. Some 500 troops and 15 horses were billeted at Foyers.
The Stratherrick folk who made the sacrifice are remembered anew in Alister’s tribute.
- Sponsored by Ness Castle Lodges.
