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Hello,

There is also a story in the East of Fife Record on 18 Dec 1896 reporting on Alexander's quest to be paid a pension by the United States in respect of his service. It does not provide details other than to state that he was pressed into service with the Federal Army and passed through the war "being wounded in one of the engagements". I assume this might replicate the article you already have from the Evening News on the 14th?

The report stated that he had returned to Bo'ness shortly after the war, so it might be worth looking at the newspapers around 1865/66 as the return of someone who had fought in the war would probably have been newsworthy.

Best wishes

Rockford

Hello

Death certificates in Scotland don't include burial location - they did for a short period in the early days of statutory registration from 1855 to c1861, but this was discontinued. I know that there are now various forms that need completed to authorise a burial or cremation, but these aren't publicly available, so the death certificate will contain all of the available information.

There are/were three main cemeteries in and around Motherwell that were open for burials when your relatives died - Cambusnethan which is in Wishaw, Airbles Cemetery in Motherwell, and St Patrick's Cemetery in New Stevenston, which is a Catholic cemetery.  I have Catholic relations from the Motherwell area and some are buried in Cambusnethan and others at New Stevenston - the latter being where the Diocese of Motherwell has its own burial plot for priests of the diocese.

However, it is possible they could have been buried somewhere else - such as the Globe/Forgewood cemetery, also in Motherwell if there was an earlier family plot there.

The Heritage Centre at Motherwell has burial records for the local cemeteries, so might be worth a visit if you're local - I don't know if they will undertake research on your behalf, as I've been fortunate enough to be able to visit in person.

Best wishes

Rockford

Hello,

Is there a typo in your message, as you have said that the single mother was born c1949 and that her daughter was orphaned in 1881?

The indexes to the Glasgow Poor Relief Applications are not online, and even in the library itself, they are only indexed by name (if I recall correctly) up to the 1930s at the latest. This means that the index in the library might not include the 1940s if that is the time period you are looking at.

I also think that to protect privacy of applicants and anyone who may have been named on the application who is still alive, I seem to remember that there might be a closure period on the files, so those from the late 1940s/early 1950s might not even be accessible yet.

However, if it is the case that you are looking for an earlier record where the person might be named in the index, I might be able to look for this for you, although this might take a bit of time as I think you still need to book an appointment at the archives and it would depend on being able to work this around work commitments, as they are only open on certain days.

Obviously, if the library staff can look for this for you, I wouldn't need to, so this might be the quickest option.

Best wishes

Rockford

Hello,

It's definitely Linlithgow Mains. 

On the Valuation Rolls on ScotlandsPeople, an Alexander Salmon is the tenant/occupier of a "house and byre" at Mains, Linlithgow in 1873 and 1874, and there is a reference to a William Millar being the proprietor and occupier of land and houses at Mains around the same time. There was also a malt store and ten houses owned jointly by John Aitken and William Hardie, brewers from Falkirk, although in 1874 no details of the tenants for the houses are given and it just says "various" in the column for names of tenant/occupiers.

Linlithgow Mains and Mains Maltings both appear on Ordnance Survey 25 inch maps (1892 - 1949 edition) here:

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=17.0&lat=55.97277&lon=-3.62205&layers=168&right=ESRIWorld

Linlithgow Mains (the farm) was at the western end of Linlithgow north of the A706, between the present Mains Road/Cellar Road and Avontoun Park. The maltings were on the south side of the A706 and the access road to the site is still called "The Maltings"

Best wishes

Rockford

Hello

I agree that the first abbreviation in the first image is Bullet Wound Left Forearm. The second abbreviation looks like "R. B. Wd" and I would guess this might be "Rifle Bullet Wound".

The last image summarises his postings and appointments. This shows that:

He joined the Gordon Highlanders at Aberdeen on 2 Nov 1914. The D in the first entry is for "Depot", as each regiment had a base depot that received recruits etc and then posted them out to a specific battalion. In this case, he was posted to the 8th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders joining them on 6 Nov 1914.

He was then appointed an Acting Lance Corporal with the 8th GH on 24 Sep 1915, but was then posted back to the Depot on 11 Oct 1915. This means that he was taken off the strength of his particular battalion and was allocated to the regimental depot for administrative purposes. This doesn't mean that he necessarily came back to the UK, and he could have been wounded. The first image indicates that he was wounded in 1916, but the files didn't always record everything in the right place - is there anything in the file to indicate that he has been ill or wounded in Sept/Oct 1915?

Whatever the reason for being attached to the depot in Oct 1915 was, he was posted to the 3rd Battalion, Gordon Highlanders on 1 Jan 1916, to the 8th Battalion on 9 Feb 1916, and to the 1/7th Battalion on 9 Sep 1916 under Army Order 204 of 1916.

This is around the time he was wounded to his left forearm and as a result of his hospitalisation, he was posted to the Depot again on 17 Nov 1916 (again this would have been for admin purposes to take him off the strength of his battalion). Once fit for renewed service, he was posted to the 1/6th Battalion on 16 May 1917, then moved again to the 1/5th Battalion on 2 Jun 1917 under Army Order 204 of 1916. Later the same month on 29 June 1917 he was deprived of his appointment as Acting Lance Corporal [which was an appointment rather than a rank, as his substantive rank would have remained Private].

Presumably due to his second period of hospitalisation in 1917, he was taken on strength of ? Depot on 19 Aug 1917, then transferred to the ? Command Depot at Randalstown on 4 Sep 1917. From there he was posted to the 4th Reserve Battalion of the Gordon Highlanders.

He was transferred from 4th Reserve Battalion to the Class W(T) Army Reserve on 29 Mar 1918, which I believe was the means by which men were released from army service to take up civilian employment where their skills were needed - although he remained a reservist and could be recalled to the army if they so required. See https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/soldiers/a-soldiers-life-1914-1918/enlisting-into-the-army/british-army-reserves-and-reservists/class-w-and-wt-army-reserve/ for more details.

Finally, he was formally discharged from the Army on 10 Jan 1919 as "surplus to military requirements, not having suffered impairment since entry into the service" - presumably the army considered that the wounds to his arm had not left any continuing impairment. The reference to Para 392 (xxva) KR is the relevant paragraph XXV (a) of King's Regulations which provided the authority for his discharge.

As he moved about a fair bit between battalions, this link will give you an idea of where each battalion was https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-british-infantry-regiments-of-1914-1918/gordon-highlanders/

Hope that helps!

Rockford