The Scottish Military Research Group - Commemorations Project

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Situated outside the parish church at Balquhidder

Another that could do with a clean/tidy up though

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Unveiled by the Duchess of Atholl - November 20th 1920.

This churchyard is also the burial place of Rob Roy MacGregor.

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John Robertson also commemorated at Blair Atholl;

Name: ROBERTSON, JOHN
Initials: J
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Gunner
Regiment/Service: Royal Garrison Artillery
Unit Text: 216th Siege Bty.
Age: 31
Date of Death: 25/04/1918
Service No: 129227
Additional information: Son of John and Mary A. Robertson, of Old Bridge of Tilt, Blair Atholl, Perthshire; husband of Janet Robertson, of Tulloch, Balquhidder, Perthshire.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: I. F. 10.
Cemetery: VIGNACOURT BRITISH CEMETERY

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PERTHSHIRE ADVERTISER: 27.11.1920
BALQUHIDDER WAR MEMORIAL
UNVEILING CEREMONY BY DUCHESS OF ATHOLL

The memorial cross to those who had fallen in the war was unveiled by the Duchess of Atholl. The pedestal is erected on a base of solid masonry inside the wall enclosing the old churchyard of balquhidder, only a few yards from Rob Roy's grave and near the ruins of the belfry of the old parish church. On the slab bearing the cross the inscription is:- "To the Glory of God and in Grateful and Loving Remembrance of those from Balquhidder Parish who gave their lives for our defence in the Great War 1914-1918".
There follows the 25 names of those who had fallen. The memorial service was conducted by the rev. David Cameron, of the parish church, and Rev. J. Bruce Wilson, of the U.F. Church. The united choirs also took part in the singing, the service throughout being very impressive. Capt. Sir malcolm MacGregor, Bart., K.C.M.G., C.B., presided over the large assemblage. Among others present were Mr and Mrs Carnegie of Stronvar; Mrs Baillie Hamilton of Cambusmore; Hon. Mrs Somerset; Major and Mrs Stewart, Ardoch Lodge, etc. Piper Hamilton played 'Lochaber No More' at the beginning, and towards the end Piper Hugh M'Clachlan played the 'Flowers of the Forest'. At the unveiling ceremony the Duchess said she was among friends here, where she had many happy early recollections of her visits to the glen. It was, she thought, a time of thankfulness, in spite of all the sorrow that had taken place - thankfulness that we had a share in the great moment when our homes were at stake for honour, humanity, and freedom, and when young men swarmed from the distant glens at the call of duty and took a new pride in our race as never before, as Scots and Britons. So, in the words of one who gave his life in the same great cause, may come to pass that -

God grant our dear country
A strength that shall not cease;
Mercy, Truth and Honour -
Is this the Thing ye died for?
O, brothers, rest in peace.

Also included at the end of the newspaper report were some lines of poetry entitled - Hail, Balquhidder!, which included the verses;

Tonight Romances fairy wand will clear
those walls away
And noisy city street will be no more,
As we wander with our clansmen, in the
gloamin' silvery grey;
To revel in the piobroch days of yore!

The Buchanans, and M'Larens, and MacGregors
live again,
Who wrote, not with the pen, but broad
claymore
The history that brooding lies o'er every
hill and glen,
That radiates from fair Loch Earn's shore!

We will range the mountain fastness with
the eagle and the roe,
And tread again through bracken and
sweet heather,
While the zephyr seems to whisper "We have never feared a foe",
'Tis the spirit-warrior's slogan at Balquhidder!

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PHOTO COURTESY OF PAT ANDERSON

[Keptie]

There is a WW2 memorial plaque for those who served and died located inside the Balquidder Church porch of the church . The Balquhidder War Memorial is just outside the curtilage of the church


patrick w anderson

[dalblair]

Designed by George Washington Browne in 1920

[jamiemcginlay]

The sculptor Charles Pilkington D'or Jackson's business papers are lodged in the National Library, Edinburgh, Accesssion Number 7445. There is a letter dated 22/9/1920 in Box 2, File 53 which confirm that Jackson was approached by Messrs. McDonald & Creswick of Edinburgh to supply plaster models for the Balquhidder memorial to Washington Browne's design at least for the bronze tablet asking for the alphabet to be the same as at the Haddington war memorial which I think they described as a Lombardian style.