The Scottish Military Research Group - Commemorations Project

[donny anderson]

Hi All,

Here is a photo of the Memorial to Sapper John Perie VC 18/06/1888, Sebastopol. (sorry for the reflection )




From "Symbol of Courage",

PERIE, JOHN Sapper, Royal Engineers
18 June 1855 - He bravely assisted Lieutenant GRAHAM in leading the sailors with the ladders at the attack on the Redan at Sebastopol. He rescued a wounded soldier who was lying in the open, despite the fact that he had been hit in his right side by a rifle ball. He also risked his life to recover scaling ladders left on the ground.

Regards,
Donny
_________________
In memory of 12159 Private William Anderson, 6th Gordon Highlanders and 820 L/Cpl Peter Nicol, 6th Gordon Highlanders KIA 25/09/1915.

[kinnethmont]

On joining the Royal Sappers and Miners John Pirie pronounced his surname in the local Doric dialect - Peerie. The English clerk, not understanding this, wrote his name in the Roll as Perie and this explains the surname being given as Perie on the VC citation and the memorial headstone.

Like many brave VC winners he died in poverty and was buried in a pauper's grave which lay unmarked until it was identified and a campaign begun to give him the recognition he deserved in 2001. He was fond of a dram and died of liver disease.
It was not possible to erect a headstone on the strangers ground and so it was placed against a nearby wall.

It has since been discovered that he was actually born at Huntly, although his father was a farm servant at Gartly in 1821.
A new ATC / TA centre at Huntly was opened a couple of years ago and is named after Sapper John Perie, VC.

His was one of the first awards of the VC.
_________________
Jim

If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

www.kinnethmont.co.uk

[donny anderson]

Thanks for that Jas.
I wondered about the spelling of his surname, but never thought about the Doric dialect might be the answer,

Thanks,
Donny
_________________
In memory of 12159 Private William Anderson, 6th Gordon Highlanders and 820 L/Cpl Peter Nicol, 6th Gordon Highlanders KIA 25/09/1915.

[spoons]

From my family history research in 18th and 19th century, there is quite a lot of variation in name spellings. Very often people could not write and so were indifferent as to how their name was spelt. Up until mid 1900s it was still quite common to spell your name so that the person receiving it would pronounce it correctly in their dialect. For quite a number of my ancestors there are 2 and sometimes 3 spellings (first names as well as surnames).
Although somewhat earlier, a lot of work has been done on the spelling of Shakeaspeare's name http://shakespeareauthorship.com/name1.html. All of this means that I have to think a bit laterally sometimes when trying to find someone from a memorial in other records, particularly if it is before the great war.

[FortyTwa]

And here's the TA/Army Cadet Force centre in Huntly named in his honour

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Huntly+30+princes+street&hl=en&ll=57.444799,-2.78762&spn=0.003377,0.009645&sll=57.444825,-2.787577&layer=c&cbp=13,142.31,,0,-1.2&cbll=57.444714,-2.78769&hnear=30+Prince