The Scottish Military Research Group - Commemorations Project

Adam Brown

Scots-American Memorial, Edinburgh
Location: West Princess Street Gardens.
OS Ref: NT 251 737
Memorial Type: Statue & Frieze
UKNIWM Ref: 2219

A very well known memorial. The inscription was written by Lt Ewart MacKintosh, 5th Bn Seaforth Highlanders. He was killed in action in 1917.

Adam

jamiemcginlay · Joined: 20 Dec 2006 Posts: 930 Location: Glasgow

The memorial was erected with funds raised by many small donations made by ordinary Scots and people of Scottish descent throughout the United States to commemorate the native Scots who fought in the Great War. The sculptor was the remarkable Canadian Doctor Robert Tait McKenzie who has an entry in the 'Sculptors' section of this forum. As well as being a doctor and anatomist he was also a leading figure in the development of physical education and played an enormous role in the rehabilitation of wounded servicemen during WWI. After the war he established an international reputation as an athletic sculptor who had a gift for capturing movement and physical effort in his works.

DerekR · Posted: Sun Feb 11, 2007 12:53 pm Post subject:

_________________

Time but th' impression stronger makes, As streams their channels deeper wear.

David McNay · Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 10:31 pm Post subject:

Some photographs from "Miss MacDougalls Photo Album".

jcglass · Joined: 02 Feb 2008 Posts: 3 Location: Edinburgh

Many will know Ewart Alan Mackintosh's poem "In Memoriam" - I've included it below. There's an excellent recent book about him -
Can't Shoot a Man with a Cold, Colin Campbell and Rosalind Green, Argyll Publishing, 2004, ISBN 1 902831 76 4

The poem is about a raid the German trenches in the sector of the front line north-west of Arras, on the evening of 16 May, 1916 led by Lieutenant Ewart Alan Mackintosh and Second Lieutenant Mackay of the 5th Battalion Seaforth Highlanders. By the end of the night there were sixteen British casualties, which included fourteen wounded and two killed. One of the two dead soldiers was Private David Sutherland.

In Memoriam

by Ewart Alan Mackintosh (killed in action 21 November 1917 aged 24)

So you were David's father,
And he was your only son,
And the new-cut peats are rotting
And the work is left undone,
Because of an old man weeping,
Just an old man in pain,
For David, his son David,
That will not come again.

Oh, the letters he wrote you,
And I can see them still,
Not a word of the fighting,
But just the sheep on the hill
And how you should get the crops in
Ere the year get stormier,
And the Bosches have got his body,
And I was his officer.

You were only David's father,
But I had fifty sons
When we went up in the evening
Under the arch of the guns,
And we came back at twilight -
O God! I heard them call
To me for help and pity
That could not help at all.

Oh, never will I forget you,
My men that trusted me,
More my sons than your fathers',
For they could only see
The little helpless babies
And the young men in their pride.
They could not see you dying,
And hold you while you died.

Happy and young and gallant,
They saw their first-born go,
But not the strong limbs broken
And the beautiful men brought low,
The piteous writhing bodies,
They screamed 'Don't leave me, sir',
For they were only your fathers
But I was your officer.

Adam Brown · Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2008 12:44 pm Post subject:

Private Sutherland has already been listed on the forum in this post

http://warmemscot.s4.bizhat.com/warmemscot-post-2690.html

Here are his details.

SUTHERLAND David
Rank: Private
Regimental Number: 2943
Unit: 1/5th (Sutherland and Caithness) Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders. T.F.
Died: Killed in action on trench raid 16.5.16. Roclincourt, Arras.
Age: 19
Parents: Sinclair and Williamina R. Sutherland of Achreamie, Reay
Born: Achreamie
Home: Achreamie
Enlisted: Reay
Notes: Pte Sutherland’s death was the inspiration for Lt. Ewart A. Mackintosh’s poem ‘In Memoriam’.
Commemorated: Arras Memorial
Memorials: Listed on the Reay War Memorial, Sutherland

As you can see he is listed on the Reay War memorial but we don’t have any photographs of this memorial yet. Reay was in Caithness up until the late 1990s. It is now part of Sutherland within the Highland Council area.

Adam

spoons · Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 7:09 pm Post subject:

a few extra photos including a nearby bench in memory of the sculptor

Adam Brown · Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2009 9:00 pm Post subject:

I was passing here today so thought I'd get some close-ups. I hadn't noticed before but as the civilians change into soldiers the heads get closer together.

Adam Brown · Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2009 9:02 pm Post subject:

This old soldier shows the way the figures on the frieze sit slightly away from the wall

And here are some close ups of the pipes & drums (old pipers, young drummers)

Adam Brown · Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2009 9:05 pm Post subject:

Some detail of the hands and face of the main figure

Adam Brown · Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2009 9:07 pm Post subject:

And a carving on the wall

My own version of the plaque which may be a bit clearer

And the Tait memorial chair in relation to the memorial

Adam Brown · Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 8:49 pm Post subject:

I've just realised we don't have a copy of 'A Creed' on here

From Wikisource

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_CREED

A Creed

OUT of the womb of time and dust of the years forgotten,
Spirit and fire enclosed in mutable flesh and bone,
Came by a road unknown the thing that is me for ever,
The lonely soul of a man that stands by itself alone.

This is the right of my race, the heritage won by my fathers.
Theirs by the years of fighting, theirs by the price they paid,
Making a son like them, careless of hell or heaven,
A man that can look in the face of the gods and be not afraid.

Poor and weak is my strength and I cannot war against heaven.
Strong, too strong are the gods; but there is one thing that
I can
Claim like a man unshamed, the full reward of my virtues,
Pay like a man the price for the sins I sinned as a man.

Now is the time of trial, the end of the years of fighting,
And the echoing gates roll back on the country I cannot see
If it be life that waits I shall live for ever unconquered.
If death I shall die at last strong in my pride and free.

Vimy Ridge, 1916

David McNay · Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 9:53 pm Post subject:

Footage of the unveiling:

http://youtu.be/U7xJjhAKnrc

MagsD · Joined: 10 Mar 2012 Posts: 171 Location: West Lothian

One of the Americans with a Scottish connection!

Private Ognall is commemorated on the Association of Jewish Ex-service Men's Memorial that was in South Portland Street Synagogue and is now in Barlanark Hebrew Prayer Hall, Glasgow.

Private Robert(Reuben) Ognall, United States Army, was born Manchester, England on 25 December 1887. He was the third son of Lazarus Ognall, Waterproof Garment Maker, and Rachael Ognall of 48 Cumberland Street, Glasgow
He emigrated from Glasgow aboard the ship, "Columbia", arriving in New York on 4 March 1907. He was granted naturalization on 16 December 1913.
He died in Washington Hospital U.S.A. on the 26 February 1919, owing to wounds received in France, September 1918, and was buried at V.A., Columbia on 28 February 1919.

Note: His naturalization record says he was born at Manchester, England, however, his death record gives his birthplace as Scotland.

Mags

Adam Brown · Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2014 5:10 pm Post subject:

Great find Mags. There aren't many US servicemen commemorated on Scottish war memorials but there are a few. This is a good place to record them.

Were his parents residents of Glasgow at the time of his birth?

Adam