The Scottish Military Research Group - Commemorations Project

dhubthaigh · Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2007 5:02 pm Post subject: REDGORTON, WW1

The Great War Parish Memorial is located inside the former Redgorton Parish Church.
It takes the form of a board, with doors, and is located on the wall behind the pulpit. On the inside of the doors are the names of the fallen whilst the centre depicts a cross of sacrifice and crown of thorns;

dhubthaigh · Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 2:23 pm Post subject:

PERTHSHIRE ADVERTISER: 16.08.1922

FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH

DEDICATION OF REDGORTON’S WAR MEMORIAL

REV. DAVID GRAHAM’S TRIBUTE

A large and representative attendance, including Mr A. G. Maxtone Graham, Lieutenant-Colonel the Hon. John Dewar, M.C., and Major Hodge, were present at the forenoon service in Redgorton Parish Church on Sunday, the occasion being the dedication of a memorial to the men of the parish who fell in the Great War. The memorial takes the form of a new pulpit and communion table, together with a tablet containing the names of the fallen. A parade of the district ex-servicemen was held, and fully hundred answered the roll-call and marched to the church.

The Rev. David Graham, who officiated, preached from II. Samuel, xxiii., 15 - “And David longed, and said, oh that one would give me a drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate”. Mr Graham said:- This chapter records the words of the last famous warrior, the greatest king, and the sweetest singer Israel ever had. It contains one of the most important utterances ever made on the subject of Kinship - “He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God”. Having made that statement which is the root principle of all political philosophy, David bursts into an intense lyrical strain about his Ideal Ruler. He makes his harp go to this effect; “And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds: as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain”. Surely a beautiful and noble statement, which our own experience of the horror and the desolation of the World War helps us to appreciate. Lord Byron said that that David made his Lyre mightier than his Throne. Without contesting that dictum, in the essential features of it, let us not forget that this extraordinary man, shepherd, minstrel warrior, and king was, first and foremost, a fighter, compelled to be so by the stern necessity of his time and place. To slay a lion and smite a Philistine was as easy and agreeable to him as to make the night radiant with music, or charm the vexed spirit of Saul to repose. It is the all-round humanity of David, his marvellous combination of qualities and defects that make him one of the most wonderful figures in human history. I think he loved to ply the sling and play the sword even more than he delighted to strum the harp.

Anyhow, when old age came to him, and the fell conqueror Death drew nigh, he thought of the unconquerable courage of the men who had stood by him in the danger zone on the battlefields, comrades who had fought with him side by side, the “mighty men” who had helped him win his way to power. Among all the conquests, glories, spoils that fell to him, he remembered, with passionate love, and incident in his campaigns which lent lustre to the sunset of his life. Life was worth living and death was worth dying for the sake of the experience which made the old warrior bold in that Presence with slings, and swords, and harps are unavailing. It is a story of Three Soldiers and their valiant leading of a forlorn hope. David was war-weary, home-sick, pent up in a foul cave, waging what seemed a hopeless battle against the Philistines, and when his trusty warriors came around him he cried:- “Oh that one would give me a drink of the water from the well of Bethlehem which is by the gate”.
Perhaps it was only a passing wish, the cry of the soldier’s heart for home and dear ones who once stood with him by the well. How many of our own lads in the tight corners Fate led them to in weary marches, in lonely watches, in the dreadful trenches, have thought, like David, of the village well or the bubbling spring, dear to their boyhood, and wished they were back again to renew their unforgettable delight ?

To the warriors who stood by him, loved him, and were ready to die for him, David’s cry for a drink of water from that dear-loved well was a command. Three of them burst through the ranks of the Philistines, reached the well which is by the gate of Bethlehem, secured a drink for David and delivered it. And when David received this treasure at the hands of his devoted captains and comrades, he said, the courage that has won this gift for me makes it too precious for me to drink. And so, in accordance with the custom of his time, he poured out, “Unto the Lord”, this precious draught, so dearly gained. Let the Earth take it: let God receive it: it is too good for me to touch. To David in his old age the memory of that deed of heroism was dearer than his crown.

It is in this mood that we are met here today to honour the names and the memories of the men, our comrades and kinsmen, who went out from this place to fight for us and to die that we might live. We mourn their loss. We remember the bitter grief that is in the hearts of those who loved them. But, also, we think of them with pride for the courage that made them faithful unto death; and we resolve that we shall never suffer the memory of their devotion to die out in our hearts.

I now read their names as they are carved upon this memorial, which, in affection and gratitude, you have erected to their honour: and I solemnly dedicate this gift of your love to the memory of those who shall never cease to be sacred to us.

dalblair · Joined: 26 Aug 2010 Posts: 564 Location: coupar angus

Austrian fumed oak reliquary designed by Stewart&Paterson,Architects,Glasgow.
Carved and erected by Soutar&McQueen,joiners,High St,Perth.

A communion table and chair were also part of the Memorial.

DerekR · Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2015 11:34 am Post subject:

David, John and Stuart Russell were brothers.
ALSO COMMEMORATED ON ALMOND VALLEY memorial.
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Time but th' impression stronger makes, As streams their channels deeper wear.