Three casualties in one family: A poignant World War 1 memorial

Tonight there is an overlap with my separate Glasgow Ancestry blog.

In the course of recording grave markers at Eastwood New Cemetery in Glasgow I came across a military section which included a poignant memorial to what appears to be three brothers who all died in World War 1 over the period  1916-1917. Deceased as follows:

  • S/10571 Private G.D. Cameron, Cameron Highlanders. Died Dec 17th 1916, age 26 yrs.
  • 7835 Private Donald Cameron, killed in Battle of Cambrai (France) on Nov 18th 1917, age 28 yrs.
  • 9286 Sgt. Noel Cameron, killed in Battle of the Somme (France) Oct 18th 1916, age 23 yrs.

Here is a video clip of the memorial:


Matters arising:

  1. Clearly, these deaths would have posed a traumatic experience for the parents, especially in such a short time scale.No counselling in those days!
  2. The surname Cameron would suggest the family originated from the Fort William or Inverness regions of the Scottish Highlands.
  3. The Cameron Highlanders regiment was raised (in Fort William) in 1793 and was later amalgamated with the Seaforth Highlanders to form the Queen's Own Highlanders in 1961.The original 18th century recruiting base was Clan Cameron around Fort William.
  4. Donald Cameron died at the Battle of Cambrai which took place over period Nov-Dec 1917. Casualties (both sides) aggregated about 90,000.
  5. Noel Cameron dies at the Battle of the Somme which took place over period July-Nov 1916 and has become a by-word for slaughter. Casualties (both sides) aggregated about one million.  
  6. At entrance to the military section of the cemetery is a plaque stating the deceased are buried at one of two named cemeteries in Glasgow. However, my understanding is that the British interred deceased casualties close to where they fell and did not repatriate.

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