Numbers from the War Memorial.

Galashiels war memorial has 638 men listed on it.  I have tried to identify all of them.  So far I have identified 609, so 29 are “missing”.  Of the 609 the vast majority are listed on the Commonwealth War Grave Commission (CWGC) list of war dead but 17 are not.  These men generally died of disease after being discharged from the army.  As the CWGC lists of war dead were compiled post-war their deaths either did not meet the CWGC criteria or their families did not tell the military authorities about their death.  But the Galashiels community felt that their death was associated with military service and therefore honoured them with a place on the memorial.

They fought for 6 separate countries armed forces : United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and the United States of America

The men (and they are all men) served in 59 separate regiments and corps, though in many cases those corps and regiments are only represented by one man on the memorial.  The vast majority served in the army, 626; 11 served in the Navy and 1 in the Royal Flying Corps (RFC)(actually part of the army).  The RFC member is listed as serving in the RAF but he died before the RAF was formed on the 1^st of April 1918.

Of those serving in the army, most served in infantry regiments that recruited from Scotland.  78% or 489 men served in Scottish regiments and a number of those who served in corps, such as the RFC or the Machine Gun Corps (MGC) were originally recruited into Scottish regiments.

The most popular regiment was the Kings Own Scottish Borderers (KOSB), the local regiment, with 240 men, followed by the 71 men of the Royal Scots (RS), who traditionally recruited in and around Edinburgh. 32 served in the Highland Light Infantry(HLI) which recruited in the Glasgow area, 31 served in the Cameron Highlanders, who  traditionally recruited in the Inverness area

The most common rank is Private – 425 privates or equivalent, 51 Lance Corporals, 21 Corporals 48 Lance Sergeants and Sergeants, 5 Sergeant Majors 24 Lieutenants, 6 Captains and 4 Majors died.  These are ranks given by  the CWGC, they can differ from those on the war memorial particularly for the non-commissioned ranks.  Promotion and demotion between the lower NCO ranks was at the discretion of the local Commanding Officer and  news of these promotions or demotions may not of reached the administrative staff before they were killed.  All in all there are 49 “errors” in rank.  37 have a rank on the GWM higher than their CWGC rank and 12 held a higher rank than listed on the GWM.

Born & Lived.

We know the birth places of 579 of the men – 386 were born in Galashiels  -66%.  The rest were generally born elsewhere in Scotland but 6 were born in England 3 in Ireland 2 in each of  Canada and South Africa  and 1 in Thailand, New Zealand, Australia and the United States.

They mostly lived in Galashiels .  There are addresses of some description for about  560 of the men of those 396 are in Galashiels.  124 lived elsewhere in Scotland, 13 in England, 1 in Ireland and the rest in parts of the Empire.  It’s likely that less  than 396 actually lived in Galashiels, they were mostly young men and a number may have lived in Edinburgh or Glasgow in lodgings but gave their “home” address as Galashiels.

Using the population data from the 1911 census about 4.5% of British men died in WWI,  Based on the number of men we know lived in Galashiels we can estimate that about 70% of the men on the GWM  lived in Galashiels.  As the male population of Galashiels was  6900 in 1911 this means Galashiels lost about 6.4% of its male population – about 40% more than the national average.   If you consider just the “military age” population (15-50) of Galashiels was 3698 the percentage is higher at 12%,  1in 8.

Age?

The oldest to die in combat was 52 and the youngest 16 – Their  average age was 27

When did they die?

18 died in 1914, the first two on the 14^th of September  , 174 in 1915, 101 in 1916, 150 in 1917 and 132 in 1918.  A further 29 died post war, the last on the 21^st of November  1924.

The worst day for the town was  the 12^th of July 1915; 75 men were killed at Achi Baba when the 1/4^th Battalion  of the KOSB mounted  an ill-fated attack on the Turkish trenches.

About 46% have no known grave, 51% are buried in a known plot and for about 3% we don’t know enough yet but it’s likely they were buried in a known grave.  Nationally about 53% are buried in a known grave so Galashiels experience is close to the national average.

Where are they buried or commemorated?

They are buried on 4 continents in the following 17 countries

Note that where they were buried or commemorated does not always reflect where they died.  Several of the Royal Navy personnel, commemorated in the UK, died some way from the UK (Russia, off Ireland and off Spain). The unknowns are the sum of those who I’ve failed to identify (29) and those not listed by the CWGC (17) where I don’t have a site of their grave.  Many of these are likely to be buried in or near Galashiels .

They are buried in or commemorated on 227 cemeteries and memorials. Most of the Galaleans who are buried in a known grave lie singly or in pairs in cemeteries.  The cemetery  with largest number of casualties from Galashiels is in Galashiels; the Eastlands Cemetery  a mile or so from the war memorial.  Where possible if a man died of accident, wounds or disease in the UK their body could be sent to their home town.  As a result 23 men are buried at Eastlands, possibly more.  Other cemeteries with multiple Galaleans are those situated near the larger bases in France such the Terlincthun Cemetery with 7 Galaleans and those near the sites of large battles such as Caterpillar Valley cemetery on the Somme with 4 burials.

The memorial with largest number of men from Galashiels listed on it is the Helles memorial on the Gallipoli peninsula. This has 76 men listed on it – nearly all who died on the 12^th of July 1915. Next is the Thiepval memorial in France which commemorates the missing on the Somme which has 40 men listed on it.

How did they die?

Most were killed in action 382 over 60%, 121 from wounds, 49 from disease, 10 from accidents 2 drowned and 2 were listed as gassed, though a number of those who were killed in action are likely to also have been gassed.  The low number who died from disease is a credit to the Royal Army Medical Corps and the Army Service Corps who managed sanitation and troop accommodation, in previous campaigns the British Army lost far more men to disease than in combat.  3 of those who died in accidents were members of the 7^th Royal Scots who were killed in the train accident near Gretna on the 22^nd of May 1915.

Awards?

The CWGC lists 12 men who received some kind of award or recognition for service above what was expected of them.  There were 6 Military Medals , 2 Mentioned in Despatches and 1 each of Military Cross, Distinguished Conduct Medal, Member of the Victorian Order and a Territorial Decoration.  There is some variation between the awards listed on the War Memorial and those listed by the CWGC with 14 men listed as having some award.