I've thought for a while about starting a blog, but always had one major stumbling block. Mainly that I had nothing much to write about.

However, I then decided to ramble on about my project. So that's what I'm going to do.

I work for the Bank of Scotland, y'see, and a while back I emailed our archives to ask them if they had a Roll of Honour for the two World Wars. After a short while they sent me back to Excel spreadsheets with names for the two World Wars for the Bank of Scotland, Halifax, Union Bank of Scotland, Clerical Medical and the British Linen Bank.

But that was it. Names. Nothing much more. One of them gave a rank and office. A couple of others gave the office. Clerical Medical had the best list, giving as it did Rank and Regiment (even the Battalion which impressed me).

So my project is this: get as much information about these men as is possible, and then hopefully publish it in some form.

The REAL purpose of this blog is to detail some of the effort I go to to track down what I call the "missing men". You see, I've managed to track down the details from the CWGC for most of these fellows, but there's a small group of them who have eluded me so far. Mainly due to the common nature of their names.

But I will find them. Oh yes. And on this blog, you're going to read about what I go through to find them.

And of course, maybe someone reading this might even recognise a name. And that will make it all worth while. So happy reading (hopefully)!

Oh, and here's the men who are still to be found:

Union Bank of Scotland:

HARVEY, John (Kilmarnock office)

HENDERSON, Thomas (Glasgow office)

MAIR, Alexander (Dumbarton office)

MacKechnie, Angus (Kincardine office)

McLay, Walter (Glasgow office)

SMITH, William (Banff office)

STRANG, James (Gourock office)

Halifax:

CAVE, Joe - found thanks to Tony Lund

CROSSLEY, Herbert

SYKES, Albert

British Linen Bank:

Arnott, John

Brodie, William

Carmichael, Alexander

Clement, Peter

Coates, Robert

Corrigall, John

Dick, William (R.S.) - there were two William Dicks on the roll. The other was an artilleryman.

Donaldson, James

Ireland, William

McBean, Alexander

McCulloch, John Allan

McFadyen, Neil

Macintyre, Alexander Matheson

Mackay, Gordon

Paton, John

Robertson, George

Scott, Arthur James

Scott, James Allan

Simpson, Robert Graham

Sinclair, John

Smith, Laurence Alexander - found this man listed on the Watsonian War Record

Smith, William Thomson

Tulloch, John

Watson, John

and finally, Bank of Scotland. The rank as given is the one on the plaque and the office they worked in is in brackets:

Baird, James. Cpl (Kelso)

Harris, Albert S. Dvr (Eskbank)

Howie, Archd. T. Pte (Kilmarnock)

Macdonald, Duncan Cpl (Dingwall, Tulloch Street)

Macdonald, John B Tpr (Dunblane)

Macdonald, Wm. J Pte (Forres)

MacDougall, Peter A Pte (Killin)

McGeorge, James Pte (Stockbridge) - CWGC only has one J McGeorge

McGregor, James Pte (Lochmaddy)

Mackenzie, John B Pte (Glasgow)

Mackenzie, John S Pte (Dysart)

Mackintosh, Duncan Op (Grantown-on-Spey)

McLauchlan, Charles Pte (Edinburgh, Dalry Road)

MacLean, Charles Pte (Broadford)

MacLennan, Donald Pte (Dingwall, Tulloch Street)

McMillan, Arch. H Pte (Falkirk)

McQueen, Andrew Lt (Glasgow, Sauchiehall Street)

Martin, Thomas Lt (Glasgow)

Moir Jr, Gordon Capt (Glasgow, Partick)

Nicol, John D L/Cpl (London)

Orr, George Pte (London)

Pryde, David L/Cpl (Oban)

Robertson, James Pte (Stornoway)

Scott, Robert Pte (Lasswade)

Scott, William Pte (Perth)

Sneddon, Daniel U Pte (Glasgow)

Smith, Albert W Pte (Paisley)

Smith, James M Pte (Wick)

Sutherland, Andrew Pte (Dornoch)