Private Andrew Paterson

[Pete1052]

From The Times

November 29, 2008

Private Andrew Paterson is honoured, 90 years late

A soldier killed in the last days of the First World War is to finally have his name on his home village war memorial, after an administrative oversight in 1918. Private Andrew Paterson, from Fallin, Stirlingshire, joined the 2nd Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders at the outbreak of war. He died in action and is buried in Selridge British Cemetery in Montay, France.

[Neil Clark]

Pete,

Good to see this is being done but I think you are a bit confused here (no offence meant we all get confused at times) - Non Coms are men who do NOT have an OFFICIAL comemmoration as opposed to a CIVIC commemoration. There are many many CIVIC war memorials up and down the land which fail to record local fallen men like this. Although it's nice to see, I don't understand why it's making national news media, there are hundreds of additions to civic memorials like this made each week...

It's a common mistake - most people just don't understand the difference between the two kinds of tributes.

This might help -

Official Commemoration .v. Civic Commemoration

It is absolutely imperative that you understand the difference between an Official Tribute and a Civic Tribute. This is not always understood and can lead to utter confusion. Each casualty of the war should have an official commemoration (paid for and maintained by the government) – this can be in the form of a headstone where they were buried or in the case of men whose remains were never found or identified, an entry on one of the government’s memorials to the missing men. A civic commemoration is a private tribute often funded by parish council’s and local authorities where a man hailed from or was employed. The men’s names that appear on private (civic) tributes will more often than not also appear on an official tribute somewhere else. Sometimes we come across men’s names on local civic tributes who do not have any form of official commemoration. It is these men who will take priority because this means the country they died for has forgotten their sacrifice! Try not to get the two confused.

The vast majority of men whose names appear on a civic tribute should ALSO have an official tribute. If not then it’s possible their name has been forgotten! If you are transcribing a civic war memorial and come across a name(s) that you can’t trace on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission searchable website it’s possible (even probable) that you have discovered one of these men! Unfortunately the authorities will not assist you. It’s up to you alone to get the record put straight. If you decide you want to do this, we shall be happy to assist you in any way we possibly can. Just get in touch with us.

This is a good example of confusion between a civic and official commemoration - Some people in Medway seem to under the mis-guided impression that the Chatham Naval Memorial is in fact the town’s civic tribute to the fallen men of Medway and surrounding areas! Of course this is nonsense, the Chatham Naval Memorial is in fact an official military memorial to the fallen sailors from ships that were based at Chatham during the war. The vast majority of sailors mentioned on it came from all over the UK and it’s Dominions.

You see YOUR chap has an OFFICIAL tribute - His headstone. He's lucky - thousands have NONE at all and it is these men we seek to find and then put the matter right.

[kinnethmont]

This post needs to be moved as Neil points out, it in not a Non Comm and is detailed on another thread.

there are hundreds of additions to civic memorials like this made each week...

Hardly hundreds like this a week !

[Neil Clark]

The point I'm trying to make (badly perhaps) is that I hear many stories every week of local people wanting to add names to CIVIC war memorials (which incidently I fully support). I have managed to get a written undertaking from my local council to add names of local men we have identified in our research - they don't realise the number of new casualties presently standing at about 300 additional men and that the thing will need to be made twice the size it currently is!

[kinnethmont]

Neil

I know what you mean.

I do not support the addition of names UNLESS it can be proved that a genuine mistake was made at the outset in consideration of the criteria used.. I too am coming across cases where, for example, it might be discovered, sometimes from a dubious single source, a man was born at X. They seem to think he is thus entitled to be added to the X memorial 90 years later. It may be he never lived there after he was six months old.

ps.

Can a Moderator change the original post subject from Sterlingshire to Stirlingshire.

[Neil Clark]

I see what you mean about merely being born in an place and then moving away without putting down roots. Most of the men we have found had a real strong connection to the area. If we can't find evidence to prove the strong connection we take the name off the new list.

Ashford civic war memorial contains the names of at least 30 men who NEVER even visited Ashford when alive! We think that families moving into the area after the war insisted that their loved ones names were commemorated. The trustees of the war memorial obviously agreed to this.

Personally I prefer to see a man's name on a civic war memorial ONLY if he had good strong links to an area. Being born locally does mean he is a son of the town or village...