George McCurrach Black Watch

[seaforths]

I contributed to a post last night about the memorial plaque of a soldier by the name of George McCurrach. The post seems to have vanished and I don’t know if it has been deleted or relocated elsewhere on the forum. The last thing I put was not to get too excited about the Gordon Highlander and that a serious candidate for the plaque would be George McCurrach of Garmouth. There were also posts about the OP possibly putting items up for sale using the forum to glean information. I must admit, I did expect to see some further feedback either refuting or admitting to these deeds and surprised that I can no longer find the post. I was being quite honest when I said that I didn’t think much of his research using the forum as a sole source of information. I hope that it is not the case regarding researched items being sold off on auction sites.

 

While I had no intention of providing the information on a plate. I would still be willing to point the OP in the right direction for research and resources. For example, George McCurrach, Black Watch, has a Moray Roll entry a book that is avalable electronically online and possibly in Elgin library too. The archive there would be able to provide access to non digital newspapers that might shed some light on all three potential candidates. The Black Watch man is also on the Garmouth war memorial. He has a will on ScotlandsPeople site. Although I have to point out that two local sources give him the identity of George A McCurrach, 1st Black Watch born in Elgin. There is an ICRC card showing a Red Cross search for him showing a Garmouth address. However, none of his service documentation shows his middle initial. Therefore it is possible a plaque was issued for him as George McCurrach. He is difficult to find on CWGC because of a discrepancy in his name. 

 

If the OP or anyone else would like to point me in the right direction for the original post, that would be very welcome. I would have put this post with the orignal if I could locate it. 

[GWF1967]

1 hour ago, seaforths said:

I contributed to a post last night about the memorial plaque of a soldier by the name of George McCurrach. The post seems to have vanished and I don’t know if it has been deleted or relocated elsewhere on the forum. The last thing I put was not to get too excited about the Gordon Highlander and that a serious candidate for the plaque would be George McCurrach of Garmouth. There were also posts about the OP possibly putting items up for sale using the forum to glean information. I must admit, I did expect to see some further feedback either refuting or admitting to these deeds and surprised that I can no longer find the post. I was being quite honest when I said that I didn’t think much of his research using the forum as a sole source of information. I hope that it is not the case regarding researched items being sold off on auction sites.

 

While I had no intention of providing the information on a plate. I would still be willing to point the OP in the right direction for research and resources. For example, George McCurrach, Black Watch, has a Moray Roll entry a book that is avalable electronically online and possibly in Elgin library too. The archive there would be able to provide access to non digital newspapers that might shed some light on all three potential candidates. The Black Watch man is also on the Garmouth war memorial. He has a will on ScotlandsPeople site. Although I have to point out that two local sources give him the identity of George A McCurrach, 1st Black Watch born in Elgin. There is an ICRC card showing a Red Cross search for him showing a Garmouth address. However, none of his service documentation shows his middle initial. Therefore it is possible a plaque was issued for him as George McCurrach. He is difficult to find on CWGC because of a discrepancy in his name. 

 

If the OP or anyone else would like to point me in the right direction for the original post, that would be very welcome. I would have put this post with the orignal if I could locate it. 

https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/231530-captain-a-h-wilkie-1st-kings-royal-rifle-corps/

 MBrockway reveals all!

[seaforths]

Thank you GWF1967 - I think that if he was serious about enjoying the research aspect, he would have returned to the thread and would have been pleased at getting a tip off about another local man he could research for the plaque. So I did kind of expect an inquiry as to where my information came from. I certainly didn’t expect the thread to vanish altogether like that.

 

To be honest, he’s being a bit naive thinking that the person to whom the plaque refers to, could be decided on local geography. He seemed to think it was George McCurrach 1st & 10th Gordon Hrs because I think it was mentioned somewhere in a post on his thread that he was from Elgin. In truth, it would not be reasonable at all to exclude George McCurrach, Black Watch or George McCurrach HLI. The HLI officer was a head teacher in Ruthven but from Findochty originally where he went to school and then taught there; and he is commemorated on the Findochty memorial which is about 2 miles from me. It’s about 18 miles from Findochty to Elgin and roughly 25 miles from Ruthven to Elgin. Whichever man that particular plaque was issued, the plaque seems not to have gone too far afield in over 100 years but having said that, I don’t recall him saying where he got it from. I assumed, possibly wrongly, that he acquired it close to Elgin from the way he came across. It could realistically belong to any one of the three men named George McCurrach and would have been a nice research project to undertake, uncovering their lives.

 

It’s a shame that it seems to come down to someone trying to get information from other people on the forum here and then calling that ‘research’. An even bigger shame that this so called research is to line their own pockets!

[MBrockway]

4 hours ago, GWF1967 said:

https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/231530-captain-a-h-wilkie-1st-kings-royal-rifle-corps/

 MBrockway reveals all!

 

I hope you're not referring to my wearing of the kilt? 

[GWF1967]

9 hours ago, MBrockway said:

 

I hope you're not referring to my wearing of the kilt? 

🙈!

[MBrockway]

macmacmac's McCurrach death penny's first round on fleaBay has just ended and nobody bid on his £130 opening price.

 

When he sold Captain Wilkie's trunk in 2015 on the back of all our free research, its first round was with opening price of £155.  It got relisted repeatedly with steadily reducing opening prices.  It eventually went after 8 or 9 listings.  It was then at an opening price of £75, but with the Make Offer option active.  There were no bids at £75, so it must have gone with someone making an offer a good bit less.

 

This time round he's just re-listed the McCurrach death penny for its second round but on a Buy It Now of £135 ... going up!

 

Who know's what his strategy is this time, but I'm sure the Armistice centenary is a factor in there somewhere.

 

Ho hum!

[MBrockway]

On 22/10/2018 at 22:07, seaforths said:

Thank you GWF1967 - I think that if he was serious about enjoying the research aspect, he would have returned to the thread and would have been pleased at getting a tip off about another local man he could research for the plaque. So I did kind of expect an inquiry as to where my information came from. I certainly didn’t expect the thread to vanish altogether like that.

 

To be honest, he’s being a bit naive thinking that the person to whom the plaque refers to, could be decided on local geography. He seemed to think it was George McCurrach 1st & 10th Gordon Hrs because I think it was mentioned somewhere in a post on his thread that he was from Elgin. In truth, it would not be reasonable at all to exclude George McCurrach, Black Watch or George McCurrach HLI. The HLI officer was a head teacher in Ruthven but from Findochty originally where he went to school and then taught there; and he is commemorated on the Findochty memorial which is about 2 miles from me. It’s about 18 miles from Findochty to Elgin and roughly 25 miles from Ruthven to Elgin. Whichever man that particular plaque was issued, the plaque seems not to have gone too far afield in over 100 years but having said that, I don’t recall him saying where he got it from. I assumed, possibly wrongly, that he acquired it close to Elgin from the way he came across. It could realistically belong to any one of the three men named George McCurrach and would have been a nice research project to undertake, uncovering their lives.

 

It’s a shame that it seems to come down to someone trying to get information from other people on the forum here and then calling that ‘research’. An even bigger shame that this so called research is to line their own pockets!

 

seaforths - while I remember his opening position on the topic that disappeared was indeed that McCurrach was from the Gordons, his fleaBay listing has used your suggestions, at least in part ...

 

Quote

The Plaque can be  related to two highland soldiers

 

George McCurrach Gordon Highlanders Battalion:10th Battalion Regimental Number:1326

 

George McCurrach Lieutenant Highland Light Infantry Battalion:13th Battalion

 

 .... so good to see our research effort was some use to him

 

No idea what he's got against George McCurrach, Black Watch, perhaps he'll appear in a future Lot Description, or perhaps he fears that the plaque having THREE different possible owners may devalue the eventual sale price?

[seaforths]

Ah well, if he had been serious about his research, I would have pointed him in the right direction of the wills, a photograph of one of the men and a German burial record too but hey ho...I suspect you’ve hit the nail on the head and another George McCurrach was a huge inconvenience to someone who isn’t the slightest bit interested in doing independent research and would rather bury information than have it eat into the potential profit margin. 

 

It used to be that if you searched for a WW1 soldier, the GWF was the first hit you would get in a google search. I’m not sure if that’s still the case or not but I hope it is because any potential buyer might do some preliminary work before bidding and see this information  

[George Millar]

Hello Seaforths,

I purchased the above Memorial Plaque to George McCurrach a number of weeks ago and have researched the family history of the three soldiers who were killed.  The George Alexander McCurrach, "Black Watch" and the George McCurrach, "Gordon Highlanders" were cousins, their fathers Walter & George being brothers.  Hopefully I've got much of the information on them even the burial of George McCurrach Sheridan in Berlin Cemetery.  You say that you have a photo of one of these men, would it be possible to have a copy?  I could also supply you with my excel spreadsheets of their family trees if you like so that you can see if I have missed anything.  I still have to do the write-up on these men but that will be in a few weeks.

Regards

George