William Rigg - Uniform Question

[WWGeezer]

Here is an image of the Anderson Church and the house on 2 Register Road (still there!)

 

[david murdoch]

On ‎10‎/‎02‎/‎2019 at 20:41, roughdiamond said:

Can you tell us how much you know about him?

 

Have you got a service record, do you know when he earned his MM, do you know his original Army number was 1678?

 

My Gt Uncle was also from Kilsyth and served with the 1/7th A&SH.

 

Andy in post #2 reckons they could be wearing an MM ribbon, but the photo is so blurred it could be the 1914-15 Star, maybe even both, I can read though the photographers stamp shows "Glasgow" so it almost certainly dates from 1919 when he was returned to Scotland for discharge.

 

Sam

Looking at his 14/15 Star roll gives his date of entry as 15/12/1914, but the roll itself is dated 9/12/1919, so looks like they probably had to wait a while to receive their stars. From this I'd go with the ribbons in the photos as most likely being their MM awards. On the photo of his sister wearing his service jacket also looks like single MM ribbon as they tend to show up light on black and white photos. 

[david murdoch]

On ‎10‎/‎02‎/‎2019 at 20:49, Mark1959 said:

London Gazette for MM according to the MM Index Card is 11/12/18.

War Office list of 25/7/15 states suffering from gas poisoning. With 7 A & SH at this time. First time to France 15/12/14 - when the 7th went.

Ancestry have a few scraps of records under 1678 but don’t add any real info.

There is a fair account of the gassing event in the Kirkintilloch Gazette of 4/6/1915 with first hand accounts from some of the survivors. William Rigg is listed among the Kilsyth and local men in hospital. I'll attach the page as pdf as it's more legible.

BL_0001607_19150604_034_0002.pdf

[david murdoch]

Looking to try and identify the other man in the photo. He's not kilted so probably not 1/7th. Going by plaques in the Anderson Church there was a Harry Baxter who served  - he may be one of William's Baxter cousins. Many of these names are familiar to me . Jas (Jimmy) Bauld was 1691 & 275189 1/7th A&SH. He was another survivor of the gas attack and a friend of my Grandfather. Of 117 from the church who served 25 were killed/died in service, and many of the survivors were wounded one or more times. Lt John Dunlop Caskey was the minister's son, and he was invalided out with Silver War Badge. 

[WWGeezer]

Thought I would post some pictures of the watch William received.  It was one of two watches on my Wife's mother kept on her mantle, without ever telling us what was special about it.  Long after my mother-in-law passed away, my wife decided to display them again and asked that I clean them up a bit.  Only than did we discover the engraving.  An amazing artifact sitting in a box, undiscovered.

[WWGeezer]

sorry about the double post!

Edited 16 February , 2019 by WWGeezer

[pjwmacro]

3 hours ago, WWGeezer said:

  An amazing artifact sitting in a box, undiscovered.

Thanks for sharing. Great story.

[david murdoch]

Been doing some look ups in the newspaper archives of Military Medals to Kilsyth soldiers. In the local papers the 1/7th A&SH are invariably referred to as the  "Kilsyth Territorials"  (for search purposes). There are plenty of references to them right through the war in quite a lot of detail as the articles are often based on letters sent home about what they were doing as well as who had been wounded or killed. I've found another reference to an earlier watch presentation - again for several recipients of the MM and one for a MM/DCM recipient.There are at least four MM recipients  and two DCM recipients on the war memorial as well and a number of DCMs were also awarded. The local postman Pte Joseph Curran 2nd Royal Scots had the MM and Bar, DCM and MID.

Edited 17 February , 2019 by david murdoch

[WWGeezer]

When we visited the Stirling Castle in the Museum for A&SH, we say a few very similar watches on display.