A missing grandfather

[JOhn Watts]

I am helping a 2nd cousin try to trace her 'missing' grandfather.  The person in question is believed to be David Bruce Fulton (Dr) who was apparently a First Lieutenant in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in WW1.  Family memories have him meeting Jessie Isobel McArthur in Glasgow circa 1914/15, fathering a child, and then by 1918 he had disappeared completely.  He never married Jessie. 

 

I have been unable to find any trace of him in CWGC or on Ancestry, FMP or ScottishPeople.  Can any kind souls out there help with tracing this soldier and what might have happened to him, or suggest other places I may look.  The child's birth cert does not name the father.  I attach 3 photographs that are the only record of him that we have.  If I have interpreted the photos correctly they are of a First Lieutenant Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.

 

Thanks

 

John Watts

[corisande]

It should be solvable as long as his name is vaguely correct.

 

You seem to have the wrong name, but we do not know how wrong. For example , if you forget his surname an try to get a commission to "David Bruce" in London Gazette, you should find any man who was commissioned with "David Bruce" as Christian names. But I cannot get anyone

 

A couple of questions,

 

When was the child born. In other words trying to establish when he would have been commissioned

 

You put "Dr" after his name, are you implying that you think he was a doctor

 

 

Edited 12 September , 2019 by corisande

[JOhn Watts]

Many thanks for your reply, the Gazette is a very useful idea.

 

There are not too many facts to go on because of lack of physical eevidence and fading memories.  All I have are the photos and some notes.  To summarise,  Jessie the mother is believed to have met David when he was in hospital suffering from appendicitis and she was a nurse.  This was in Glasgow.  The baby was conceived abt Dec 1915 and was born premature in London on 19 Jun 1916.  London was the place because Jessie had fled home after David's parents had objected to their relationship and of course the whole world fell apart then.  Apparently there was some contact/support after the birth for 2/3 years until another soldier appeared on the doorstep in full Scottish Kilt uniform to say that David had died in the war.

 

We are not sure when David enlisted or what indeed happened to him afterwards, you are probably quite correct in that the name is incorrect, although that is what is written on the back of the photo.  We also don't know whether has was a soldier when he was in hospital.  Also the photo is annotated with 'Dr' because it is thought he was also a trainee doctor at the time of enlistment. 

 

The child's birth certificate has just arrived and there is no fathers name given on it.

 

I will now have a go at searching the Gazette.

[johnboy]

Do you know where he might have been from or aprox age? There are some records indexed for a David Fulton but more info is needed.

[JOhn Watts]

It is possible he was from Glasgow, but there is no info to substantiate this.  I have just trawled the 1901 Scottish census returns and there is a very large number of David Fultons' to choose from.

 

The age we can only guess from the appearance in the photographs. I would think early twenties.

[johnboy]

o a birth yr around 1896? Is it possible to post the rear of the pic? 

[JOhn Watts]

Attached is the writing on the rear of the photo mount.  The photo was annotated by the daughter of David/Jessie a very long time ago when she was trying to capture her memories.  On the left hand side is some pencil writing part of which I have deciphered _______   lovingly David Bruce Fulton.  I have asked an expert to improve the image so the top line can be read..

 

The head and shoulders photo was produced by a commercial photographer in Edinburgh, whose name I can't make out yet,  There is no date on either photo.

[johnboy]

Thanks. Hopefully someone can id cap. A search for him in Black Watch? Not found any doctors of that name. Nothing obvious in newspapers. Pity the pic has no date. It is possible that if he gave her the pic after the birth the regiments night have been false? If the regiment can be confirmed that would be a start. the nurses full name would help as well.It may be possible to see where she worked. Military or a general hospital

[HolymoleyRE]

10 minutes ago, johnboy said:

Hopefully someone can id cap.

Jon Boy, I am fairly content it is a A&SH capbadge as is the badger head sporran. 

 

Andy 

[Buffnut453]

I think the top row of the pencil script may read "Your Ever" but I haven't messed with the image other than zooming and a few sharpening filters.  

 

Good luck in your quest.  Certainly an interesting family history conundrum...but should be solvable if the clues are remotely accurate.  

[JOhn Watts]

The mother is Jessie Isabel McArthur born 27 Mar 1894 in Bearsden, Glasgow. 

 

In the 1911 census she as living in New Kilpatrick, Dunbarton, recorded as a Milliner (Learning)  (New Kilpatrick is the old name for Bearsden)

 

17 Oct 1913 her mother died.

 

Abt Dec 1915 she was pregnant, having met David in Glasgow.

 

19 Jun 1916  her daughter Jessie MacArthur was born in London. (3 months Premature baby) Jessie Isabel was given as a hospital nurse.

 

Next job is to try to find out where she worked in Glasgow as a Nurse.  She possibly volunteered at the outset of war.

 

 

Edited 13 September , 2019 by JOhn Watts

[JOhn Watts]

Thanks everybody for your input this evening.  I think its time to retire as my eyes are tired.  I will continue the quest in the morning.

[johnboy]

Every bit of info helps.But the story said she ran back home to london yet she was living and was born in Scotland.it wa said she got a knock on the door to tell her of davids death, so David must have had contact with her to know where she lived.

[Michelle Young]

If she was a qualified nurse ( and not a VAD) you might be able to search for her that way? Nurse registration began in 1921. The GNC registers are I believe searchable on Ancestry. If she was still nursing post war, she would have needed to be on the register.

Michelle 

[johnboy]

Would a baby born 6 mnths premature have survived 1914/1915?

[Michelle Young]

Is that a comma between Bruce and Fulton ? Squinting without my specs at a phone screen ! 

[johnboy]

4 minutes ago, Michelle Young said:

Is that a comma between Bruce and Fulton ? Squinting without my specs at a phone screen ! 

Don't think so but I am Dubious about Dr in brackets.

[corisande]

Unless he went to a lot of trouble to get false photos, I think that we can conclude that he was an officer in A&S Highlanders, Does anyone think that he was in a different regiment and that he may not have been an officer

 

The real clue has to be his own message in pencil at top left. The biro transcription has been added later and could be a misinterpretation and should be ignored

 

The pencil message seems to say "David Bruce Fulton", and that is the dilemma

 

1. I cannot get anything out of LB

 

2. I cannot get anything out of TNA even using broad searches like "David lieutenant Argyll Sutherland Highlanders"

 

3. I cannot get anything out of CWGC using broad searches

 

4. I cannot get anything out of officers long numbers

 

So we have a photo of an A&S officer in all the gear, who has put his name on the back. And we understand that someone from the A&S turned up at her house to say the officer was dead

 

Either the whole thing is an elaborate fraud by him (which seems unlikely given the photo) or we have missed something vital along the way. Like either mistranscribing his name, or indeed that there may be, for example,  a comma before Fulton . (but I have been unsuccessful in linking a David Bruce to Fulton in Roxburghshire)

 

[JOhn Watts]

I think you have stated my dilemma very concisely.  I too have been to most of the sources you quote and have tried all sorts of combinations of search terms.to no avail.  There is certainly no trace of a soldier with that exact name anywhere so far.

 

There is also the more casual photo which may have been taken by Jessie which leads credence to the genuineness of the first photo.

 

To make it even more confusing my cousins notes say that it was her grandmothers writing in pencil on the back of the photo; therefore not the soldiers!!!! (I will challenge that though) The ink writing was done later by my cousins mother.  I have asked my photographer son to work his magic on the pencil writing to see if he can tell anything else from it.

 

I am beginning to feel that the name written on the back may not be correct.  So to pursue the task of identification is going to be rather difficult.  Did he transfer to other units, did he get promoted?  I have downloaded a spreadsheet of the Regiments casualties from CWGC and am perusing various combinations to see if anything pops up.

 

Jessie Isabel was a trainee Milliner on 2 Apr 1911, her mother died 17 Oct 1913, leaving her without parents and by 1914/15 she was involved in nursing in Glasgow where she evidently met the soldier and fell in love.

 

The soldiers family apparently objected to the relationship because she was not 'well enough bred for her son'.  After the rejection she fled to London, ostensibly for an abortion, but had the baby at what appears to be a private house, She continued working in London as a nurse and married an Alfred Attwood on 8 Feb 1919.  She never moved back to Glasgow, it is thought because of the family shame re the child etc.

 

I will be asking my cousin some more questions, if she can stand the strain and remember!  I will also try to identify any nursing records in Glasgow and London.  (She may well have worked for VAD).  I am also pursuing DNA analysis to see if any of the currently 'unknown' matches lead to anything.

 

Thanks for all your help so far.  If anyone has any ideas pleas let me know.

 

 

[corisande]

If you assume he was a Lt in A&S Highlanders, you do not narrow it down enough

 

I tried looking for any "David" as a Lt there - click for search . There are 137 officers called David In A&S. None look your man

 

If you try CWGC for David in A&S who was killed. Then 538 come up on this search - click . I have not worked a way of doing it by rank, but you could go through it and produce a list of officers.

 

Cross check against the TNA list and get a list of A&S officers called David  who were killed. I suspect it is around 20 or 30 you would have from both lists, and it would then be a question of exploring them to see if you could eliminate any of them

 

The weakness in this is, of course, that he may not have died, but wanted shot of the "problem", and merely sent a solder to say he was dead. You have not said what proof you have of ths encounter

 

 

 

[johnboy]

without documentary evidence apart from the photo, too many things in the story do not ring true to me. 

1] it is said Jessie went home to London yet she was a scot.

2] The baby was born 6mnths premature. Is this possible

3 Although they had split up David still Knew her address in London. He sent a pal there

The story is one that may have been told to the infant to cover having no father. Better than telling the child the truth

 

A laborious task, but going through the War Diaries of all A&SH . could find his name as officers generally got a mention.

[Heid the Ba]

It doesn't help but the fact there is no father listed on the birth certificate means he did not register the birth, and that the mother was not married.

[JOhn Watts]

I shall explore the lists as you suggest.

 

From a search result in CWGC you can download the results as a .csv file which will open in Excel.  From this you can filter and search easily.  Of the 538 Davids killed in CWGC there were only 3 Lieutenants.  But, just tried filtering for Captain's and there are 5 including one a D. Nicol, died 25/11/17 who has a comment 'Son of William Smith Nicol, and Jessie Meldrum Nicol, of 30, Coates Gardens, Edinburgh. Medical Student.'  That is a different name but the idea of medical student fits with a memory of a Dr. so I will check this one out.

 

To quote the notes from my cousin.

 

'when mother was 2 or 3 years old  (about 1918), a man in full Scottish kilt uniform came to the door. (This would be in London)  She remembered him clearly.  He told grandma that David had been killed in the war.  Did he?  Or was it him (David Bruce Fulton).  Whoever he was he bought mother a little fur collared coat, have photo somewhere,  Forever after Grandma mourned on that date and got drunk.'  My comments in italics.

 

You can sense that my cousin is uncertain whether this was David or just a messenger.  I have the feeling that this was David breaking off the relationship, which would tie in with the absence of war death records etc.  We have of course the problem that the soldiers surname name may be incorrect i.e. a false memory - so I need to look both ways.

 

 

[Heid the Ba]

Coates Gardens is exactly the sort of street a medical student would come from.  Any luck deciphering the Edinburgh photographer's address?

[JOhn Watts]

The expert has been set the task to decipher the photographers name.