Perth Academy former pupil Second Lt David Archibald Martin, Ox and Bucks Light Infantry

[DoubleD]

The Perth Academy (inc. Sharp’s Institution) Flowers of the Forest project, to remember the 169 names on the school memorial, ended in 2019 and we thought that was it - how wrong we were! Thanks to the research of Mark Duffy of Blairgowrie we now have another 14 former pupils of the school who gave their lives in the Great War, but who are not named on the memorial.

I’ve attached what we have at the moment on David Martin, who was born in Inverarity, Angus in 1894.

He served with the Scottish Horse and the Black Watch and his medal card then states 3rd Bn Ox and Bucks LI, his CWGC entry states 1st Bn. There’s also a difference in the initials of his father in the newspaper article and the census entry. 

Just looking for a few pointers to get us started please.

Many thanks,

Dave 

 

 

[Tawhiri]

He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant with the Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry on 1 August 1917.

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/30249/supplement/8781

He also has an officers personal file at the National Archives, but as this has not been digitized it would require an in-person visit to view it. Interestingly, this gives his regiment as the Black Watch (Royal Highlanders).

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C716507

[DoubleD]

Thanks very much Tawhiri. Long way to travel from Fife I’m afraid, will maybe have to phone a friend!

Cheers,

Dave 

[Tawhiri]

There is also something off in his birth year. The newspaper article quoted states he is in his 22nd year, which implies he is 21 and gives you a birth year of 1896. The only David Martin birth registered in Inverarity is this one in 1893, which implies he should have been at least 24, and in his 25th year in 1918.

MARTIN     DAVID     DOHERTY     M     1893     292 / 17     Inverarity

The family you have found in the 1901 census seems to be the right one for this birth, there are three other Martin births with a mother's maiden name of Doherty/Docherty registered in Angus between 1890 and 1900, two in Inverarity, the last in Tealing. Finally, there is this marriage in 1888 which fits with the parents named in the 1901 census.

MARTIN     DAVID     DOCHERTY     ELLA     1888     282 / 3 / 80     St Clement

All of this is suggesting to me that you haven't got the right David Martin birth details if his father's initials are J.R., noting that ScotlandsPeople has no record of a David Archibald Martin birth at all.

Edited 8 June , 2023 by Tawhiri

[DoubleD]

As everything else ties up it looks most likely that the information in the Strathearn Herald is incorrect? I’m planning a trip up to the AK Bell library in Perth next week, so we’ll see if they can come up with something.

Thanks again for your help,

Dave 

[Tawhiri]

3 hours ago, DoubleD said:

As everything else ties up it looks most likely that the information in the Strathearn Herald is incorrect?

I'll give you a qualified possibly. The transcription of the Strathearn Herald article that comes up in the search results from the British Newspaper Archive is even more confusing, as the son is now J.R. Martin, while the father is D.A. Martin. Physically viewing the actual article might resolve a number of questions .

DUNNING OFFICER MISSIMI. Lieutenant J. R. Martin, Oxfords and Rucks Light Infantry (missing Mine* March 25), is the sprawl am of Mr D. A. Martin, Montgrenan, was educated at Dunning and Sharp's Institution, Perth, and is in his Wad year.

I certainly couldn't find an obvious marriage for a J R Martin to anybody, with the resulting birth of a David Martin to a mother with the correct maiden name in the right time frame. Noting that father David's occupation is given as gamekeeper, one of the three addresses on the back of David junior's medal index card is this estate in Ayrshire, which I think is also the Montgrenon that is referred to the newspaper article from the Strathearn Herald that you posted/Montgrenan from the British Newspaper Archive transcription of the same article.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montgreenan

David junior's name also appears to be missing from the Scottish National War Memorial's Roll of Honour.

Edited 8 June , 2023 by Tawhiri

[DoubleD]

Thanks, once again for your efforts. I’m hoping they’ll hold the original newspaper in the AK Bell library and I’ll be able to see the article when I visit next week. I’ve also found in the past that the same article has sometimes been published in the Perthshire Advertiser, which they definitely have. Will let you know how I get on. 

Cheers,
Dave 

[rolt968]

What I assume was the Inventory for David Archibald Martin, died 25 March 1918 in France (!!!!), intestate was presented at Jedburgh Sheriff Court on 23 September 1919. (Scotlandspeople index).

Edit - a bit more information.

There is an entry in the Registers of Soldiers' Effects (ancestry).

There was a payment on 23 October 1919 to the executor dative, Rev. Robert James Victor Martin B.D.

Edit again:

Probate, London to Rev Robert James Victor Martin on 7 October 1919 (also gives place of death as France).

RM

Edited 9 June , 2023 by rolt968

[DoubleD]

Thanks, once again for your efforts. I’m hoping they’ll hold the original newspaper in the AK Bell library and I’ll be able to see the article when I visit next week. I’ve also found in the past that the same article has sometimes been published in the Perthshire Advertiser, which they definitely have. Will let you know how I get on. 

Cheers,
Dave 

[Tawhiri]

There is an outgoing UK passenger list appearance for a Robert James V Martin, clergyman, travelling to Buenos Aires, Argentina on 28 October 1919. His age is given as 29, so born around 1890, and presumably David's older brother, rather than his father. That looks to fit with this birth that was registered in Inverarity in 1890.

MARTIN     ROBERT JAMES     DOCHERTY     M     1890     292 / 15     Inverarity

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:68G5-HCXH

[rolt968]

I think that Robert James Victor Martin might have been a brother.  A Robert James Victor Martin died in Edinburgh aged 79 in 1970 (scotlandspeople index).

RM

(Our posts crossed.)

RJVM was involved in an interesting slander case in 1938-39 (various newspapers). He was then minister of Alvah (Banffshire).

Edited 10 July , 2023 by rolt968

[DoubleD]

Same date of death, but France, when the CWGC records have him commemorated on the Basra Memorial? I suppose the reference to France could be an error? Think I might have to see if the CWGC have any more information in their archives. Definitely a mystery.

Cheers,

Dave 

Yes I think you’re right about the brother. 

[rolt968]

2 minutes ago, DoubleD said:

Same date of death, but France, when the CWGC records have him commemorated on the Basra Memorial? I suppose the reference to France could be an error? Think I might have to see if the CWGC have any more information in their archives. Definitely a mystery.

Cheers,

Dave 

A bit awkward.

I would be inclined to go with the CWGC with probate being in error. I know of a case where the memorial inscription on a family gravestone gives both the wrong date and the wrong theatre.  However where names are on memorials rather than CWGC gravestones I have known errors, but not one where the theatre of war was wrong!

RM

[Tawhiri]

For completeness there were a total of four children from the marriage. There was also a daughter Bertha born in 1891, and younger brother Henry born in 1896.

MARTIN     BERTHA     DOCHERTY     F     1891     292 / 32     Inverarity

MARTIN     HENRY     DOCHERTY     M     1896     322 / 22     Tealing

Sister Bertha is in Aberfeldy, Perthshire for the 1901 Scotland census, and seems to be in Kinfauns, Perthshire for the 1911 Scotland census.

Edited 9 June , 2023 by Tawhiri

[DoubleD]

This is all adding to the family history bit by bit, fascinating stuff! Thanks again to you both. 
 

Dave 

[rolt968]

Presumably the Strathearn Herald contributor confused the brothers. Here is an ungarbled version:

RM

[DoubleD]

Sounds like a good explanation. 

[Tawhiri]

I’d say he got all three mixed up, the stated age would be correct for younger brother Henry.

[DoubleD]

Mixing three brothers up might be a bit of a record. 

[Tawhiri]

3 hours ago, Tawhiri said:

Sister Bertha is in Aberfeldy, Perthshire for the 1901 Scotland census, and seems to be in Kinfauns, Perthshire for the 1911 Scotland census.

Another look suggests that father David, daughter Bertha and the two younger sons, David and Henry, are all resident in Kinfauns, Perthshire in the 1911 Scotland census. Also living with them is a Helen Martin aged 43, and a James Martin aged 9. Helen is the correct age to be Ella in the 1901 census so I think she has had a change of forename, and in any case I cannot find any trace of a death for an Ella Martin between 1901 and 1911. There is also the birth of a James Nelson Martin, mother's maiden name Docherty, registered in Dunning, Perthshire in 1901, so it all seems to be consistent.

MARTIN     JAMES NELSON     DOCHERTY     M     1901     350 / 21    Dunning

Older brother Robert is potentially in Airdrie or New Monkland, Larnark in the same census, as there is a Robert James Martin of the correct age living in this district in the 1911 Scotland census.

[DoubleD]

Thanks again. Really appreciate your help. 

[johntanner]

Doesn’t appear in the list of officers either belonging to or attached to the Bn. In their history.

[DoubleD]

Thanks very much for looking. This really is becoming a mystery.

Dave 

[Matlock1418]

On 09/06/2023 at 16:05, rolt968 said:

On 09/06/2023 at 15:58, DoubleD said:

Same date of death, but France, when the CWGC records have him commemorated on the Basra Memorial? I suppose the reference to France could be an error? Think I might have to see if the CWGC have any more information in their archives. Definitely a mystery.

Cheers,

Dave 

A bit awkward.

I would be inclined to go with the CWGC with probate being in error. I know of a case where the memorial inscription on a family gravestone gives both the wrong date and the wrong theatre.  However where names are on memorials rather than CWGC gravestones I have known errors, but not one where the theatre of war was wrong!

LLT have for the Ox & Bucks:

1st Battalion
August 1914 : in Ahmednagar, India. Under command of 17th Indian Brigade of 6th (Poona) Division, Indian Army.
27 November 1914 : moved to Mesopotamia.
29 April 1916 : Battalion was captured after surrender of garrison at Kut-el-Amara. A Provisional Bn was formed from the reinforcements and details who were not captured, which was attached to 28th Indian Brigade, 6th Poona Division. This Provisional Bn was renamed 1st Bn on 6 July 1916.
19 October 1917 : transferred to 50th Indian Brigade in 15th Indian Division. Remained in Mesopotamia throughout the war.

So France does seem a bit of a stretch.

M

[PRC]

Just to add another stir to the pot.

Firstly the Medal Index Card appears to show him commissioned on the 31st July 1917. However for men commissioned from the ranks its quite a common practice for the MiC to show the day a man was released from his enlistment in order to take up his commission on the following day. Won't be true of every entry, but worth bearing in mind when it comes to establishing whether you are looking at the right man, and also not to get distracted by a date discrepancy.

Secondly the March 1918 British Army List does have a 2nd Lieutenant D.A. Martin with a seniority date of the 1st August 1917 - for a 2nd Lieutenant that should always be the date of commissioning. And he is shown on the establishment of the Regular Army Battalions of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Regiment. However he is then further shown as attached to the Bucks Battalion. (Column 1295c). https://digital.nls.uk/british-military-lists/archive/103601018

The 1/1st Buckinghamshire Battalion, OBLI was a Territorial Force unit. It went to France in March 1915, although in November 1917 it moved to Italy, remaing there for the rest of the war.

The second line 2/1st Buckinghamshire Battalion, OBLI, landed in France in May 1916. They were part of the 184th Brigade of the 61st Division, along with the 2/4th Battalion OBLI. Long, Long Trail adds "22 February 1918 : all officers and men transferred to the 25th Entrenching Battalion at Curchy, and this battalion disbanded." https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-british-infantry-regiments-of-1914-1918/oxfordshire-buckinghamshire-light-infantry/

If he was with the 1/1st then his death was not in Mesopotamia or France, but in Italy.

I suspect however we are talking about him being with the 2/1st and it's the fluidity of the situation in late March, along with the confusion over unit names, that has led to the CWGC erroneously commemorating him on the Basra Memorial - correct for the 1st Battalion OBLI, the unit shown on his CWGC webpage, but that was not the unit he was serving with. Incidentally the war diary does show the 1st Battalion OBLI in action at a location given as 3 miles south east of Khan, Baghdadi, but casualties only included one named British officer wounded and there appears to be breakdowns of casualties at each stage of the operation so unlikely 2\Lt Martin was overlooked.

May be worth checking out the finals pages of the 2/1st Bucks War Diary to see if there if there is a Roll Call showing the dispersal of each individual. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7355354

I'm not turning up any obvious missing person enquiry at the International Committee of the Red Cross website.

A check of the CWGC website shows at least 3 members of the 2/1st Bucks Battalion as having died on the 25th March 1918 - there are others shown as variations on 2nd Battalion that could also have belonged to the same (disbanded) unit.

Private 267597 William Lawrence, commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1584160/william-lawrence/

Private 266849 Herbert Holroyd Price, commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1587031/herbert-holroyd-price/

Private 240467 Frederick George Scarlett, commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1587945/frederick-george-scarlett/

It doesn't look like they strayed too far from their Division as the 25th Entrenching Battalion, as the LLT entry for the 2/4th Battalion OBLI notes that 7 April 1918: absorbed the 25th Entrenching Battalion. CWGC shows two 2/4th Battalion men as having died on the 25th March 1918, and they too are commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial.

The story of the 2/4th Battalion is available online https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20395

There is reference to various groups being attached from the 21st March onwards but nothing specific about Entrenching Battalion troops.

Generally speaking I come across groups of men from the Entrenching Battalion either manning positions in their own right or hurriedly attached to other units to bolster their depleted strenght during the first phase of the German Spring Offensive. However how you prove it to the satisfaction of the CWGC and get his memorial moved to France I don't know.

Hope that's not all a load of red herrings

Cheers,

Peter