Fort William - Comrades of the Great War Memorial

[mbriscoe]

I have been amusing myself whilst the WMR server is off, by looking up dates etc for War Memorials so I can add them when it comes back online.

I came across a report of the unveiling of the Comrades of the Great War memorial at or in the Fort WIlliam Town Hall.  There does not seem a record of it anywhere else.  There was a fire at the Town Hall in 1975 so I think it must have been lost.  The report does not say what material it was made and whether it was on an internal or external wall.

Something can be seen on the external wall in a picture on Ambaile but it does not seem to be big enough to match the description. Whether wood or stone, it probably would not survive the fire and subsequent demolition - the local authority had little respect for heritage and seemed to like demolishing things.

I looked on the public WMR website, possibly a few Comrades of the Great War memorials but they do not seem to follow a standard pattern.

 

 

[mbriscoe]

I have been looking at some other of these Comrades of the Great War memorials.  One notice about Oban includes the Boys' Brigade - were they connected?

References to the organisation seem to stop - was it absorbed into the British Legion?

 

 

[mbriscoe]

I had a look on Wonkypedia and it seems that it was one of the organisations that merged to become the British Legion but it seems to suggest there were political differences between them with this one being on the Right and others on the Left.

Was it an amicable merger or were there differences between the different parties involved.

 

 

 

[MBrockway]

I'll be in Oban this coming Tuesday for a brief visit.  If you post any extra info you've got I can have a look around the town, check in the library or enquire in the War Museum for you.

Hope you're well!

Yours aye,

Mark

PS Off topic, but I'd like to state publicly my appreciation of all your web material covering the indicator loop, the seaplane base, the GPO WT station, the Port War Signal Station, XDO Post etc. in the Gallanach/Oban/Ganavan area - sterling work. 

Edited 25 November , 2023 by MBrockway

[mbriscoe]

10 minutes ago, MBrockway said:

I'll be in Oban this coming Tuesday for a brief visit.  If you post any extra info you've got I can have a look around the town, check in the library or enquire in the War Museum for you.

Hope you're well!

Yours aye,

Mark

The Comrades of the Great War seems to have been quite a large organisation, I have been searching through for dates etc of War Memorials in the early 1920s they appear a lot in news reports, presumably until they became part of the (then) new British Legion.  Even quite small communities had a branch.

I have confirmed that their memorial in Fort William was inside the old Town Hall so is sure to have been lost in the fire.

I have come across a couple of memorials in one of the Oban Drill Halls that do not seem to be on the WMR so don't know where they are.  One is the Argyll Pack Battery, have not got the details of the other handy.

 

[MBrockway]

You'll have gathered I'm not at home at the moment, so am without the bulk of my info on the rifle volunteers, drill halls etc.  Very little material with me on locations of the drill halls in Oban.

The artillery volunteers RHQ appears to have been at 130 High Street, certainly from the inter-war period onwards.  This is the building next to what is now now the Anglers' Corner fishing and field sports shop, which moved here not long ago, so you may remember it better as the old Hydro Board electricity shop.  Between the Anglers Corner and No 130, there seems to be a building that could be some sort of hall.  Can you add anything to this?  I could make enquiries at the Anglers' Corner, but they are relatively new to that site, so may not know much.

I'll have a look at the infantry volunteers in the Army Lists in case there's info on their drill hall locations in Oban.  Also the vintage OS maps at the NLS.

If you already have any locations, that could well help.  I'm only in Oban for a day or two ...  and I'm in Ayr at the moment.

Cheers,

Mark

[mbriscoe]

I have a copy of Always Ready.

Some years I had a look into where the various Drill Halls and Barracks were in Oban.  Like many places, little trace left.

https://canmore.org.uk/site/332457/oban-albany-street-drill-hall

https://canmore.org.uk/site/332456/oban-breadalbane-street-drill-hall

https://canmore.org.uk/site/233611/oban-breadalbane-street-the-argyllshire-gathering-halls

There was a large Militia Barracks roughly where the Episcopal Cathedral is now. I think I remember a Militia Hospital somewhere around Stevenson Street and the Artillery had a store of some sort around Stafford Street.

 

 

[MBrockway]

Thanks Martin - clearly no point visiting the sites of the drill halls when they've all gone now!  I'll see if I can get into the library.  They have the Oban Times on microfiche.  Do you have an approximate unveiling date for the Oban Comrades of the Great War/Boys' Brigade memorial?

Hunting for refs re re-locating the memorials when the drill halls were demolished might be too big a job for the time I'll have available, but if I can locate the memorial's original location, that may be a result for you.

 

[mbriscoe]

The Comrades of the Great War were quite active with collections but I have not found a memorial of their's.  There seems to have been a proposal for an obelisk but I don't think they erected one.  Perhaps with the town memorial being so impressive, they decided not to bother.

There is one article with several photographs of servicemen from Oban.