Jake Drummond Posted 23 November , 2007 Share Posted 23 November , 2007 Aye, no information other than a name and a date of birth, so finding much about him will be nigh on impossible I know, but can anyone suggest my next step? My mother in law is 97, and sitting here the other night she was bletheing on, as old folks do, about her Uncle Jim Kilday who "got a leg bloon aff in the war". He was also deaf as a post, and that may have been the result of the blast that took his left leg off at the knee. He was James Kilday, born 1874 we know for sure, in the Coaltown of Wemyss, then in parish of Dysart, Fife. He became a cobbler, a sitting doon job, in a wee shop on the Main Street of the village where his wife Mima sold sweeties and cigarettes. The shop was financed by the pension he received, according to my mother in law, but I can find no other details anywhere of James Kilday's service. Had Grace known the regiment or his rank I'd have had half a chance, but she's either forgotten or never knew. Any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MelPack Posted 23 November , 2007 Share Posted 23 November , 2007 Jake There are six possible candidates here and two of them have Scottish regiment connections: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documen...mp;mediaarray=* Regards Mel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nhclark Posted 23 November , 2007 Share Posted 23 November , 2007 Jake, are you sure about the d.o.b. and the war he served in? He would have been 40 years old in 1914... Noel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djcrtoye Posted 23 November , 2007 Share Posted 23 November , 2007 Hi done a check on Ancestry no James Kilday, but that's not to say he's in there somewhere. Also checked 1901 census he is down as miner, maybe that's how he got his pension. Work related accident ? Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Drummond Posted 23 November , 2007 Author Share Posted 23 November , 2007 Thanks all, for the prompt replies. Time is of the essence with this search, as the one who started this is 97 years old and, though still hale and hearty, is not reading any long stories! I wondered about the age at the time of the commencment of hostilities, him being 40, but thought he'd perhaps joined late on in the war Noel. The census returns point to his year of birth. I agree Mel that there are two Scots regiments which seem the most possible, though both recruiting outwith Fife, and bar the Inniskillens he could well have joined any of the others, as did my grandad who was in the Royal Garrison Artillery. We knew he was a miner but Grace is sure he lost his leg in the war jcrtoye and that he had a war pension. It was just assumed that WW1 was the 'war' Grace talks about. Kilday is not a common name strangely enough, being Irish originally, and Scotland's People do not list very many. Aye, as I said, there's not a lot to go on! I may need to 'pump' Grace for more information, with a wee glass of sherry to jog her memory, but we were up until after midnight last night once she got started down memory lane! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saberhagen427 Posted 23 November , 2007 Share Posted 23 November , 2007 If he was a miner, might he have been in a tunnelling company? This man transferred from the Inniskillings to the RE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Drummond Posted 23 November , 2007 Author Share Posted 23 November , 2007 That throws up lots of possibilities! Kilday is an Irish name so......................... No, couldn't be could it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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