B

William BALCHIN ( Royal Highlanders, 13th Btn)                          

 Lance Corporal 316442  (Formerly Scottish Horse)

Born 1880, Berkshire;  Died 17 Oct 1918, France    

                                          

Joined the Scottish Horse in June 1915, and first entered theatre of war in the Balkans in Oct 1915.  He saw considerable service in Egypt before being transferred to France in 1918, where a few months later he died of wounds at an ambulance dressing station.  He is buried at Quietiste Military Cemetery, Le Cateau, France.

 

Prior to the war, he was butler to the Earl of Glasgow.  He married Jane Gibbs Smith in Edinburgh in 1913.

 

 

Robert John BARCLAY (Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, 9th Btn)

Private 1839                  

Born 27 Mar 1891, Fairlie;  Died 16 Jun 1958, Glasgow   

                                   

Enlisted in the territorials in May 1912, and embodied in Aug 1914; discharged medically unfit to serve six weeks later in Sep 1914.

 

He was born at Burnfoot, and later lived in Paisley, Ayr and Glasgow.  He was a gardener, and he never married.  He is the brother of Thomas Barclay.

 

 

Thomas Pettigrew BARCLAY (Royal Scots, 9th Btn)

Private 5459; 352139

Born 1 Oct 1879, Fairlie;  Died 10 Jun 1938, Fairlie     

                      

Attested Dec 1915; served with the Expeditionary Force in France from 27 Sep to 28 Nov 1916, when he was severely wounded in the head, shoulder and back.  He was discharged because of wounds Apr 1917.  In July 1915, he set up the Fairlie Cigarette and Tobacco Fund to provide small treats to local men who were serving abroad or in hospital.

 

He was born at Burnfoot, and later lived at Creich Cottage and The Garage, Beach House.  He was a gardener, and he married Annie McEachan in Glasgow in 1901.  He was found drowned at the north-east end of Fairlie Pier, having last been seen alive the previous morning.  He is the brother of Robert Barclay.

 

 

George BARR (King’s Own Scottish Borderers)                              

2nd Lieutenant (formerly Highland Light Infantry)                                                                  

Born 9 Oct 1887, Paisley;  Died 28 Jun 1944, Glasgow 

                                 

Joined the Glasgow Highlanders in Mar 1915, and saw action at the Somme and Arras.  Commissioned 2nd Lieutenant (KOSB) in May 1918; hospitalised Jan 1919; relinquished his commission through ill health and discharged from army Mar 1919.

 

In 1911, he lived at 5 Allanton Park Terrace.  He was a clerk, and he married Sarah Kelly in Glasgow in 1921.  He is the brother of John Barr.

 

 

John Hamilton BARR (Durham Light Infantry)

Lance Corporal 245150 (formerly Northumberland Fusiliers)                                                       

Born 29 Sep 1891, Paisley;  Died 7 May 1943, Carluke  

                   

Enlisted July 1916, posted France with the Northumberland Fusiliers Jun 1917; transferred to Durham Light Infantry at Etaples July 1917; hospitalised with trench fever from Nov 1917 to Mar 1918.

 

In 1911, he lived at 5 Allanton Park Terrace and was a warehouseman.  After the war, he became a ship steward; he never married.  He is the brother of George Barr.

 

 

Thomas BLAKELY (Royal Scots Fusiliers, 5th Btn)                         

Co. Sergeant Major 240416

Born 25 May 1895, Kirkmichael;  Died 3 Sep 1963, Newton Mearns              

 

Enlisted 1914; first entered theatre of war at Gallipoli in Jun 1915.  He was awarded the Military Medal in 1915. 

 

He lived at Fence Bay in 1914, and later at Turnberry and Newton Mearns.  A greenkeeper, he married Catherine Wood Hay in Glasgow in 1924.

 

 

David BOYD (Royal Scots, 5th Btn)                                

Private 15449 

Born 29 Jan 1892, Fairlie;  Died 1977, Largs 

                                     

Attested Sep 1914, but discharged medically unfit with sciatica a month later.  Appears to have re-enlisted, as the local paper reported him on leave from training in 1917, and from the Western Front in Sep 1918.

 

He lived at Allanbank in 1911.  He was a gardener, and in 1914 he worked at Fairlieburne for James Tennant.  He is the brother of Robert Boyd.

 

 

David Cranston BOYD  (Royal Engineers, 8th Pnr Coy)                   

Pioneer 603724 (formerly Scottish Rifles & Northumberland Fusiliers)

Born 27 Apr 1898, Fairlie;  Died (unknown)  

                                                                                                                  

Enlisted Nov 1916; served with Northumberland Fusiliers 3rd Garrison Btn. (for men unfit for active service) in Ireland in 1918; “retained and posted armies of occupation” in Ireland in Feb 1919.  The following month he was hospitalised with hysterical fits, from which he’d suffered since childhood, and he was discharged no longer physically fit in June 1919.

 

He lived at Clederion and Arran View, and prior to the war he was an apprentice gardener. 

 

 

John BOYD (Cameron Highlanders)                                

Private 203473  (formerly Lovat Scouts)

Born 1 Sep 1899, Fairlie;  Died (unknown)   

                                                   

Enlisted in Oct 1915 when he was only 16 and served in France from Dec 1916 to Feb 1917, before being sent home as he was underage.  He returned to France in Apr 1918, was wounded in action in Oct 1918, and was discharged Feb 1919 with gunshot wounds in both legs.

 

He was born and lived at Planetree House, and later at Paragon Villa.

 

 

John BOYD (Highland Light Infantry, 16th Btn)                               

Private 14975

Born 4 Oct 1880, Fairlie;  Died 18 Oct 1948, Greenock                                   

 

Enlisted Oct 1914; entered theatre of war in France Nov 1915.  In July 1916 he was wounded in the early days of the Battle of the Somme and hospitalised in France, before being removed to an infirmary in Leicester.

 

He lived at Red House, Burnfoot, and was a joiner.  He was unmarried.

 

 

Robert Crawford Rodger BOYD (Royal Horse & Royal Field Artillery)      

2nd Lieutenant (formerly Royal Army Veterinary Corps)

Born 21 Nov 1893, Fairlie;  Died 15 May 1972, Australia

                                 

Embodied R.A.V.C. Oct 1915; promoted Sergeant Dec 1915; posted to Egypt with the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force in Mar 1916.  After being commissioned in 1918, he served in Palestine and Cairo.

 

He lived at Allanbank, and before the war was a student at the West of Scotland Agricultural College.  After the war he became a farmer, and he emigrated to Australia in 1924.  He is the brother of David Boyd.

 

 

The Hon. Alan Reginald BOYLE (Royal Scots Fusiliers & Royal Flying Corps)          

Lieutenant 

Born 8 Oct 1886, Ayr; Died 10 Oct 1958, Dalry           

 

Enlisted in the R.S.F. Nov 1914; entered theatre of war in France May 1915; transferred to the Royal Flying Corps as a balloon officer Jan 1916.  He was mentioned in despatches and awarded the Air Force Cross.

 

Son of the 7th Earl of Glasgow, he lived at Kelburn Castle and Fairlie Craig.  A pioneer in British aviation, he founded the Scottish Aeroplane Syndicate in 1909.  He married Isabel Julia Hull in 1916 and they had two children.  He is the brother of The Hon. James, The Hon. John David, and Patrick James Boyle, 8th Earl of Glasgow.

 

 

The Hon James BOYLE  (Royal Scots Fusiliers, 1st Btn)                 

Captain              

Born 11 Mar 1880, Shewalton; Died 18 Oct 1914, France  

 

A career soldier, he was recalled to his regiment in Aug 1914.  Fellow soldiers reported that, during the battle of La Bassee, Captain Boyle charged the German lines.  He was bayoneted several times and fell, but it was impossible for his men to recover him.  He was reported wounded and missing for six weeks thereafter, before a note confirming his death and burial was given to a British P.O.W. by a German officer.  Mentioned in despatches.  In May 1920 his widow and children erected a stained glass window at Fairlie Parish Church in his memory.

 

Son of the 7th Earl of Glasgow, he lived at Kelburn Castle and Fairlie Craig.  He married Katherine Isabel Salvin Bowlby in 1908, and they had three children.  He is the brother of The Hon. Alan Reginald, The Hon. John David, and Patrick James Boyle, 8th Earl of Glasgow.

 

 

The Hon John David BOYLE 

Born 8 Jul 1884, Dundonald; Died 25 Sep 1974, Stranraer  

Royal Flying Corps (Captain);  Royal Air Force (Lt. Colonel )

                                                             

First saw action in France in Dec 1914; he was mentioned twice in despatches, awarded the Distinguished Service Order in 1917 for services in France, and invested a Commander, Order of the British Empire (C.B.E.)in 1919.  He remained with the R.A.F. after the war.

 

Son of the 7th Earl of Glasgow, he lived at Kelburn Castle and Fairlie Craig.  He married Ethel Hodges in 1913, with whom he had two children, and Marie Gibb in 1934.  He is the brother of The Hon. Alan Reginald, The Hon. James, and Patrick James Boyle, 8th Earl of Glasgow.

 

 

Patrick James BOYLE, 8th Earl of Glasgow (Royal Navy)  

Captain       

Born 18 Jun 1874, Edinburgh;  Died 14 Dec 1963, Fairlie   

 

At the outbreak of war he was in command of H.M.S. Pyramus, which took part in the capture and destruction of the German cruiser Konigsberg in German East Africa in July 1915.  Transferred to command H.M.S. Amethyst in Oct 1916, he retired with the rank of Captain in Jun 1919.  Mentioned in despatches and awarded the Distinguished Service Order for services during landing operations inthe Persian Gulf in Aug 1915.

 

Son of the 7th Earl of Glasgow, he lived at Kelburn Castle.  In 1906 he married Hyacinthe Mary Bell, and they had five children.  He succeeded to the title 8th Earl of Glasgow on 13 Dec 1915 on the death of his father.  He is the brother of The Hon. Alan Reginald, The Hon. James and The Hon. John David Boyle.

 

 

James BROWN (H.L.I. )                            

Born 16 Aug 1876, Perthshire;  Died 1967, Largs                                                                                                      

Reported on leave from training camp in Oct 1917.

 

In 1897 he married Barbara Rorie in Kilmadock, Perthshire and they had six children.  He and his family moved to Fairlie in 1914, where he was gardener at Fairlie Lodge.

 

 

Alfred Parker BURDEN (20th Hussars)                    

Private 32451   

Born 5 Sep 1900, West Kilbride;  Died 17 Feb 1940, Kilmarnock                                                                    

 

He was awarded the British War and Victory medals, so must have served overseas.

 

He lived at Glenside, Southannan Estate, where his father was gamekeeper, and later in Ardrossan.  A locomotive driver, he died in an accident in Fairlie Tunnel from a fractured skull sustained when he slipped while working on the railway line.  He was unmarried, and is the brother of George, Hugh, James and John Burden.

 

 

George BURDEN (Royal Highlanders)                           

Private S/4513

Born 23 May 1891, West Kilbride;  Died 5 Jul 1950, Paisley                                  

 

Enlisted Sep 1914; severely wounded by an explosive bullet at the Battle of Loos in Oct 1915.  It was reported that the bible he’d been carrying in his tunic pocket saved his life by diverting the bullet from his heart.  The bible was displayed in the window of the post office, which often presented war trophies brought back by the soldiers of the village.

 

He lived at Glenside, Southannan Estate, where his father was gamekeeper, and he was an apprentice gardener before the war.  By 1927, when he married Jean Torrance Young at Darvel, he was a railway clerk, and when he died he was a railway station master living in Paisley  He is the brother of Alfred, Hugh, James and John Burden.

 

                          

Hugh Paton BURDEN (Royal Scots Fusiliers, 5th Btn)

Sergeant 240600

Born 24 Apr 1895, West Kilbride;  Died 1976, Largs

 

Enlisted Sep 1914; he first saw action at Gallipoli in Jun 1915 and later served in Egypt and France.  He was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal in 1918 when, his platoon being ordered to intercept a flanking movement by the enemy, “his gallantry, fine judgement, and excellent leader-ship inspired the men under him to the highest degree”.  In Jan 1920, at the village thanksgiving to servicemen, he was presented with a gold watch in recognition of this award.

 

He lived at Glenside, Southannan Estate, where his father was gamekeeper.  Hugh was also a gamekeeper, and he married Jane Kerr Cowie in Glasgow in 1923.  He is the brother of Alfred, George, James and John Burden.

 

 

James Gardner BURDEN (Tank Corps)                   

Private 315040

Born 14 Jan 1887, West Kilbride;  Died (unknown)                                                     

 

He was awarded the British War and Victory medals, so must have served overseas.

 

He lived at Glenside, Southannan Estate, where his father was gamekeeper.  He is the brother of Alfred, George, Hugh and John Burden.

 

 

John BURDEN (Royal Highlanders)                             

Private S/12388

Born 3 Jan 1885, Symington;  Died 1965, Florida                              

 

Emigrated to America in 1904, but returned to enlist in Dec 1915; awarded the British War and Victory medals, so must have served overseas.

 

In 1928 in New York he married wealthy socialite Antoinette L. Waterbury, widow of John Pierrepont Edwards, former U.S. Consul General to Britain, by whom he was employed as butler and estate manager before and after the war.  His status as an employee, and the thirty year age difference between the bride and groom, made headlines both here and in the U.S.A.  After Antoinette died in 1930, her will revealed that John had “been amply provided for in our prenuptial agreement”.  In 1941 in Florida he married Mabel George, who was twenty years his junior.  He is the brother of Alfred, George, Hugh and James Burden.

 

Fairlie Community Association SCIO, Fairlie Village Hall, 72 Main Road, Fairlie, KA29 0AB

 Phone 07958 048908             E-mail fairliecommass@gmail.com             Scottish Charity No. SCO28785