C
Archibald CAMPBELL (S.R.)
Born 24 Nov 1887, Fairlie ; Died (unknown)
He was born and lived at Railway Buildings; in 1911 he was a public house worker living in Troon. He is the brother of Donald, Duncan, Hugh, James and John Campbell.
Donald CAMPBELL (Royal Tank Corps, 2nd Btn)
A/Sergeant 200288 (formerly Machine Gun Corps)
Born 11 Mar 1896, Fairlie; Died 22 Mar 1918, France
He was reported missing at the Somme on 22 Mar 1918, and was subsequently presumed killed in action on that date. He is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial, Somme, France.
He lived at Railway Buildings, and in 1911, aged 15, he was a grocer’s messenger. He is the brother of Archibald, Duncan, Hugh, James and John Campbell.
Duncan CAMPBELL (A. & S.H.)
Born 5 Jul 1890, Fairlie ; Died (unknown)
Reported as home on leave from the Western Front in Sep 1918.
He was born at Railway Buildings, and later lived at Hawthorn Cottage, and before the war he was employed as a barman. He is the brother of Archibald, Donald, Hugh, James and John Campbell.
Hugh CAMPBELL (Army Service Corps, Mechanical Transport )
Private M/315198
Born 10 Oct 1892, Fairlie; Died (unknown)
Attested 1916; served in East and South Africa from Apr 1917 to Jan 1918. On his return home, he was in hospital and on sick leave for three months, and then was absent without leave from Norwood Depot, London from Aug 1918 to Aug 1919. There was no trial because he surrendered himself, but he forfeited a year’s pay. His pension record includes a disability award form malaria and dysentery.
He was born and lived at Railway Buildings; in 1911 he was a waiter at, and in 1916 the manager of, the Wemyss Bay Hotel. He is the brother of Archibald, Donald, Duncan, James and John Campbell.
James Forsyth CAMPBELL (R.S.F.)
Born 13 May 1898, Fairlie ; Died 1974, Kilmarnock
Reported to have enlisted in 1914.
He was born and lived at Railway Buildings, and is the brother of Archibald, Donald, Duncan, Hugh and John Campbell.
John CAMPBELL (Royal Garrison Artillery)
Gunner 2756
Born 28 Aug 1885, Fairlie; Died 23 Aug 1916, Catterick
He died of pneumonia in Harley Hill Hospital, Catterick, while completing training with the Bute Mountain Battery, and his body was returned to Fairlie to be buried with military honours. After a memorial service in Fairlie Parish Church, the funeral procession, led by a military piper, made its way to Largs Cemetery for interment. Following a short religious service, a firing party fired a salute over the grave, and a bugler sounded the last post.
He was born and lived at Railway Buildings, and was a railway clerk. He is the brother of Archibald, Donald, Duncan, Hugh and James Campbell.
Arthur James Parker CRAWFORD (Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve)
Sub Lieutenant (formerly Queen’s Own Glasgow Yeomanry)
Born 27 Sep 1894, Fairlie; Died 1976, Largs
Enlisted Jun 1915; served Belgium and France. In Nov 1917 he sustained a bullet wound to the thigh and “had a rather trying experience, having lain out for two days in a German pill box without any food before being rescued”. He was commissioned to the R.N.V.R. in May 1918.
He was born at Clyde View, and later lived at Cumbrae View and Braemar. In 1911 he was a shipyard clerk, and in 1941 he married Jane Bella Downie in Aberdeen. He is the brother of John Crawford.
Hugh Allan CRAWFORD (Queen’s Own Glasgow Yeomanry)
Private 2956 & 95665
Born 2 Jul 1897, Fairlie; Died 27 Sep 1977, Australia
Enlisted Jun 1915 and served in Egypt for three years. According to his family, he worked with horses in the desert, and had scars on his legs from injuries sustained saving another man from being trampled by a horse.
He lived at Seaview and later Winton Place, and he was a coal merchant in 1924 and a driver in 1951. He married Jane Houghton in Largs in 1924, and they emigrated to Australia in 1951 to join their son, who had settled there after meeting his future wife while in port with the Royal Navy during WWII. He is the brother of John M.C. Crawford.
John CRAWFORD (Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve)
Lieutenant
Born 24 May 1885, Port Glasgow; Died (unknown)
Gained a commission as Sub-Lieutenant Jun 1916; appointed Lieutenant Jun 1917; served in the Motor Patrol branch (motor launch 119).
He lived at Cumbrae View and Braemar, and before the war he worked as a commission agent. He is the brother of Arthur Crawford.
John Malcolm Clark CRAWFORD (R.S.F.)
Born 2 Nov 1899, Fairlie; Died 4 Mar 1951, Ardrossan
According to his family he served in Africa, where he contracted the encephalitis which was the cause of his death.
He lived at Seaview, and never married. Known as Jock, he was an agricultural worker. He is the brother of Hugh Crawford.
Boyd Alexander CUNINGHAME (Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, 5th Btn)
Major (att. Northern Rhodesia Rifles)
Born 19 Jul 1871, Australia; Died 16 Mar 1917, Belgian Congo
Served with the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders in the Boer War, and at the outbreak of the First World War he owned an estate in Northern Rhodesia. He was instrumental in raising volunteers to form the Northern Rhodesia Rifles in Dec 1914, and he commanded a force in German East Africa in 1915. Invalided home through poor health in early 1916, he spent the furlough with his aunt at Creich Cottage. He died of typhoid fever while on leave shortly after his return to Africa, and is buried
at Lubumbashi Cemetery, Congo.
In 1916, he married Elsie Burrell in London. Described as “frank and manly in disposition”, he was a scratch golfer; was regarded as the finest batsman of his time in Scotland in cricket; and he was third in a ballot to find the twelve best men to hounds in Great Britain.
John Morris CURRIE (Royal Field Artillery)
Driver 474 & 54511
Born 21 Jul 1876, Fairlie; Died 4 Sep 1955, Fairlie
Enlisted Nov 1915; it was reported in Sep 1917 that he’d been serving with the Ammunition Column in France for over a year.
He was born in the Kelburn Arms Hotel, and lived at Cumbrae View and Eadieston House. He was a postman, appointed to Fairlie in 1898, and in 1901 he married Mary Jane Hamilton Bell in Glasgow. He died at his brother’s house in Corona Place, although he lived in Essex at the time.