Man tracked down families of fallen soldiers from WW1

Jim Anderson, 77, has reunited 21 families with a plaque dedicated to their relatives who were killed during the First World War.

The relatives all worked for Albion Motors in Scotstoun and Jim, a former engineer of Albion, was approached about the memorial, which contained 47 names, in 2020.

Jim Anderson with Glasgow's Lord Provost Jacqueline McLaren (Image: BAE Systems/Chris James) He said: “About four years ago, someone phoned one of the members of the Albion Club and said ‘We don't want this anymore.’

“So it was collected and my friend and I took it into storage at that time.

“I thought ‘That's terrible. There's 47 mothers, who lost their sons, and they're commemorated here, and we've got a situation where nobody wants it.”

The plaque was first installed in 1920 at the head offices of Albion Motors before it was moved in 1977 and became homeless.

Since then it has bounced around local sites but failed to get a forever home.

That was until Jim and his friend Allan began their mission to track down the history and the families of the names on the memorial.

Members of the King's own Scottish Borderers Association attended the event. Three of the 47 Albion men on the memorial had been Kings Own Scottish Borderers. (Image: Supplied) Of the 47, Jim managed to track down 21 families who all attended a special rededication ceremony last week at the memorial's new home in Scotstoun Sports Centre.

Jim added: “I kept thinking that there have to be family members of these 47 men who will be grandsons, great nieces, great nephews who maybe didn't know that their relative worked in Albion.

“I thought I'd just take it one name at a time and work through it using the Commonwealth Workers Commission, Scottish National War Memorial, Scotland's people, and regimental records.

“I just sat every night and went through all these things and built up a history of everyone who was there.

“Every time I got a success it was encouragement to press on further. The very first one I got was a soldier, Private John Durkin, from the Gorbals.

“I managed to find his great niece living in Glasgow and her brother lived in Portsmouth. He'd been out to France twice to visit his grave.”

One person who was reunited with the name of their relative was TV presenter, Kirsty Wark.

Remarking on the event, she said: "I didn't know that my great uncle James worked at the Albion. He lived in Jordanhill in what was York Avenue and now doesn't exist anymore with his family and he worked at Albion Motors before he went to war.

"He had gone to Allan Glen’s Engineering school in Glasgow but I didn't know he worked at Albion Motors and they are so brilliant.

“The work that James Anderson did to get the plaque that was kind of languishing in a cupboard somewhere is great.

“It's quite moving for all the families of people that work there.”

Kirsty shared the history of her great uncle whose name is on the plaque now commemorated in Scotstoun.

She added: “My great uncle James was in the Machine Gun Corps. He was decorated and he went all the way through the war.

“He was a very good machine gunner and so, therefore, they would never give him leave to come home. He sent lots of letters back to my great-grandparents and they sent letters to him.

“Then the Armistice happened, and he sent a letter home to Jordanhill saying, ‘dear mama, papa, I'm so happy about this. I hope the flu doesn't get to you in Glasgow.’

“Unfortunately, within the week in France, he was dead of the flu after going through the whole war.”

Jacqueline McLaren was presented with flowers by Caitlin Pearson (Image: Supplied) Provost Jacqueline McLaren was also in attendance at the event where she reflected on her own relatives who died in the war before cutting the ribbon to officially rededicate the memorial.

She said: "A memorial to men who signed up for the Great War and sadly never returned. Heroes like my maternal great-grandfather, Private Allan Hannah McIlvennie who served with the Cameron Highlanders during the First World War.

"He lost his life at the notorious ‘bloody’ Battle of the Somme on July 23, 1916. His record states ‘killed in action.’ Like so many others, his body was never found.

"It’s now 110 years since the Great War. A conflict meant to end all wars. More than ever, more than a century later, it’s imperative we remember their courage and sacrifice.

"To everyone who helped make this happen, including Jim Anderson of the Albion Club, you have this city’s gratitude."