As we reach the centenary of the end of the First World War and reflect upon the sacrifice of all
\nthe young men who fell it is clear that, statistically, Scotland had a higher percentage of soldier
\ndeaths than elsewhere in the union. Often, the kilts and bagpipes that marked their heritage also
\nmarked their bravery as they led the troops into battle. Everyone will have their own stories or
\ntheir own local folklore but the stories I probably find the hardest to understand are those when
\nmultiple members of the same family were lost and Caithness has plenty of these to remember.<\/p>\n
I saw photos of the 90th birthday celebrations of a Caithness exile recently and remembered
\nsome of the stories he\u2019d told me. One that he did not mention was of the fate of his three uncles and
\ntheir twin cousins. All five lived together in the Dunnett family home in Willowbank, Wick and all five
\nperished during the Great War; the twins within a fortnight of each other. Nine months after the
\noutbreak of war, William and Donald Murray were dead and two months later, their cousin William
\nDunnett had also perished. Daniel Dunnett, underage at only 16 years old died the following year
\nand the final tragic news of brother Thomas\u2019 death came only one month later.<\/p>\n
In the village of Dunnet near Thurso, 3 brothers from the Henderson family were lost with George
\nand Alexander heartbreakingly dying in the same battle on the same day. Their mother would
\nreceive notification of the demise of her third son Donald less than six months later.<\/p>\n
Still within Caithness, the Farquhar family lost brothers James and William, incredibly also on the
\nsame day and in the same battle. Two more brothers, George and Alexander also never made it
\nhome from the Front. Sutherland lost Golspie brothers John and William MacDonald, both on the
\nsame day.<\/p>\n
Naval boats sank carrying menfolk from the same communities and when an entire generation
\nwas decimated with rural areas bearing the brunt of the losses, it is only to be expected that
\nindividual families could be hit hard. It does not make it any easier to understand though and I
\ndoubt that anybody did take comfort in the thought that their loved ones \u201cdied for King and
\nCountry\u201d.<\/p>\n
Approximately one third of all soldiers and sailors in The Great War were underage, mainly
\nbetween the ages of 14 and 18. Some may have wanted to prove their maturity or to escape
\nhardship at home but many, many more were pressurised into enlisting after being accused of
\ncowardice. The Order of the White Feather which was heavily populated by women, targeted
\nmany teenagers by sending white feathers, a recognised symbol of cowardice that was designed
\nto bring shame upon the family.<\/p>\n
More children met their fate not through the act of enemy fire but by their own colleagues. When
\nthe horrors of war became too much, not only for the youth but also for many adults, the crime of
\ndesertion resulted in a death sentence; shot at dawn and stigma heaped upon their family. It is
\none of the cruelest legacies that even now, 100 years later when the effect on mental health is well
\ndocumented, that none of those executed have been pardoned or have their names inscribed
\nupon war memorials.<\/p>\n
The words of Eric Bogle\u2019s No Man\u2019s Land (Green Fields of France) is forever poignant and never
\nloses that emotional pull with its haunting lyrics. Even as I write this, my children are watching a
\nbox set of the latest American teen drama craze which contains an episode showing a dream
\nwedding sequence. As with all good American shows, there was a nod to Scottish heritage and
\nthe groom was in a kilt. As the bride walked up the aisle, the pipes started up and the villain of
\nthe show quickly appeared and killed the groom. What escaped my children’s notice, and that of
\nmany other people I suspect, was that the tune was The Flowers of the Forest, commonly
\nassociated with military and highland burials. Originally written about the defeat of the Scottish
\nagainst the English at Flodden Field 500 years ago and referenced in the afore mentioned song, it
\nis a beautiful piece of music to reflect upon our ancestors actions in the war that did not end all wars.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As we reach the centenary of the end of the First World War and reflect upon the sacrifice of all the young men who fell it is clear that, statistically, Scotland had a higher percentage of soldier deaths than elsewhere in the union. Often, the kilts and bagpipes that marked their heritage also marked their bravery as they led the troops into battle. Everyone will have their own stories or their own local folklore but the stories I probably find the hardest to understand are those when multiple members of the same family were lost and Caithness has plenty of these to remember. I sawRead More →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[186],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2312"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2312"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2314,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2312\/revisions\/2314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}