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W.J. Smith
SRoH. Not in Stewartry Roll of Honour. Identified as a soldier from Anwoth & Girthon ex Kirkcudbrightshire Advertiser “First Instalment of Stewartry Roll of Honour” 25th December 1914. W J Smith Royal Scots Fusiliers.
William Webster Stark
SRoH. Private William Webster Stark. Educated at Gatehouse.
Enlisted King’s Own Liverpool Regiment. Served on Western Front.
Reported wounded and missing August 1914 and presumed killed.
Anwoth & Girthon War Memorial, Gatehouse inscription : W. Webster-Stark L.S.
Anwoth Church Memorial : Pte. William W. Stark L’Pl.
William has a grave in Childwall (All Saints) Churchyard, Lancashire.
CWGC : Private William Webster Stark. Home: 400 Edgehome, Fairfield, Liverpool
2475 King’s Own Liverpool Regiment. (1st/10th Battalion). Died 16th June 1915 (aged 21).
On Ypres Menin Gate Memorial (panels 4 & 6) at West Vlaanderen, Belgium.
Father: late John S. Stark Mother: Margaret Stark.
Military Records : 06/05/1912 Attested - William Webster Stark. Born Childwall, Liverpool. 17 years and 10 months. Home: 400 Edge Lane Liverpool. Clerk employed by Wm. Crawford & Son. 5' 8¾'' tall
29/04/1914 Attended camp at Tunbridge Wells
05/08/1914 to 16/06/1915 In France with Expeditionary Force.
16/06/1915 Wounded and missing (report by OC unit)
28/04/1918 Statement of Relatives of Deceased. Mother: Margaret Stark. Brothers John H. (16) and Alexander M. (15) sisters Elizabeth(23), Charlotte (21) and Frances A. (19) - all at 400 Edge Lane, Liverpool
24/02/1921 Mrs Margaret Stark acknowledged delivery of decorations.
Medal Index card : Pte (2475) 10 Scottish Kings L/Pool. Awarded British, Victory & 14 Star medals.
1901 Liverpool Census, 55 Alderson Road : William W. Stark (6, born Childwall, Lancs.) with father John S. Stark (38, manager of sugar warehouse, born Scotland), mother Margaret (34) + 3 sisters.
1911 Liverpool Census, 400 Edge Lane : William (16, junior clerk, born Childwall) with widowed mother Margaret (44) + 4 younger siblings. (Note: William’s father John Swainston Stark died in Liverpool aged 62 in 1905 Q1).
Ex family history website : [www.bellewaarde1915.co.uk] William Webster Stark Reg. No. 2475 (Scottish) Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment. Born 27/07/1894 at Broad Green, near Liverpool. Eldest son of John Swainston Stark and Margaret Williams. Father John S. Stark was with his parents at Anwoth Schoolhouse in the 1881 Anwoth census. John’s father was William S. Stark who was the schoolmaster at Anwoth for 48 years. John was a draper unemployed in 1881.
His son William W. Stark was educated at Girthon Parish School and trained as a clerk. He joined the Liverpool Scottish Territorial Force in April 1911 and volunteered for overseas duty in August 1914. Served in France and Flanders. He was reported missing after fighting at Hooge 16/06/1915 (note different date to SRoH). In the Battle of Bellewaarde, near Hooge, on 16th June 1915 over 1000 men were killed within 24 hours.
William was unmarried. His mother’s address was given as 400 Edge Lane, Liverpool.
Gravestone : William Stark has a grave in Childwall (All Saints) Churchyard, Lancashire
FreeBMD : William Webster-Stark was born in 1894 in West Derby, Lancashire
Gatehouse link : Born in Lancashire, educated in Gatehouse.
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Alexander Stewart
See Wilson, Alexander
Algernon Bingham Anstruther Stewart
SRoH. Lieutenant-Colonel Algernon Bingham Anstruther Stewart.
Home: Ornockenoch, Gatehouse. Served one training in 1899 with 3rd (Militia) Seaforth Highlanders.
On leaving Sandhurst he passed out high in military law, and being in the Musical Ride, which gave him his choice of regiment, he selected the Seaforths, being great-great-grandson of Francis, Lord Seaforth, who raised the 78th Highlanders and whose relative raised the 72nd Highlanders, now linked together, forming the Seaforth Highlanders. Colonel Algernon Stewart was the first descendant of Lord Seaforth to enter the regiment.
Before Colonel Stewart was gazetted he attended unofficially a great Prussian review at Breslau in 1890. After a short period in Odessa, acquiring something of the Russian language, he was gazetted as from October 1890 to the 2nd Battalion (78th) Seaforths, and joined that regiment in India.
He served in the Chitral Campaign in 1895, being present at the Battle of Mamagai and at the relief of Chitral, obtaining the Indian Medal with Clasp.
He passed both the higher Hindustani and Persian test examinations.
He obtained his captaincy in 1899 and went out in the early days of the Boer War (October 1899), being present at the battle of Magersfontein, Paardeberg, Poplar Grove, Dreifontein, and Wittenberg, and was mentioned in despatches for his brilliant defence of Fauresmith, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. For this campaign he reveived the Queen’s Medal with five Clasps, and the King’s Medal with two Clasps.
In 1903 he was appointed adjutant to the Militia Battalion until 1907 when he attained his majority and went out to India and joined the 1st Battalion.
During November and December 1914 he was present at two unnamed engagements in Flanders in which the Battalion lost 30 and 15 per cent of its number. He was mentioned in despatches. Later, at the Battle of Neuve Chapelle, where the losses were between 20 and 25 per cent, he got concussion from the bursting of a German shell, was invalided home for some six months, after which he was G.S.O. No.2 at Aldershot for about six months.
In April 1916 he went out to command the 4th Battalion, and was killed in action 23rd May of the same year.
Anwoth & Girthon War Memorial, Gatehouse inscription : Algernon Stewart Lt.Col. S.H.
Anwoth Church Memorial : Lt. Col. A.B.A.Stewart D.S.O. Seaforths
Haileybury School Roll of Honour: Algernon Bingham Anstruther Stewart D.S.O. Lieutenant Colonel 1st/4th Battalion Seaforth Highlanders, who died on Tuesday 23 May 1916. Age 46
Soldiers Who Died in Great War : Lt. Col. Algernon Bingham Anstruther Stewart, died 24th May 1916. Seaforth Highlanders (Ross-shire Buffs, Duke of Albany’s) 1st Battalion. Awarded D.S.O.
www.angloboarwar.com : Born 6th December 1869, son of Colonel Charles Edward and Mrs Anne Nairn Stewart, Ornockenoch, Kirkcudbright.
Married Edith Evelyn Vivien on 8th November 1911.
They had twin daughters Sheila Anne and Barbara Jean Stewart in 1915.
Lt. Col. 1st/4th Seaforth Highlanders (Commander).
Killed in action Tues. 23rd May 1916 aged 46.
Family received tributes from the King & Queen and Lord Kitchener after his death.
Edith Evelyn Stewart remarried and her surname became Lennox.
Address: 11 Sumner Place, South Kensington, London.
Buried Louez Military Cemetery, Duisans, Pas de Calais, France. Grave I.C.1
1881 Census, Algernon B. A. Stewart (11, born on an island in the Persian Gulf) was a pupil at Glyngarth School in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.
1911 Census : Algernon Bingham Anstruther Stewart was a 41-yr old major with the Seaforth Highlanders and was ‘At Sea’.
Kirkcudbrightshire Advertiser 2nd June 1916 : Killed - Lieut-Colonel A.B.A. Stewart, Ornockenoch..
News has been received that Lieut.-Colonel Algernon Bingham Anstruther Stewart, D.S.O., Seaforth Highlanders was killed on Tuesday 23rd May.... (he was) the elder son of the late Colonel Charles Edward Stewart C.B., and Mrs Stewart, Ornockenoch, Gatehouse, and 51 Redcliffe Square, London. He obtained his first appointment in 1890. He was promoted captain in 1899, and major in 1908. He first saw active service ... at Mamagai ... and served with distinction in the South African War. In November last he was appointed a general Staff Officer at Aldershot Training Centre. On Wednesday a memorial service for Col. Stewart was held at St. Paul's Church, Knightsbridge.
Kirkcudbrightshire Advertiser 2nd June 1916 : Obituary
Much of this obituary is repeated in the Stewartry Roll of Honour entry.
He was born at sea in the Persian Gulf, on 6th December 1864, near the port of Bunder Abas. He was educated at Haileybury College before finishing his education at Neuchatel, Switzerland. He was sent home, to represent the Highland Regiments serving in South Africa, to attend the coronation of King Edward.
On Sunday last, in Anwoth Parish Church, a simple but very impressive reference was made to the lamented death in action of Lieut.-Col. A.B.A. Stewart D.S.O., the Seaforth Highlanders....in the present war he led a famous and gallant regiment. The greatest regret was expressed in the district and the sincerest sympathy ..(extended to his family).
Kirkcudbrightshire Advertiser 9th June 1916: Born 06/12/1869 at sea near Bunder Abas, Persian Gulf. Father: Col. Charles Edward Stewart CB Mother: Annie Nairne Anstruther
Attended Haileybury School in Hertfordshire and then Neuchatel School, Switzerland where he became proficient in French.
FreeBMD : 1911 Marriage of Algernon A.B. Stewart to Edith E. Vivian at St George’s Hanover Square, London.
Gatehouse link : Lived at Ornockenoch.
James Stewart
SRoH. Listed in Roll of Honour but no known details.
1881 Girthon Census, Back Street (now Catherine Street) : James Stewart (6, born Crossmichael) with aunt Elizabeth Heron (33) and her children.
1891 Girthon Census, Catherine Street : James Stewart (16, fire wood dealer, born Girthon) was a boarder with the Coyle family.
1901 Girthon Census, Catherine Street : James Stewart (25, wood carter, born Gatehouse) was a boarder with the Coyle family.
1911 Girthon Census, Catherine Street : James Stewart (37, carter, born Girthon) was still a boarder with the Coyle family.
Gatehouse link : The only information we have to go on is that the Stewartry Roll of Honour lists a soldier called J. Stewart. If the James Stewart in the above censuses became a soldier at the age of about 40, then he certainly lived in Gatehouse and may have been born here.
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