project

[raggyroo]

hi im doing a project for a history group I go to and we are researching all the names on one of our war memorials. we are looking for a bit of background on them like where they lived and what they did pre war. I have a few names I haven't found much out about them and was wondering if anybody can help me thanks.
It is a Scottish war memorial its called petty war memorial it is not far from inverness Scotland and only a few miles away from fort George ardersier inverness.
the names and in I have on the are as follows
John Allan private Canadians
Donald Campbell private Cameron highlanders
Thomas Campbell Cpl Cameron highlanders
any help with above names would be majorly apperisated
raggyroo

[nanny jan]

Have you searched here:

http://www.cwgc.org/


Service numbers would be helpful.

[giggsycat]

Hi raggyroo

Which War are they from please?

Have you looked for them on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission site as it may hold more details.

http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead.aspx

Giggsy

[raggyroo]

hi yes I have tried the cwwg and with no luck just says no match found or is their something I might be doing wrong and their service number is not on the war memorial so totally stuck. all the names served in ww1
raggyroo

[nanny jan]

There are a few J or John Allans listed in the Canadian records on CWGC site.

There are 10 D or Donald Campbells, private Cameron Highlanders but no Thomas Campbell, corporal Cameron Highlanders.

[ghostgirl]

Have you tried searching the newspapers that covered your local area at the time? If the names appear in there you might find family connections etc to narrow down the possibilities. Also directories, local history pulications etc. And perhaps advertise in the local paper as some of the men may still have family/descendants in the area who would be able to share photos and information.

[aghadowey]

Local schools and churches might have Roll of Honour listing both those who were killed and those who served. Ask local churches if they have a newsletter (either paper or online) where you could ask for help with your project. (However, many people fail to respond to this or newspaper articles unfortunately).

Local newspapers often had a section about those who served or details of soldiers might be found under area reports so it's important to go through all of each paper.

Canadian attestation records were digitised and put online a number of years ago- see here (search page isn't working perfectly for me at the moment)

[youngtug]

The Canadian virtual war memorial; http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial

[MaxD]

I wonder whether the John Allan is the man who died in 1918 , John Larmour Allan, 6th Battalion The Prince of Wales's Leinster regiment (Royal Canadians) although he is buried in an Edinburgh cemetery.

For the Campbells, you might like to look through the CWGC site, click on each name to find the family connection
Donald -http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead.aspx?cpage=1
Thomas  http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead.aspx?cpage=1  although only one has family info.

Edit - the links don't seem to work to the details page so  on the Find War Dead page
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead.aspx  enter Surname and Forename (tick the circle marked forename) select First World War go to Regiment and enter Leinster (for Allan) and Cameron Highlanders for the other two.  That will be enough to bring you up a list of the names.  Click on each name in turn to see, if it is there, family info.

If you have Ancestry (you could all go the local library if they have it), find the Register of Soldiers Effects.  Look up each man (use the CWGC details of number etc) and see if the legatee (ie Mother Doris) can be linked to the area. 

maxD