WW 1

August 1914 saw the outbreak of the First World War.  It was the Great War – the war to end all wars and it was stated that it would be over by Christmas. At its finish, in November 1918, four years later the losses to the Allied Powers in War Dead amounted to some 5,200,000. Britain herself lost just short of 1,000,000 in the conflict. By 1919, Britain was only too painfully aware of the supreme effort and loss it had endured during the previous 4 years. As a nation, it vowed and promised never to forget those who had given their lives to secure peace. To that end, the local populace of virtually every hamlet, village, town and city throughout the land ensured their heroes would be honored and remembered by the erection of a suitable war memorial to them. The villages and towns of Lanarkshire were no exception and, as we know, many such memorials were erected to the memory of its fallen. These memorials were either in the form of a large village memorial or plaques within local churches or organisation that lost members. 1921 saw the inclusion of Stonehouse among those erected.

Some 30 years later, those same promises and vows were repeated, as the Nation’s Memorials saw the addition of many further names – names of those who gave their lives in the Second World War.

Today, it is hard to remember those you never knew. All that is left is a list of names inscribed on memorial tablets, whom we respect by the laying of wreaths each year on Armistice Sunday. 2018 was the 100th anniversary of the ending of that “war to end all wars”, and it is our wish to see that the memories of those men on our memorial and those not included on it are not forgotten.

Research by the group is on-going to build a biography of these young men, as well as those who returned home. Our members area provides a full list of enlistees (currently over 300) who were either born, lived in or married in Stonehouse and this list in June 2021 showed 97 personnel who lost their lives . The group has an individual file on each man which in some cases has a photograph, details of their service record, will or information gained from family members in others we have no information at all.

Through this ongoing research an additional 28 names were added to the memorial in 2008 and a re-dedication service was held to commemorate this. Since 2008 a further 10  personnel have been identified to be added to the memorial. The roll of honour table in the members section provides the most up to date list of personnel who were known to be from Stonehouse and were killed in action or died of wounds. The Stonehouse memorial list only shows those named on the memorial.

Thanks go to the late Mr Jim Davidson, William Mackie and John Rogers. Jim commenced this research and was followed up by William Mackie who checked it and organised the re-dedication ceremony and many individual service records were compiled by John roger. As research continues we know that more will be added.

If you find your way to our site and have any details no matter how small, photographs or any other information of those who are on our Roll of Honour or list of enlistees we would like to hear from you.

Please Contact the group by email at info@stonehouseheritage.co.uk If you come across any errors or have additional information. It is imperative that we try and keep the information as up to date as possible and that you recognise that all information has been researched by local volunteers.

STONEHOUSE WAR MEMORIAL 1914-1918-FALLEN

In addition to the main memorial in the cemetery the local churches also commemorated the fallen of their congregation by erecting plaques inside the churches. St Ninians, Paterson UF Church and Congregational church were among those that erected palques. The following pictures show the memorials.

The group produced a village at war booklet from extracts from local newspapers for one of its early exhibitions. the following is a digital copy of this booklet.

Village at War Newspaper extracts