GovWire

Guidance: MOD War Detectives (the Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre Commemorations team); our future services, current appeals and past cases

Veterans Uk

June 30
15:27 2022

Our future services, current appeals and past cases

Funeral Service, Crown Copyright, all rights reserved

Attend a full military honours funeral or rededication service

Details of forthcoming services will be published in due course.

Can you help us find the family of casualties from the Great War?

Over the last couple of years, the remains of three Scottish soldiers have been discovered in France. All were recovered with artefacts that give us a good idea of who they were. Were now looking for their families so that we can confirm their identities by DNA comparison. If you can help us with the whereabouts of any surviving family, wed be delighted to hear from you. Please contact us via DBS-MODWarDetectives@mod.gov.uk.

Pte David Gemmell; 1st Battalion, Black Watch; killed in action 25 January 1915

David Gemmell was born in 1869 in Dundee to David Gemmell (1824 to 1904) and Mary Cable (1824 to 1902). He was the youngest of eight children; his siblings were:

  • Helen (born 1849)
  • Eliza, Jean and Jane (all listed as born in 1861)
  • Jessie (1866 to 1948)
  • Joan/Johanna (born 1855)
  • Georgina (born 1864)

The 1891 Census shows him aged 22 and living with his parents at Hilltown in Dundee. By the time of the next Census in 1901 he was a plumber and lodged in a house in Stobcross Street, Glasgow.

Three of Davids sisters married:

  • Jessie, married George Williamson and they had three sons, George (1896 to 1952), James (1899 to 1971) and Edwin (1903 to 1976)
  • Joan/Johanna married Jesse Carr in 1875 in Dundee
  • Eliza married Andrew Petrie Thomson

Pte George Brown; 1st Battalion, Black Watch; killed in action 25 January 1915

George Brown was born in 1879 in Beath, Fife, Scotland to Archibald Brown and Elizabeth (known as Eliza or Lizzie) Drybur. He was one of nine children and his siblings were:

  • Mary (born 1870)
  • Eliza (born 1872)
  • Christina (born 1874)
  • Isabella (born 1876)
  • Catherine (born 1881)
  • Thomas (born 1884)
  • Janet (born 1886)
  • Archie (born 1889)

The War Detectives believe only George himself seems to have married. His wife was Elizabeth Scott and they had one daughter, Mary, who was born in 1910.

Pte John Wilson; 6th Battalion, Black Watch; killed in action 30 July 1916

Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) records do not give an age, date of birth or next of kin for Pte Wilson and there are no service records available at the National Archives. Documentation held by other sources contains no more information aside from telling the War Detectives that Pte Wilson was born in Gowanhill, Lanarkshire.

Initial research into his family states that he was one of three children born to William and Grizel Hope Wilson (nee Brown). He had two sisters:

  • Helen Hutchison Wilson (commonly known as Helen Brown). She was born in Hutchesontown, Lanarkshire in 1891 and is believed to have married George Stewart in Dennistoun in 1921. She died in 1968.
  • Little is known of his other sister, Janet Wilson, other than that she was born in about 1890 in Govan.

Our Past Cases

Details of some of the MOD War Detectives past cases can be found below:

Related Articles

Comments

  1. We don't have any comments for this article yet. Why not join in and start a discussion.

Write a Comment

Your name:
Your email:
Comments:

Post my comment

Recent Comments

Follow Us on Twitter

Share This


Enjoyed this? Why not share it with others if you've found it useful by using one of the tools below: