Remembering WWI: A lone father and three fallen sons

THE silence that filled Peter White's home that day in 1918 must have been almost unbearable. Once the White family home on the city's Edina Street would have been filled with the noise of four boisterous growing boys and their proud parents.

Peter had lost his wife, Issabella, in 1909 when she was just 44, and his four sons had marched off to fight for their country in what would become known as the First World War.

So the 59-year-old widower would have been all alone when the first telegram arrived to tell him 19-year-old William had died on August 18, 1918. Then a second arrived to inform him that Allan, 22, had perished nine days later, followed by a third carrying the tragic news of 34-year-old Joseph's death on September 27.

"So many had died in the big battles of earlier years such as at the Somme but yet these brothers were killed when victory was in sight," says their great-nephew Peter, 62, of Craigentinny, who has been researching his family's history.

"It was perhaps fortunate their mother Issabella had already died and would never know her sons had been killed.

"It was their father Peter who had to bear the brunt – something that must have been so unbelievable. It makes you want to cry just thinking about it."

This month marks 90 years since the Armistice – the end of a conflict that saw more than 144,500 Scots, including more than 2200 from Edinburgh, killed.

They died in action or later from their wounds far from home in places like Flanders, Egypt, Italy and the Balkans.

Perhaps most poignantly, in the last 11 days of the war alone, 9342 British soldiers lost their lives – and many more died in the weeks leading up to the Armistice, never knowing they were within a hair's breadth of safety.

William, the first of the White brothers to die, was a private with the Royal Scots and died while fighting with the 11th battalion.

His body was never found and he is one of 11,000 servicemen commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial in Belgium.

The men who are remembered here were killed while fighting in the trenches, their efforts aimed at weakening and harassing the enemy in a series of small scale attacks.

On the day William died, the troops of the 11th battalion joined in with a mission to capture Hoegenacker Ridge, near the village of Meteren in France. During the operation, the trenches were covered with coconut fibre matting along which a broad black streak was painted. When viewed from the air, this made the area look as though it was unpopulated.

Under this cover, the soldiers were able to sneak up on the enemy and capture nearly 300 German soldiers.

Records held by the Royal Scots at Edinburgh Castle show that the mission was not without loss as the troops endured heavy shell fire as they advanced.

Nine days later, William's brother, rifleman Allan, was killed following an advance on the village of Fontaine les Croisilles.

War records show that the mission was successful with 344 German prisoners – including four officers – captured, as well as ten trench mortars and guns, 25 machine guns and an immense quantity of ammunition.

Unlike his brothers, Joseph had not joined the Royal Scots – instead, he enlisted with the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders in Manchester.

According to records held at the Highlanders' Museum at Fort George, on September 27, 1918, the day Joseph lost his life, he and his comrades in the 5th battalion were moving into position along the Ypres defences.

War diaries show that on the same day, there were several changes of command as the 5th battalion forged ahead – replacements that would have been needed because of the heavy casualties they incurred.

In the 25 square kilometre area around the Ypres Salient in Flanders, and during three major battles there, more than 250,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers died and around 90,000 are officially missing. Joseph's body rests at the Hoogstade Belgian Military Cemetery and it is his great-nephew Peter's intention to pay his respects there next year.

Peter, a retired Napier University lecturer, has already visited the grave of his great-uncle Allan at the Wancourt British Cemetery in France.

It was an experience that still leaves Peter choked with emotion as he recalls laying a piece of heather from his garden on the grave at the Pas de Calais cemetery. Standing with him on that bright sunny day two years ago was his wife Carol, 61, a retired florist, and a group from St Ninian's Church at Marionville Road – then celebrating the church's centenary.

"The grave site was in the middle of cornfields – it was beautiful," recalls Peter, a father-of-two.

"As far as I know, I'm the only person from the family that's been fortunate enough to visit one of the grave sites. It was very emotional."

Peter became interested in his family history after he inherited photographs from his father, who was also called Peter, after his death in 1979.

"I was only 12 when I saw my grandfather a lot – too young to think to ask him about his experiences in the war. I don't think he spoke about it, though, because it was so bad. When my dad was alive, I was busy bringing up a young family and it just never came up. It's definitely something I wish I'd asked about now."

The only brother to survive the war was Peter's grandfather Thomas White, who, like his father, became a glass blower.

Thomas was eventually awarded a British Empire Medal to commemorate his long service with the Edinburgh Crystal company.

Peter says that like so many survivors of the First World War, Thomas, who died in 1961 aged 75, kept many details of his service in Egypt and his grief about his lost brothers private.

"It must have been absolutely devastating," says Peter. "My grandad didn't want to talk about the war – it was just too horrible."

Thomas, who married bottle warehouse worker Mary Roger in 1908, went on to have seven children, including Peter's father, who was also called Peter Allan, in 1913.

Although he was reluctant to talk about the war, Thomas did tell his grandson Peter about locals teaching him domino games during his service with the 4th Battalion Royal Scots which he joined in Egypt – and of having a chameleon on his shoulder that ate flies.

While the bloodshed on the battlefields has long since ended and there are few people who have memories of those who fought, Peter believes every effort should be made to commemorate those who sacrificed their lives.

"They were just boys and when they got over there they faced absolute hell," says Peter. "Learning about my great uncles has certainly made me appreciate my life a lot more.

"The bottom line is that none of those brave lads who gave their lives should ever be forgotten."


DVD CELEBRATES ONE SOLDIER'S HEROISM
ROBERT BEVERIDGE was a local man who gave the ultimate sacrifice of his life to his country.

Now, more than 90 years later, the courageous Royal Scots Corporal has been remembered in his own village of Uphall, West Lothian.

The forgotten war hero was killed during the First World War when he, as section commander, led around ten men to attack a German pillbox near the village of Frezenberg, Belgium.

The 24-year-old's body was never recovered and all that had remained of what should have been an inspiring legacy was the immortalisation of his name on the memorial walls at Tyne Cot near Passchendaele, Belgium.

Sadly, he had no relatives in Uphall to remember him or add his name to the memorial at the village's St Nicholas Church. His parents were both dead, his sister Agnes was in service and his brother Charles, 16, lived in Rosewell.

Now his remarkable story is portrayed in a moving DVD, A Soldier's Return, which is being shown at West Lothian's 66 primary and secondary schools, as well as secondary schools in Midlothian.

The DVD shows his name finally being added to the church's war memorial.

Corporal Beveridge joined the 12th service battalion in the summer of 1916, and set sail for the Western Front.

He arrived on the Somme in the autumn of 1916 and moved towards the front line, where many of his comrades were drowned in communication trenches neck-deep with mud and water.

He also played a vital part in the 39-day battle of Arras in spring 1917, winning the military medal.

He became a lance corporal and on April 12, 1917, he was one of only a few soldiers to survive heavy machine gun fire from the Germans after the Royal Scots attacked across open ground.

It was during the third battle of Ypres, also known as the Battle of Passchendaele in Belgium, on September 20, 1917 that Robert – by then, promoted to corporal – was killed.