Profiles

Hugh Galbraith seems to have enlisted under the provisions of the Derby Group Scheme which ran from October 1915 to January 1916. This was an effort to boost recruitment numbers without resorting to conscription. Galbraith attested (took an oath to serve in the armed forces when required), was placed in the army reserve and sent home on 16th November 1915. At the time of his enlistment he only just passed the medical examination as his height was 5ft 3in and he weighed 7st 11lbs (50kg). On the basis of his age and marital status he was assigned to Group 33 and as a result was mobilized on 29th May 1916 and sent to the depot of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders. At the beginning of June he was posted to ‘B’ Company in the 13th Battalion, probably at Dunfermline, where he did his training. In September 1916 he was posted to 1st Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers in France and crossing from Folkstone to Boulogne on the 13th he reached the battalion in the field on the 27th September.

At some point after reaching France he was wounded in action but it is not known when.

On 7th April 1917 Galbraith was posted as killed in action but on 30th April 1917 his wife received a telegram cancelling the report of his death in action. Without access to the battalion war diary nothing is known about the circumstances. He survived another month and died on 5th May. Again nothing is known about the circumstances of his death which occurred during the Arras Offensive nor about the reason for awarding him the Military Medal which was not gazetted until after his death (18th July 1917).

c. May 1888, Glasgow

Posted missing on 5th May which was then regarded for official purposes as his date of death.

Although posted as missing it turned out that Galbraith had been buried with a small group of other casualties on the battlefield.  In March 1920 his body was found and identified by his pay book. In January 1923 the Imperial War Graves commission required the address of his next of kin (widow) to notify her of the location though, judging by other correspondence, it is unlikely they received it.

None

Alexander Galbraith (c1864-1924) & Janet Bisset (c1864-1927)

Picture frame maker

David (c1883-1919), Alexander B (c1884-), Janet McG (c1887-), Margaret B M G (Mrs McMillan?) (c1890-1943), Grace (c1892-1904), Annie C (c1894-), Isabella McN (1897-), Jane McG (c1900-), William B (1901-), James (c1903-), Daniel (c1908-)

Jessie Pollock married 24th September 1915, St Mungo Halls, South York Street, Glasgow by Rev R J Dick, BD, Cunningham UF church. No children. She remarried c1919.

Not known

Carver and gilder

13 Thistle Street, Gorbals, Glasgow

65 Graham Street, Glasgow

381 Cumberland Street, Glasgow

13 Thistle Street, Gorbals, Glasgow

Scottish National War Memorial

Father acknowledged receipt of his son’s War and Victory Medals on 15th April 1922 and less than a month later wrote to the regimental depot asking about the memorial Plaque and Scroll which the next of kin of each casualty was entitled to receive.

Letter from Hugh Galbraith father to Regimental Depot

Strictly speaking Galbraith’s next of kin was his wife Jessie but she had remarried about 1919 and Galbraith’s family had lost touch with her and did not know her present address. It is not known who received the Plaque and Scroll.

Much of the information on which this profile is based is drawn from various internet sources which are listed below.  The Friends of Glasgow Necropolis also wish to make full acknowledgement and thanks for the permitted use of any information or images generously supplied specifically for exhibition, publication or display in connection with The Roll of Honour and accompanying profiles to Ancestry, and Find my past.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Family Search

Scotlands People

The Long, Long Trail

The Scottish War Memorials Project

Service Record for Hugh H Galbraith.