Parishes of Persie and Glenshee

• First World War (1914-1918)
  Total names on memorial: 27
  Served and returned: 0
  Died: 27
  Exact count: yes
  Information shown: surname, initials of forenames, rank, regiment
  Order of information: rank THEN surname

• Plaque
  Measurements: Undefined
  Materials: Bronze
• Backboard
  Measurements: Undefined
  Materials: Granite

• Persie and Glenshee (Glenshee)
• WMO ID: 251299
• Condition: Undefined [last updated on 22-03-2017]
• Help update these details if the condition is wrong
• 

Comments: Sir Archibald Birkmye of Dalmunzie, CBE paid the cost of installing the plaque, also the cost of cleaning and repainting the church for the occasion.

• warmemscot.s4.bizhat.com/viewtopic.php?t=2294&highlight=&mforum=warmemscot
• ‘The Scotsman’ - Monday, 12th September 1921, page Glenshee A bronze tablet set in a granite frame was unveiled in Glenshee Parish Church in honour of the men from the parishes of Persie and Glenshee who served in the war and in memory of the 27 who fell. The Rev. John Thomson, minister of the parish, presided, and the preacher was the Rev. T D Miller, MA, minister-emeritus, Kirkurd, Peeblesshire, who was minister of Glenshee about 45 years ago. The unveiling ceremony was performed by Lady Birkmyre of Dalmunzie, whose husband,. Sir Archibald Birkmyre, Bart., C.B.E, generously bore the expenses of cleaning and painting the church and fixing in the tablet. Lieut-Colonel Mackenzie-Smith of Finegand -gave a short address.
• BLAIRGOWRIE ADVERTISER: 17.09.1921 GLENSHEE WAR MEMORIAL UNVEILED BY LADY BIRKMYRE The last of the four bronze tablets, framed in grey granite, in honour of all from the parishes of Persie and Glenshee who served in the war, and in honour of the men who fell, was unveiled on Sunday afternoon in Glenshee Parish Church. The other tablets were recently unveiled at Netherton U.F. Church, Persie Church, and Cray U.F. Church, and while these are all set on the outside wall of the buildings, that in Glenshee Parish Church is inserted on the north wall in the interior of the church, which, in honour of the occasion, was cleaned and painted by Sir Archibald Birkmyre, Bart. Of Dalmunzie, C.B.E., who also generously bore the expense of fitting the memorial tablet in its position. The church is an unpretentious oblong building, situated in the burying ground close to the main road from Perthshire to Aberdeenshire via the Cairnwell, and very bright and inviting it looked after the thorough cleaning it had. The aisle is laid in coloured tiles, and leads straight from the main entrance to the pulpit, on each side of which is a beautiful stained glass window inscribed;- ‘To the glory of God, and in loving memory of James Campbell’, a rather unique inscription in view of the fact that the party it commemorates is still in the land of the living. Notwithstanding the gale and heavy hill showers that prevailed on Sunday forenoon, there was a very large congregation, including representatives of most of the shooting lodges in the district and other visitors. The pulpit was draped with the Scottish Standard, and the memorial tablet was veiled with a Union Jack; and on the Communion table in front of the organ was a vase of lovely chrysanthemums and maidenhair ferns, flanked on the left with a magnificent wreath of Harissi lilies, chrysanthemums, roses, and asparagus ferns, from Lady Birkmyre, and on the right with a wreath of laurel leaves, from Rev. T. D. Miller and Mrs Miller, Inveravon, Perth. Rev. John Thomson, minister of the parish, conducted the first part of the service, which was commenced with psalm xxiii. The lessons were from Joshua vii. 1-8 and revelations vii. 9-17, and the praise included part of Paraphrase xxviii. And the hymn, ‘For all the Saints who from their Labours rest’. The preacher was Rev. T. D. Miller, M.A., minister emeritus of Kirkurd, Peebleshire, who was for three years minster of Glenshee about 15 years ago, immediately preceding the late Rev. Thomas Crawford. Taking for his text Matthew xvi. 25, Mr Miller referred to the Hebrew scroll of fame, a chapter which narrates those who were makers of Jewish history, who counted not life itself dear to them so that they might fight for their country and for their God, and pointed out the Apostle’s assertion that the motive power of all their great achievements was their faith with God. At the conclusion of the Great War, Mr Miller continued, there was manifested everywhere throughout the length and breadth of our land an eager desire to set up in a plinth or pillar, column or cross, in church or hall a tablet bearing the names of those heroes who had been faithful unto death in the service of their King and country. In a way that feeling was an illustration of the text that if a man saves his life he shall lose it, but if he loses his life for Christ’s sake and for the brethren’s sake then he shall find it; and their action in erecting those memorials to their brave dead was also meant to be an incentive, an inspiration, to all who might come to look upon them. Their text that day was the highest expression they could find of their CHRISTIAN DUTY Every soldier by his profession declared himself to be willing to lay down his life at his country’s call and in his country’s hour of danger. The motto of every soldier was just that old Latin maxim with which they were familiar that it is a right and proper thing to die for one’s country. The great moralist of a generation or two ago – a prose poet he might be called – John Ruskin, in a very impressive passage, said it was generally understood that that it was the duty of a soldier to slay; but that, on the other hand, he believed that it was a soldier’s duty to be slain to hold the fort until he was shot down, to face the deathly fire in the gallant charge in order that those behind should be able to scale the rampart on the bodies of their fallen comrades. That was the martial spirit, the spirit which was honoured, commemorated, summed up in that single but comprehensive word “duty”. In our country devotion to duty and sacrifice of self were always ranked in public estimation and in the deepest hearts of men as being higher than any other quality of character or any other attribute of soul. It was on this account that we estimated men according to the use they made of their means and opportunities. We esteemed men according to the amount of good they had been able to do, or, in other words, according to the measure of their sacrifice. That was in keeping with the truth of their text, which contained both a warning and a promise, and which held good in every place and in every profession. The spirit which wins the hearts of men is the spirit of LOING AND DARING, the same spirit, indeed, which is so stirringly depicted in the lines of the Scottish poet in his ‘Lays of Ancient and Heathen Rome’ – For how can men die better Than by facing fearful odds For the ashes of his fathers And the temples of his gods? Just as it was with the Hebrew people, we have a heritage of heroism, a heritage which is not reckoned in the wealth of the nation, but is essential to our national life, the contempt of which in any people would very shortly mean its commercial downfall. Very sweet indeed are the uses of prosperity, very sweet are the harvests of peace and progress, very sweet is the bright sunshine of health and happiness and length of days in the land, but there are other things than these – let us not forget it – things like life and duty and honour and the soul of man, things that cannot be bought with a price and which do not die with death, and it is well for all those who seek to live a joyous life, and who seek to be able to at the last to look upon their lives with approving conscience, not to leave those things out of the lessons of their lives. One other thing that the text emphasised was that MEN ARE SOMETHING altogether apart from their earthly circumstances and surroundings. There were some who would tell us that their position is so insignificant and their means and opportunities so small that they can never hop to be in a position to do anything that is heroic or worthy to live; but Christ’s teaching was that no one is so lowly as to be of no value. Many of those whom they were that day met to honour were cut down in their early years; in feelings, and not in figures upon a dial; and we should count time by the generous throbs of our heart rather than by the beat of a pendulum. Length of life must never be estimated by dates, but by deeds, and he lives longest who thinks for others, who feels the noblest, and who acts the best. Be it ours to enter with a wholehearted sympathy into the sorrows and sufferings of our fellows, and when the hour of death comes it will not be what we have done for ourselves, but what we have done for others, that we will think of most pleasantly. A collection on behalf of Blairgowrie and Rattray Districts Cottage Hospital was then taken, Messrs D. S. Grant, Broughdarg, J. Duff, Invereddrie, handing round the old fashioned collection bags at the end of a long rod, and Mrs Caird, Dundee, who officiated at the organ for a day, meantime playing ‘O Rest in the Lord’. After the second version of Psalm cxxiv. had been sung, Rev. Mr Miller said he had no intention of making the slightest reference to his old connection with that beautiful little parish, but there was a name upon the service list that day which recalled many happy memories, and he would like in a word to recall the services rendered by a proprietor to the glen who had passed away some years ago, but who0 had left a fragrant memory with them. He referred to Mr Mackenzie Smith of Finegand, whose name, when the speaker was minister of Glenshee, was a household word. He and his brothers, who were also much loved in the district, came frequently - every summer, indeed - and by their thoughtfulness, kindness and generosity of spirit endeared themselves to all the people. Mr Mackenzie Smith and his brothers took a deep interest in the Church of Christ in that place and in the well-being and happiness of all in the community. It was very gratifying to find that the traditions of the family were being so honourably upheld by Mr Smith’s nephew and successor, Lieut.-Colonel W. M. Mackenzie Smith, D.S.O., whom he called upon, in name of the local committee, to invite Lady Birkmyre to unveil the memorial. Lieut.-Colonel Mackenzie Smith said that he had been asked to say a few words by way of introduction to the ceremony of unveiling the memorial. Those memorials were being put up everywhere throughout the country, and there was evidence of the widespread nature of the war in that no place was too remote not to have one of them. The list of names on the local memorials fell into two classes of soldiers - those of the original British Army and those, the larger numbers, of the New Armies. Of the exploits and traditions of the old British Army it was not necessary to say much. The Expeditionary Force was probably as well equipped and as efficient and devoted as any force ever raised in the United Kingdom. Though comparatively low in number, they had what appeared an almost impossible task at the commencement at the start of the war in facing the enormous hordes of the German Army. They accomplished their task, and stopped the rush and saved the situation in the first nine or twelve months of the war, but in doing so they perished in the act. For all practical purposes they were wiped out. It is probable that of those who died few would have wished a better fate. The Expeditionary Force was succeeded by an entirely different class, civilians for the most part, and their sacrifice was very great. Those connected with the Territorial Army knew from private knowledge of the immense sacrifices made by those men, and of the civilian careers that were ruined. They entered a profession which they had never thought they would have anything to do with, and faced discomfort, disease, wounds, and death. It was rather difficult to trust to this generation to estimate the amount of sacrifice made by the British nation, but it may be that later on others, looking at those memorials, would form some idea of what was done, and take steps to ensure that a recurrence of such a war would be impossible. It was difficult to say anything in the presence of those who had lost relatives, but one would like to express sincere sympathy with them and hop that their sorrow would be tempered by the proud achievement of those who had so nobly done their duty. In asking lady Birkmyre to unveil the memorial, he would like to refer to the very great interest she and her husband had taken in the erection of the memorial and in the decoration of the church. Lady Birkmyre, stepping forward from her pew, withdrew the Union Jack. Rev. Mr Miller then said:- “To the glory of God and to the perpetual memory of our brave brothers who gave their lives for our defence this memorial tablet is dedicated in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen. After prayer Lieut.-Colonel Mackenzie Smith read the inscription on the tablet as under; 1914-1919. To the glory of God, and in honour of all from the parishes of Persie and Glenshee who served in the Great war, and in memory of the following who fell:- LIEUT. E. W. CHAPMAN, 3RD DRAGOON GUARDS; LIEUT. A. MACKENZIE, ROYAL FLYING CORPS; LIEUT. P. J. C. WILSON, Q. O. CAMERON HIGHLANDERS; SECOND-LIEUT. ALISTAIR DUFF, 1/7TH SCOTTISH RIFLES (CAMERONIANS); SERGT.-MAJOR D. CAMERON, CAMERON HIGHLANDERS; SERGT. R. LAMOND, CANADIANS; CORPL. F. M’INTOSH, BLACK WATCH; LANCE-CORPL. P. CAMERON, ROYAL SCOTS FUSILIERS; PTE. J. DUFF, BLACK WATCH; PTE. C. REID, CAMERON HIGHLANDERS; PTE. M. K. M’LEANNAN, K.O.Y.L.I.; PTE. D. G. CUTHBERT, SCOTTISH RIFLES; PTE. M. NICHOLSON, H.L.I.; PTE. C. ROBERTSON, SEAFORTHS; PTE. A. D. ROBERTSON, ROYAL SCOTS FUSILIERS; PTE. R. MITCHELL, ROYAL SCOTS; PTE. A. STEWART, BLACK WATCH; PTE. J. CAMERON, CAMERON HIGHLANDERS; PTE. A. G. ANDERSON, M.T., R.A.S.C.; PTE. M. CLARK, R.A.M.C.; PTE. J. MACDOANLD, BRITISH COLUMBIA HORSE; PTE. J. H. MURRAY, CANADIAN OVERSEAS FORCES; PTE. A. R. REID, ROYAL WARWICKSHIRES; PTE. A. SMITH, BLACK WATCH, M.G.C.; PTE. R. THOMSON, BLACK WATCH; PTE. A. STRAITON, BLACK WATCH; TROOPER M. G. GILLESPIE, SCOTTISH HORSE. Paraphrase ixvi was then sung followed by the national Anthem and the Benediction, and as the congregation slowly dispersed Mrs Caird played ‘The Flowers of the Forest’. Lady Birkmyre and Mrs Miller subsequently removed the two wreaths from the Communion table, and placed them on a temporary support immediately underneath the tablet.