Memorial details

Memorial type
Wall
District
Renfrew
Town
Neilston
County
Strathclyde
Country
Scotland
Commemoration
First World War (1914-1918), Second World War (1939-1945), Non-Combat Deaths, Northern Ireland Conflict; The Troubles (1969-1998)
Maker
Tom McKendrick (Designer)
Ceremony
  • Unveiled
    Date: 7 November 2015
    Attended by:
Lost
Not lost
WM Reference
90516

Support IWM

Donate with Just Giving

Any gift we receive makes a vital contribution to our ongoing work, from conserving our collection to supporting our public programme.

Make a Donation
Current location

next to St Thomas' Church
Bank Street/Main Street junction
Neilston
Renfrew
Strathclyde
G78 3ED
Scotland

OS Grid Ref: NS 47873 57249
Denomination: Undefined

View location on Google Maps
Description
A garden of remembrance with a feature wall which has a central 'spinner's cross' flanked by two names plaques on each side- 3 of the plaques are for WW1, the 4th for WW2 and 2 other deaths- 1 non combat death in Australia and one in Northern Ireland. There are 8 bronze regimental badges along the base. There was a temporary white cross erected during construction- subsequently moved to Neilston Cemetery to the unmarked grave of the parents of one of the fallen.
Inscription
Plaque 1-THIS MEMORIAL GARDEN IS DEDICATED TO ALL THOSE/FROM NEILSTON AND DISTRICT WHO HAVE BEEN/KILLED OR WOUNDED IN CONFLICT AND TO THEIR/COMMUNITY WHICH SUFFERED LOSS AND PAIN/___/THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR/1914-1918/[42 names in 2 columns] Plaque 2-[60 names in 2 columns] Plaque 3-[61 names in 2 columns] Plaque 4-THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR/1939-1945/[46 names in 2 columns]/NEW SOUTH WALES AUSTRALIA/[name]/NORTHERN IRELAND/[name]/THEY SHALL GROW NOT OLD, AS WE THAT ARE LEFT GROW OLD/AGE SHALL NOT WEARY THEM, NOR THE YEARS CONDEMN/AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN AND IN THE MORNING/WE WILL REMEMBER THEM
Inscription legible?
yes
Names on memorial
Agnew, S
Allan, A
Allan, J K
Allison, G
Allison, J
Anderson, J
Anderson, W M
Andrew, F D
Andrew, W
Baird, J
See details for all 211 names
Commemorations
  • First World War (1914-1918)
    Total names on memorial: 163
    Served and returned: 0
    Died: 163
    Exact count: yes
    Information shown: surname, initials of forenames, rank, date of death
    Order of information: surname THEN forename
  • Second World War (1939-1945)
    Total names on memorial: 46
    Served and returned: 0
    Died: 46
    Exact count: yes
    Information shown: surname, initials of forenames, rank, date of death
    Order of information: surname THEN forename
  • Non-Combat Deaths
    Total names on memorial: 1
    Served and returned: 0
    Died: 1
    Exact count: yes
    Information shown: surname, initials of forenames, rank, date of death, place of death
    Order of information: Undefined
  • Northern Ireland Conflict; The Troubles (1969-1998)
    Total names on memorial: 1
    Served and returned: 0
    Died: 1
    Exact count: yes
    Information shown: surname, initials of forenames, rank, date of death
    Order of information: Undefined
Components
  • Wall
    Measurements: Undefined
    Materials: Stone
  • Plaques
    Measurements: Undefined
    Materials: Bronze
  • Detail
    Measurements: Undefined
    Materials: Bronze
Condition
Trust fund/Scholarship
No
Purpose: Unknown or N/A
Sponsorship
Public
Reference
  • Suite of pictures of the building process-warmemscot.s4.bizhat.com/viewtopic.php?t=10007&mforum=warmemscot
  • www.freewebs.com/theneilstonwarmemorial/
  • Unveiling report- Glasgow Evening Times 12 October 2015-New memorial honours sacrifice of 217 soldiers-THE 92-year-old man walking past the yet-to-be-unveiled war memorial looked it over and said: "It's a great idea. The young ones today have no idea what we went through in our day." .Robert Brennan was called up for wartime service at 19. On D-Day in 1944 he piloted a minesweeper motor launch onto the Omaha beachhead. He now lives close to the memorial garden in Neilston, East Renfrewshire, which has been created by a local committee, whose members have been raising funds since 2011. The memorial wall lists the 217 men who have died on active service since the first world war. Most of them died between 1915 and 1918, including no fewer than 16 who died on a single day - September 25, 1915 - at the battle of Loos. Matt Drennan, secretary of the Neilston War Memorial Association, said: "We've researched many of the Neilston men who died for their country. "We came across a story about 12 lads from Neilston who met up in the front-line trenches at Loos and who, over a brew of tea, toasted the day when they would return home. Four of them died the next day." A local newspaper at the time said it was "abundantly plain that the natives of the village have taken their full share of the price" of the battle for Hill 70 at Loos. Elsewhere on the Western Front, Privates Thomas Fox and Herbert Johnston were helping stretcher-bearers carry a wounded comrade in no-man's land when a shell exploded close by, on June 20, 1915. Fox was killed instantly and Johnston lasted only a few more hours. When Fox's belongings were sent back to his parents, many of them bore the impact of the shell. One soldier, Robert McLintock, was injured at Loos in September 1915 and was sent home to recuperate. He returned to the front in January 1916 but was killed in action in Belgium, aged just 22, in September 1917. His parents had another son, James, but he was killed during the Second World War, at Anzio, in June 1944. He was 33. Mr Drennan said the project still had to be completed. "Once we get the garden grounds done I think the whole thing will have cost us £80,000. "We raised the money ourselves, including an anonymous donation of £10,000, and received no Heritage Lottery funding." "Up until now, Neilston is one of the few places in the UK that did not have a civic war memorial to honour those who gave their lives in the service of their country. "It has been a long time coming but we are delighted that it will finally be unveiled on November 7." Jimmy Higgins, one of the local fundraisers, who at one point did a sponsored walk to Vimy Ridge, in northern France, said: "The memorial brings home the appalling cost paid by this one small village during the two wars. "Had the country’s losses been on a par with Neilston’s, per head of population, some 2.5 million men would have been lost - and perhaps the war itself,” he said. The spinner's cross on the memorial war was designed by artist Tom McKendrick. Mr Drennan said the more research into the past that was done, the more names they came across. Up to six other Neilston men who died on active service are not named on the memorial. "We'll need to look at how we're going to include them on it," he said.

This record comprises all information held by IWM’s War Memorials Register for this memorial. Where we hold a names list for the memorial, this information will be displayed on the memorial record. Please check back as we are adding more names to the database.

This information is made available under a Creative Commons BY-NC licence.

This means you may reuse it for non-commercial purposes only and must attribute it to us using the following statement:

© WMR-90516

For queries, please contact [email protected].