Words by John Thomson

The plaque in its original location, on the walls of St George’s Episcopal Church. (Credits: Max McConville)

Earlier this year, on Friday, 25th April, at the appropriate time of 11 am, a bronze, memorial plaque commemorating 78 Maryhill men who died during World War I, was unveiled, here, at Maryhill Burgh Halls.

The ceremony to mark its return was attended by local community members, serving and veteran military personnel, and representatives from the 6th Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. It was a full and proper ceremony with a colour party, the laying of wreaths and an address from Paul Sweeney, MSP.

The plaque which was made in 1920 at a cost of £100, had originally been hung at St George’s Episcopal Church in Sandbank Street and dedicated in April 1921, but in subsequent years, it seemed to have disappeared. It was eventually found in the storeroom of the Royal Highland Fusiliers Museum in Glasgow, following extensive research by Adie Meehan, who came across it while tracing family history – Adie having family connections with Percy Lawrence McLachlan, his wife’s great uncle, one of the men listed on the plaque – but the men are also listed elsewhere. To mark the occasion, a commemorative booklet was produced, featuring short biographies of many of the fallen.

But that doesn’t have to be the end of it.

We, at the Halls continue to seek additional information, photographs, and stories from family members and descendants. Please contact heritage@mbht.org.uk to share.

Read the booklet here

But the ceremony reminded some of those attending of another, missing, memorial and the story of some other lost men of Maryhill – the 211 men of the now demolished Lyon Street in Maryhill who emerged from a half dozen closes in that street and went on to enlist in almost every Scottish regiment that fought in the First World War.

A Roll of Honour was created for them as well. It gave the bare details of the men who had enlisted, including sixteen names of men who never came back, twenty-seven who were wounded and two who were ‘simply’ marked missing on the roll.

This roll, apparently, hung in a local pub - the Garscube Bar - until it was demolished in 1962, as was Lyon Street, and the roll vanished.

Various attempts to locate it were made, including a project involving Oakgrove and St Joseph’s RC primary schools, but its whereabouts remain a mystery and any information regarding its location would be much appreciated.

The plaque at the rededication ceremony.

The plaque we do know about, remembering the 78 men, is on permanent display in the Halls on the mezzanine floor on a wooden plinth which was created by Boomerang Woodworking CIC. The names represent real people – sons, fathers, brothers and neighbours – who lived in and around Maryhill, before heading off to war, never to return.

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.
- The fourth verse of ‘For the Fallen’ by Robert Laurence Binyon (1914)