Granton War Memorial
Sources and where to find out more
Internet sources
Commonwealth Wars Graves Commission Debt of Honour Register
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states (United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa) whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations military service members who died in the two World Wars.
You can consult the Debt of Honour Register on www.cwgc.org.
Scottish National War Memorial
The Memorial itself is located in Edinburgh Castle and aims to record the names of those servicemen and women who died in the two World Wars and who were born in Scotland or served in a Scottish Regiment.
You can consult their records on www.snwm.org.
Ancestry – Military Records
Ancestry – www.ancestry.co.uk – is a subscription site but many public libraries, including those in Edinburgh, have arrangements that allow free access. On the Ancestry site the following data collections have been checked for all men named on the memorial who served in the British Army:
- British Army WW1 Service Records 1914-1920. Only about 30% of these records survive as most were destroyed in a fire in 1940 caused by enemy action. Where records were found and contain information of any interest, this is mentioned on the page concerned.
- British Army Medal Rolls Index Cards 1914-1920. These show the Campaign Medals to which individual soldiers and officers were entitled by virtue of service abroad and often contain useful information. There will be no card available if the individual concerned did not serve abroad.
- Soldiers Who Died in the Great War 1914-1919. This is a publication which was first produced in 1921 in 80 volumes. It lists those of each regiment who lost their lives in the war, alphabetically by unit (e.g. Battalion) and gives details such as place of birth, place of enlistment, residence at the time of enlistment (if different from place of enlistment), regimental number, rank, whether killed in action or died, and the date and theatre of death.
- There are other military data collections available on Ancestry that have more limited application. Where these have been used, this will be mentioned on the page concerned.
Ancestry – Census Records
The Ancestry website also gives access to UK Census material from 1841 to 1901. This was useful for establishing the family background of the men named on the Granton War Memorial. The Scottish Census material on Ancestry consists of transcriptions. They sometimes are inaccurate and any difficulties were resolved by reference to the microfilm copies of the originals which are available in the Edinburgh Central Library.
Information about Regiments of the British Army.
The website http://www.1914-1918.net/regiments.htm was used to obtain information about Regiments and Battalions (or other formations) within those regiments.
Naval Casualties
There is not so much online material available for naval casualties but naval service records do survive and can be downloaded, for a charge, from the National Archives at Kew (London)- www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline.
Scottish War Memorials Project Index
For information about Scottish War Memorials go to www.warmemscot.s4.bizhat.com.
Non-internet sources
During the First World War local newspapers usually aimed to publish information about local casualties – often with photographs. The amount of information published varies and in 1918, when casualties were highest, it looks as if the newspapers could not keep up with the flow of casualties and sometimes no information can be found.
Much of the biographical information on the individual pages comes from the Edinburgh Evening News and the Edinburgh Evening Dispatch. Part of the Parish of Granton lay within the boundaries of the Burgh of Leith and reports on casualties whose homes were in this area are sometimes to be found in the Leith Observer. None of these newspapers are indexed or available online. They are available on microfilm at the Edinburgh Central Library. Where material from newspapers or other printed sources is used, this is mentioned on the page concerned.