Auchtertool Kirk War Memorial
4th March 2013
55 CommentsAuchtertool’s one and only war memorial is not a built structure in the village (like in most places here) but, unusually, a window in the kirk.
The parish of Auchtertool was larger in the past, because of that you find names here which you might have expected in Lochgelly or Cowdenbeath!
An extract from Fifeshire Advertiser of Saturday 19th Nov 1921: “Memorial Window at Auchtertool
A beautiful ceremony took place on Sunday (13 Nov 1921) afternoon in Auchtertool Parish Church at the unveiling of a war memorial stained glass window. Rev. JSW Irvine, minister of the church, preached to a specially large congregation. The unveiling was performed by Mr. D Rolland, grieve at Linnhead farm, who lost two sons in the war. The subject of the window is ‘Crowning the Warrior’, a kneeling soldier receiving a crown of laurel wreaths from an angel. There are over 40 names on the memorial of men from the parish who fell in the war, including a large number from Cowdenbeath, a part of which is in the parish of Auchtertool”.
Underneath the window has been added a book sculpted from sandstone engraved with the names of the fallen of world war 2.
Every year on Remembrance Sunday (Sunday closest to November 11th) the service of worship includes our community’s act of remembrance. We reflect on the terrible cost of war and hear of God’s promise that one day “war will be no more”.
Recently we have remembered each person entered on the war memorial on the Sunday closest to the date they fell. Behind each entry is a personal story of a real person, a member of our community.
1914-1918
| Name | Regiment | Age | Died | Memorial | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| William Aird | 62nd Bn. Machine Gun Corps | Unknown | 01.09.1918 | Bailleulval Communal Cemetery | Also on Burntisland WM |
| William Aitken | Royal Scots | Unknown | 01.12.1916 | Faubourg D’Amiens Cemetery, Arras | Enlisted Cowdenbeath |
| John Anderson | See Comments | Could be an alias for D. Sim Two versions of his fate exist. SNWM or CWGC? | |||
| Thomas Braid | 14th Bn. Black Watch (Fife & Forfar Yeomanry) | 20 | 29.12.1917 | Jerusalem War Cemetery | |
| John Brown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | |
| James Bruce | Army Service Corps | Unknown | 09.03.1915 | Burntisland Cemetery | There is a James BW Bruce on Burntisland WM |
| Kenneth Cormack | 2nd Bn. Royal Scots | Unknown | 15.05.1915 | Bailleulval Communal Cemetery | |
| Robert Davidson | 11th Bn. Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders | 22 | 19.08.1916 | Thiepval Memorial | From Landale Terrace, Cowdenbeath |
| Ebenezer Duffy | 12th Bn. Royal Scots | Unknown | 19.10.1915 | Phalempin Communal Cemetery | |
| Peter Fairgrieve | Black Watch | Unknown | 17.07.1918 | Cologne Southern Cemetery | Enlisted Cowdenbeath |
| Andrew Glancy | 106 Brigade Royal Field Artillery | Unknown | 28.05.1917 | Vlamertinghe Military Cemetery | From Landale Terrace, Cowdenbeath |
| David Grierson | 4th Bn. Black Watch | 30 | 14.07.1916 | Thiepval Memorial | Awarded the Military Medal |
| Harry Griffiths | Scots Guards | Unknown | 10.04.1915 | Cabaret Rouge British Cemetery | Enlisted Cowdenbeath |
| Andrew Guthrie | Black Watch | Unknown | 30.05.1917 | St. Nicholas British Cemetery | Wife from Leuchars |
| James Hardie | E Corps Signal Co. Royal Engineers | 26 | 15.10.1916 | Bailleulval Communal Cemetery | From Kinghorn |
| James Hardie | 2nd Bn., Scots Guards | Unknown | 30.09.1918 | Grevillers British Cemetery | |
| David Kellock | 1st Co. Machine Gun Corps | 27 | 15.11.1916 | Dernancourt | From Markinch |
| Thomas Norman MacLean | 1st Bn. Machine Gun Corps | 27 | 30.04.1918 | St.Sever | Son of MacLeans from Honolulu, Hawaii Born Dundee? |
| David MacKenzie | Black Watch | Unknown | 02.10.1918 | Philosophe British Cemetery, Mazingerbe | Born Dunfermline Enlisted Cowdenbeath |
| James A Robertson | Machine Gun Corps | Unknown | 04.10.1917 | Cement House Cemetery | Born Kennoway |
| John Redpath | 1st Bn. Gordon Highlanders | 22 | 02.04.1916 | Ypres (Menin Gate) | From Aberdour Enlisted Inverkeithing |
| James Robson | Staffordshire Yeomanry | Unknown | 21.10.1918 | Damascus Commonwealth War Cemetery | Born in Fife |
| David Rolland | 1st Bn. Scots Guards | 18 | 27.09.1915 | Loos Memorial | Newton Farm (assumed younger brother of Robert A.) |
| Robert Arnott Rolland | 6th Bn. Cameron Highlanders | 23 | 06.06.1916 | Valenciennes (see W.A.G. Stevenson) | Beverkae cottage, husband of Ellen |
| Alexander Scott | Royal Scots | 34 | 30.05.1916 | Vermelles British Cemetery | 7 Landale Terrace, Cowdenbeath Born Pennsylvania |
| William A.G. Stevenson | 14th Bn. Highland Light Infantry | 28 | 20.12.1917 | Valenciennes (St. Roch) Communal Cemetery | Son of Rev.William Stevenson, see family details on memorial window and plaque outside |
| James Thayne | Black Watch | Unknown | 13.11.1916 | Y Ravine Cemetery, Beaumont-Hamel | |
| Samuel H Turnbull | 8th Bn. Black Watch | 34 | 19.07.1918 | Meteren military cemetery | From Landale Terrace, Cowdenbeath, originally from Hawick. Enlisted Burntisland |
| Livingstone Waugh | 9th Coy. Machine Gun Corps | 20 | 03.05.1917 | Arras Memorial | Born Newton (farm?) Enlisted Cowdenbeath (another Landale Terrace resident) |
| James Wilson | Black Watch | Unknown | 09.08.1915 | Becourt, Becordel-Becourt | Born Lumphinans |
| OR | Royal Scots | Unknown | 22.03.1917 | Abbeville Communal Cemetery | Born Burntisland |
| James Williamson | Royal Garrison Artillery | Unknown | 06.10.1917 | The Huts Cemetery | |
| William Wood | Royal Scots | Unknown | 30.01.1916 | Dickebusch Military Cemetery | Enlisted Cowdenbeath |
| Alexander Yates | Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders | Unknown | 15.07.1916 | Thiepval Memorial | Enlisted Cowdenbeath |
1939-1945
| Name | Regiment | Age | Died | Memorial | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas J Fernie | 5th Bn. Black Watch | 25 | 12.06.1944 | Ranville War Cemetery | |
| John Rae | RAF VR | 21 | 08.11.1943 | Runnymede Memorial |

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