Military

A YOUNG Helensburgh naval officer who was a nephew of Andrew Bonar Law was shot by a sniper in a World War One trench battle.

Sub-Lieutenant John Pitcairn Robley, whose aunt Annie was the wife of the future Prime Minister, was the younger son of dairy proprietor William Pitcairn Robley and his wife Edith.

A HELENSBURGH man who made a dramatic escape from a mini-submarine in Loch Striven serves as an example of the talent to be found in the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment at RAF Helensburgh during World War Two.

Joiner’s son Duncan Gay was born in Helensburgh on March 15 1913, and educated at the then Hermitage School in East Argyle Street. He started his career in dental mechanics and prosthetics.

AN OVERNIGHT stay in Helensburgh in 1941 would have seemed a very welcome contrast to spending countless hours in Catalina seaplanes searching the grey Atlantic for U-Boats.

Alas that is not how it turned out, retired Merseyside newspaper editor Robin Bird — an expert on the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment at RAF Helensburgh — has discovered.

A HIGHLY respected World War One officer from Helensburgh who was a nephew of Lord Strathclyde died in strange circumstances in Italy early in 1918.

Captain Ian Ure MC, of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders died of accidental injuries when a bomb exploded on February 2 1918 at the age of 32.

THE NAME of John Muir is now synonymous with the John Muir Way, a picturesque coast to coast walk from Helensburgh to Dunbar.

The route is named in memory and honour of Dunbar-born conservationist John Muir.

HELENSBURGH will host a major centenary commemoration of the famous World War One naval Battle of Jutland on Saturday May 14 2016.

Now the search is on for stories of local involvement in the famous battle, and it is hoped to stage a one-day exhibition of First World War artefacts and hold a parade through the town and a drumhead service.

NOVEMBER 12 1944 saw the destruction of Nazi Germany’s largest weapon, the mighty battleship Tirpitz, at the end of a three year operation in which RAF Helensburgh was heavily involved.

Lancasters bombed the battleship, causing it to list and roll over, killing between 950 and 1,204 people aboard.

TRIPLETS set out from Helensburgh to fight for their country in World War One . . . but one did not return.

RAF pilot Lieutenant William Russell Jnr., son of Luss Estates Factor William Russell, was killed in a flying accident on April 3 1918, just two days after the RAF officially came into existence.

FOUR members of a Belgian refugee family spent part of World War One living in Garelochhead.

Now an historical society in their home town in Belgium, Zwijndrecht en Burcht, wants to find out more about them, and if possible find family members who can can supply more information about the stay in Scotland.