The Harris War Memorial on-line, which was first published in August last year, has been extensively revised and updated with more information on many of the casualties. This contains listings for both World Wars, ordered by village. Any further information is more than welcome, in fact, desperately needed.
A Roll of Honour was never published for Harris for the First World War, leaving only the War Memorial at Tarbert for reference. Finding further information from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (the primary source) can be very tricky and time-consuming in some instances.
All the main islands in the Western Isles now have their WW1 and WW2 casualties listed on line.
I would like to close this post by dedicating it to the memory of all the approximately 2,500 men from these islands who laid down their lives for King and Country during World Wars I and II.
RIP...far too many lives wasted/sacrificed....woeful.
ReplyDeleteCommendable Arnish in your endeavours and pooling/sharing of information/resources.....big respect...........RJG
I also have taken a great interest in your work over
ReplyDeletethe past few years, and I thank you for it.
Why does the Tarbert war memorial show WWII as 1914 -1919?
ReplyDeleteQuoting from the site: "Although hostilities for the First World War ended on 11 November 1918, the war is held to have ended in 1919 in Lewis and Harris because of a large loss of life right at the start of that year." This refers to the Iolaire Disaster on 1 January 1919, when 205 sailors from Lewis and Harris drowned at the entrance to Stornoway Harbour (see http://www.adb422006.com/iolaire.html).
ReplyDeleteThanks for confirming that - guessed it was the case. Now for extra points - what does Tiorga mean as in Tiorga Mor?
ReplyDeleteOther than suggesting it was of Norse origin, no one in the Mote bar in Tarbert could come up with anything.
Tiorga is a corruption of the (indeed) Norse tjorgaðr, a place for tarring sheep. In the days before sheepdips, sheep would be treated by rubbing a mixture of butter and tar into their skins.
ReplyDeleteBleeding amazing - well done
ReplyDelete