Photo puzzle 2 - crowds waving off WW1 “Terriers” near unidentified station

[Rescars]

I don’t think the direction is relevant. Unless the train was in sight, everybody would be looking at the photographer so that they could be seen in the photo. In those days being photographed was as much of an event as the men’s departure.

Yes indeed. The direction is only relevant to the extent that it may help to identify the location.

In trying to do this, is the OP able to give any information about how or where they obtained the original photograph? It is just possible it hasn't strayed very far from the place where the original was taken.

 

[32475]

On the left hand side of the picture, the group of mainly young boys are also looking to the left and away from the camera. Some of them also appear to be bare footed. The photo makes me wonder if there is a railway bridge over a river beyond the left of the photo and then a path going down to water level between the railway and the single storey house. The bare footed boys might have been playing at the water’s edge and then come up for the photo with everyone else.

 

[John Palmer]

The dormer windows in a 1.5 storey building are typical of vernacular Scottish architecture, and the interlacing of the turnout timbers and the size and shape of the chairs are consistent with this being a location on the North British Railway.

The presence of the ground frame is an indication that the turnout forms part of a running line. Possibly the padlocked box to the right of that frame houses its release lock; there appears to be some interconnection for this. The left hand lever of the frame seems be connected to the turnout's switch tongues, but I can't make out whether there is also a rodding connection leading away from the right hand lever. A possible configuration is that the right hand lever unbolts a facing point lock that normally stands in. Operation of the release lock in the padlocked box would free the point lock lever, reversal of which would in turn free the left hand lever to operate the points themselves. Such an arrangement would provide some assurance that running line points had been suitably locked for the passage of facing traffic, but its weakness is that merely padlocking the box containing the release lock provides no assurance that the mechanism within is actually locking the frame.

 

[weepingwillowb]

Could the crowd have been hoping to see the Russian troops who were said to have landed at Aberdeen, circa late August, 1914, and who were en route to the Western Front?

Did 200,000 Russian troops pass through Scotland during the First World War? – Historical articles and illustrations

This edited article about rumour and the First World War originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 731 published on 17 January 1976. Ross-shire whence came the Lovat Scouts with their confusing thick Scots pronunciation The men had marched off to war confident that they would be home...

www.lookandlearn.com

 

[stuving]

"Mobilisation" has a wider meaning than just one event. Looking at reports from Keith, the process started for territorials with calling-up as early as 4th August 1914, nearly a week before the official proclamation. Since they already had a reporting structure those in towns would go to their drill hall, in rural areas to their platoon or company commander. Those rural units would then travel, often as a unit, to the headquarters town.

Once assembled there would be a period of drill, route marches, issuing kit, etc., but also free time in town for "fraternising". Reservists were also called up as part of mobilisation, but reported as individuals. "Call-up" got its more specific meaning of conscrption only later, when that began.

The second part of mobilisation was embodiment, which seems to go like this: Reservists needed to be allocated to a unit to serve in, but territorials were often reformed too. Their peacetime units might be too small, or their numbers might be needed to even up regular army units sizes. And that was just before he BEF was sent off - reinforcements in the field, whatever their units on arrival, were almost always used to plug gaps.

So exactly which part of that was the morning they were mobilised is not entirely clear.

 

[Gloster]

From what I can see and have read the Terriers initially reported to their battalions ’home’ barracks on mobilisation. These, effectively fully formed, battalions were then moved elsewhere: I presume that this was to free the barracks’ accommodation for all the volunteers who were rushing to sign up. My assumption, although it is no more than, is that the photo is of the local Territorials being moved from their home barracks to another location. If it is North British, then one possibility is Galashiels, but I have been unable to work out where the barracks is.

 

[lazonbytunnel]

In trying to do this, is the OP able to give any information about how or where they obtained the original photograph? It is just possible it hasn't strayed very far from the place where the original was taken.

Unfortunately there isn’t any lead there, it just seems to have been passed from one collector to another as an unknown image.

It is one which I’m sure can be solved in time. The location must have been significant enough for it to be a departure point for a regiment or battalion, yet evidently not a particular large settlement either. Just needs a bit of legwork in checking off possibilities, most likely in northern or eastern Scotland which I will get around to!

Just to repeat as some contributors may have missed it in the OP, there is a note on the back in what I’d say is handwriting and ink that looks contemporary to the image,

“This is the crowd waiting to see the Terriers off the morning they were mobilised. Hope you will like it, lots of love, Maggie”

Nothing else at all on the back, no addressee or photographer details.

 

[Gloster]

“This is the crowd waiting to see the Terriers off the morning they were mobilised. Hope you will like it, lots of love, Maggie”

That could mean it is a group of Territorials leaving their home town or village to travel to the barracks. In that case it is not a town with a barracks, but is probably of sufficient size for a group to come together to travel to the barracks, rather than travelling individually from their homes. It might be one of the many locations where a platoon or section periodically met in a hall.

 

[MotCO]

That could mean it is a group of Territorials leaving their home town or village to travel to the barracks. In that case it is not a town with a barracks, but is probably of sufficient size for a group to come together to travel to the barracks, rather than travelling individually from their homes. It might be one of the many locations where a platoon or section periodically met in a hall.

The 'group of Territorials' must be quite large since there is a large turnout. As I remarked earlier, there are few men in the crowd, so is it possible most of the town's men of fighting age are in the 'group'? Or, as I surmised above, is it a mining town, with all the town's miners going off to war?

 

[Gloster]

My feeling is that there is a large turnout because there was great patriotic fervour at the outbreak with the belief that ‘Our heroic Tommies’ will be in Berlin in a week and showing the Kaiser a bit of British steel, so everybody wanted to join in by being part of it by waving them off (a trait that still exists in our more cynical times). And in many towns there was nothing going on normally, so an event like this would be something to do, although few would admit they only went because they were bored. If it was school day the children might well have been given time off to see the Terriers leave, but if it is a working day the majority of employees would stay at work. And coal mines were such a lifeblood of the war economy, something that was obvious from the very start, it is unlikely that many would leave: a few would be Reservists or Terriers and others might volunteer, but, “You are doing just as valuable a job helping to make the guns as soldier (and helping my profits), so stay down the pit.”

A further reason for thinking it is right at the beginning of the war is the lack of flags, although there may be one or two. The initial mobilisation took place fairly quickly: there would not have been time to obtain and hand out flags for the crowd ro wave, while later on patriotic fervour meant they were quickly available.

 

[stuving]

That could mean it is a group of Territorials leaving their home town or village to travel to the barracks. In that case it is not a town with a barracks, but is probably of sufficient size for a group to come together to travel to the barracks, rather than travelling individually from their homes. It might be one of the many locations where a platoon or section periodically met in a hall.

The Banffshire Herald of 15 August 1914 uses the word mobilisation for the period from call-up, on 4th August, but not for the 6th Battalion's departure on the 11th. That is described as being watched by a crowd of "wives, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, and acquaintances" lining the road, despite it being before 6 a.m.

It does refer to the companies forming the battalion arriving daily by train or road, and mentions the Huntly Company arriving by road and marching through the town to the drill hall with the pipers of the Keith Company. While in theory there should be 1000 in a battalion of four companies, each of four platoons, I imagine those numbers would vary in the territorials to match the number available and where they were in terms of distance apart. Hence some reforming once they had all arrived.

So for that meaning of mobilise, a company leaving its base town, after smaller units living around the town had arrived, would make sense. It might perhaps also apply to a company arriving at the headquarters town. But I think the word's usage evolved very quickly once it started to be used for something affecting most people, rather than just read in the news about faraway lands.

 

[Gloster]

The 6th Seaforths were at Elgin at the outbreak of war and the 6th Gordons nearby at Keith.

 

[30907]

The dormer windows in a 1.5 storey building are typical of vernacular Scottish architecture, and the interlacing of the turnout timbers and the size and shape of the chairs are consistent with this being a location on the North British Railway.

A good observation.

The presence of the ground frame is an indication that the turnout forms part of a running line. Possibly the padlocked box to the right of that frame houses its release lock; there appears to be some interconnection for this. The left hand lever of the frame seems be connected to the turnout's switch tongues, but I can't make out whether there is also a rodding connection leading away from the right hand lever. A possible configuration is that the right hand lever unbolts a facing point lock that normally stands in. Operation of the release lock in the padlocked box would free the point lock lever, reversal of which would in turn free the left hand lever to operate the points themselves...

Yes. On many railways, the ground frame would be released electrically from the signalbox - or by a key or similar attached to the token. I am not sure where the padlocked box fits in. One for @John Webb methinks

The presence of the GF on a running line makes me wonder if this station didn't have a signalbox anyway.

 

[edwin_m]

The presence of the GF on a running line makes me wonder if this station didn't have a signalbox anyway.

At many stations the points at the far end from the signalbox would have been too far to be worked by rodding. Particularly if they weren't frequently used (but sometimes even when they were, see Abermule) a ground frame might be provided instead of a second signalbox.

 

[stuving]

I've had a look at "Vernacular Building" - the Annual Journal of the Scottish Vernacular Buildings Working Group. They have an index, and volumes 1-35 (up to 2011) are free to view. But I couldn't find this style of house, nor its dormner windows. I suspect it's not vernacular enough, i.e. too modern. I think they only became the standard pattern of farmhouse well after 1850 (but can't be sure without an article from the SVBWG!).

 

[edwin_m]

This one in Kirkcaldy has some architectural similarities to the house on the right. However, it is clearly in stone whereas all the buildings in the OP appear to be rendered. Possibly suggesting a part of Scotland where there is no good building stone?

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[lazonbytunnel]

A chap on Facebook has finally solved it as Kilsyth near the former Kilsyth New Station. An interesting point is that the crowds were stood on a riverbank rather than beside a road as initially thought.

 

[Ashley Hill]

New roof and chimneys on the larger building.

 

[swt_passenger]

New roof and chimneys on the larger building.

I think it’s little changed, the roof looks different (lower) because of the much closer viewpoint. If you set up a longer distance view on Google from roughly where the station was, the roof and chimneys are the same.

 

[stuving]

I found this in the Kilsyth Chronicle of Friday 07 August 1914, so it is certainly about Kilsyth. The word "mobilise" can be used for assembling at the local HQ or leaving there for a bigger centre, but in this case there is a clear reference:


The Wednesday would be 5th, of course. That even tells you which train they left on! The picture was taken from Kilsyth New Station; joint NBR/Caledonian operated at this date.

Not all of the Territorials would have left in this first batch, and the newspapers continue to report their activities, including local mobilisations, after that week.

 

[Gloster]

Possibly just all the local Terriers going or being moved in a group. The most likely single regiment would be the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, but as Lanarkshire was only a mile or two away the Cameronians or even the Highland Light Infantry are possible. Another small possibility is the Lothians & Border Horse Yeomanry.

From The Long, Long Trail.

 

[WesternLancer]

New roof and chimneys on the larger building.

certainly a missing chimney stack beside the bay window of the larger building in the modern image - so alterations must have happened over time.

Interesting to see this one solved!

 

[Rescars]

A chap on Facebook has finally solved it as Kilsyth near the former Kilsyth New Station. An interesting point is that the crowds were stood on a riverbank rather than beside a road as initially thought.
View attachment 168681View attachment 168682View attachment 168683

Interesting to note how close the drill hall was to the station.

 

[norbitonflyer]

as Lanarkshire was only a mile or two away

It was in Stirlingshire in 1914, but merged with Cumbernauld to become part of Strathclyde in 1975, and eventually North Lanarkshire in 1995

 

[stuving]

Interesting to note how close the drill hall was to the station.

Ah, but that was the old drill hall - built in 1873. After it was sold off a new one was built in 1913 ... but I haven't worked out where yet.

The unit based in Kilsyth was (part of) the 4th (Stirlingshire) Volunteer Battalion of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, becoming the 7th Battalion of the Territorial Force when that was formed in 1908.

 

[Gloster]

Ah, but that was the old drill hall - built in 1873. After it was sold off a new one was built in 1913 ... but I haven't worked out where yet.

The unit based in Kilsyth was (part of) the 4th (Stirlingshire) Volunteer Battalion of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, becoming the 7th Battalion of the Territorial Force when that was formed in 1908.

It appears to have been in Shuttle Street, which runs south-east from the centre and continues on as Barlandfauld Street.

 

[Rescars]

Ah, but that was the old drill hall - built in 1873. After it was sold off a new one was built in 1913 ... but I haven't worked out where yet.

The unit based in Kilsyth was (part of) the 4th (Stirlingshire) Volunteer Battalion of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, becoming the 7th Battalion of the Territorial Force when that was formed in 1908.

Just shows how quickly maps could go out of date, even 110 years ago.

 

[stuving]

It appears to have been in Shuttle Street, which runs south-east from the centre and continues on as Barlandfauld Street.

It must have evolved into the TA centre seen in 1957 on the corner of Shuttle Street. That map can't be relevant, as this slightly older one (1946-ish) has no building there. The Drill Hall was perhaps the small hall marked "hall". The "New" station at the top was long closed by then, but the houses in the photo are visible along Burnbank Terrace, top right.