Private William Holmes WW1

Private William Homes was born in 1882 at Abercorn, Renfrew, and lived his early life in Elderslie, near Paisley. Private William Holmes was part of the 11th Battalion Scottish Rifles and was killed in action on 19th September 1918 at Salonika. He was 36 years old. He was the son of Mr and Mrs James Holmes of 52 Milton Street, Motherwell. William was buried in Dorian Military Cemetery in Greece. Plot V. Row B, Grave 27. He lived, according to war records, at High Blantyre.

He was also part of the 77th Brigade, 26th Division. In early photographs of the Auchentibber War memorial, William is missing from the memorial, which shows only 13 names. However, on the current plaque on the memorial today, the correction has been made with William added in, recognising that he was a local man who had chosen to settle in High Blantyre.

Attached is an original photo of Auchentibber War Memorial. It is with sincere thanks that this has been scanned and shared here in high resolution by Gordon Cook, secretary of Blantyre Heritage Group.